A Grip on Sports: Saturday featured a big basketball matchup lost but Sunday holds the promise of a couple football games

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Quick, name a day in the past couple months in which sports wasn’t impacted in some way by COVID-19. Can’t do it, can you? Me neither. But yesterday took the disruption to another level.

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• Actually, yesterday might not have been any worse than, say, Nov. 7 or something. I haven’t been keeping a daily log or anything. Too morbid. Or too much work, not sure which.

But Saturday sure felt worse. And you all know why, especially if you were intelligent (and good-looking) enough to read this column around 9 a.m. We’re referring to the late cancellation of the first battle of No. 1- and No. 2-ranked college basketball teams in years. Gonzaga and Baylor. The tablecloth wasn’t just pulled out from under our basketball feast, all the cutlery and plates crashed to the floor.

Oh, sure, the two coaches expressed their desire to clean up the clutter and make sure the game is played at a later date, but who knows whether it will happen. And what the circumstances might be. After all, between now and the week off for Christmas, the time frame that seems to best serve a rescheduled game, Gonzaga is scheduled – important to keep that in mind – to play six games. One of them, Dec. 19, is in Sioux Falls, S.D. against third-ranked Iowa and All-American Luka Garza. Who knows if the Zags will still be No. 1 at Christmas?

The second-ranked Bears have just four games on their schedule in the same period, but one of them is against 17th-ranked Texas in Waco. The undefeated Longhorns are playing well.

Yes, it would be nice if the game were to be played. And, yes, both teams seem to be the class of college hoops this season. But no matter when it happens, it won’t be the same. And probably won’t capture the attention it would have yesterday.

• Speaking of coronavirus disruptions, the Pac-12 may get through its first weekend without a game being canceled due to the bug. And yet, the conference is facing a huge issue in just a week.

The arguments are already being assembled.

Did you know if Washington is unable to play next week against Oregon, the Huskies are the Pac-12 North champions? Or Colorado could be undefeated and not play in the conference title game? More importantly to most of the readers of this column, Washington State wakes up this morning still in contention for a berth in the conference championship game.

Yep, that’s the havoc the virus-caused cancellations have caused.

Jon Wilner explains it all here, so we’ll not delve into the particulars. But we will say this: This is a year flexibility is more important than ever. Those in charge of college football are demanding it of the players. The players need to demand it of the conference leadership as well.

If Colorado wins next week against Utah, the Buffs need to have a berth in the title game, even if USC wins tonight and next week as well. Match up the conference’s two undefeated teams no matter what. Sure, whoever survives in the North will cry and moan but too bad. It’s 2020. Deal with it.

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WSU: The scenario that has the Cougars playing for a Pac-12 title (with a 3-1 record) starts with a win tonight in Los Angeles. Theo Lawson doesn’t believe it will happen, but he does believe the matchup between the Air Raid Trojans and the Run and Shoot Cougars will be fun to watch. Can’t argue with that. And we can’t argue with Theo’s choices in the two-minute drill. … USC’s defense knows the Cougars will throw it. But it also must contain the running game. … Around the Pac-12 and college football, Washington had it all in front of itself. Win and the North would have been the Huskies for the taking. But for the second consecutive week they fell behind by three touchdowns at halftime. And Stanford held them off, winning 31-26. When Oregon lost to California later, UW had really kicked away a golden opportunity. … The Ducks looked lost. Again. And California took advantage, dominating the second half to earn its first win of the season. Afterward, Duck coach Mario Cristobal had no answers. … Poor Oregon State. Not only did the Beavers lose their starting quarterback in the win over Oregon, they faced Utah yesterday without the conference’s best running back. Jermar Jefferson was in COVID-19 protocols. And yet they almost rallied past the Utes in Salt Lake City. … The eye test may not be kind to Colorado this morning, after the Buffs struggled to get past Arizona, losers in 11 consecutive games. But win they did and in Tucson. … A late drive lifted UCLA past host Arizona State and gave Chip Kelly his first winning record as the Bruins coach. Hard to believe but true. The Sun Devils are kicking themselves after losing a game some think shouldn’t have been played. … In basketball news, the UW player who is supposedly headed to the NBA? It’s Nahziah Carter and he left after sexual assault allegations. … Oregon State is still trying to discern why it lost to WSU.

Gonzaga: As we said, the cancellation news broke just as we were posting our column yesterday morning. Jim Meehan took care of all the particulars in this in-depth story. Meanwhile, with some time free, we wandered around the dial for a non-Gonzaga-game TV Take. We must say, CBS handled the reporting on the game’s cancellation like the professional organization it is. … Of course, the loss of such a highly anticipated game meant coverage around the nation. … Elsewhere in the WCC, BYU went into Logan and left with a three-point win over Utah State.

EWU: It’s tough to win on the road in college basketball, though it might be a little easier this season with no home crowd to contend with. But, as Eastern found out for the second consecutive game against a Pac-12 foe, depth is also a determining factor. Ryan Collingwood has coverage of the Eagles’ 70-67 late loss at Arizona.

Idaho: Thursday night, Sacramento State defeated the Vandal men by 22 points. Last night, it was 25. It could be a long season in Moscow. … The UI women eased past Sac State to raise their conference mark to 2-0. … Around the Big Sky, the conference is playing back-to-back games at one site this season. If the first weekend is any indication, the teams only need to play once and just count it twice. As we noted, the Idaho loss to Sacramento State was nearly the same as Thursday. But Southern Utah’s second win over Montana had the exact same margin – one point – as Thursday’s first game. … Montana lost its strength coach.

Seahawks: The Giants shouldn’t be much of a threat this afternoon, despite being atop the NFC East standings – at 4-7. Both teams are suffering from a depleted roster and they came about them the old-fashioned way: injuries. The Hawks had their first COVID-19 case yesterday, but it was to a player already on injured reserve and not practicing. … Josh Gordon has something more important to play for this time around.

Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi hopes the third year is the charm.

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• We’ll be watching the Cougars tonight and writing a TV Take about the broadcast. But it won’t be easy. We are planning on having New York-style pizza this afternoon as our Seahawk meal. Instead of trying to make it ourselves, we’ve decided to buy a couple pies from a local establishment. We’ll tell you where tomorrow. All I know is after eating my three or four usual slices, I am a bit sleepy afterward. But we will power through the Hawk game and then our evening assignment. … For everyone who believes youth sports should be going on because, you know, the virus isn’t spread at such events, this story should be of interest. Maybe hockey is just the canary in the coal mine. Who knows? Until later …