A Grip on Sports: Friday mornings in the winter are all about the previous night’s college basketball, from Gonzaga to Eastern and in-between

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Around 6 last night, I turned to the person next to me and told them I knew what I would be writing about this morning. They didn’t need to ask what. They knew too. Gonzaga. Eastern. College basketball. It’s Friday morning after all.

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• I can’t lie. I enjoyed writing the TV Take last night as much as any of them I’ve done in the past three years. The reason is simple. The presentation by CBS Sports Network was good enough to make it easy. And yet, it wasn’t perfect, which allowed for some funny moments.

The strengths? Let’s start with Rich Waltz on the play by play. Yes, Waltz spent his early broadcasting years in Spokane, so we are inclined to like him. After all, he was smart enough to move here, right?

But he’s also a pro. A good one who has experience with sports as varied as hockey, baseball – his first love and where he made his national reputation – and basketball. His laid-back, understated style allowed Dan Dickau to shine as well, with a large majority of their conversation based on basketball, not what tie someone was wearing or if peanut butter is better without jelly.

That alone was refreshing.

And yes, there were mistakes. Not a lot, but enough to lend a little light-hearted humor to the column, something I really appreciate.

If you are interested, you can read what I wrote here. As I said, it was fun.

• I’m surprised Vernon Adams isn’t tweeting about Eastern Washington’s Montana problem this morning. The former Eastern quarterback has been critical of pretty much everything else EWU-football related on Twitter recently.

The basketball-playing Eagles have lost five of the last six times they’ve met their Big Sky rival, including twice this season. The latest one came last night in Missoula, with the conference regular season lead on the line.

In a foul-marred contest, the Griz prevailed by 10.

What do we mean by “foul-marred?” There were 55 fouls called. Six technical were assessed, three on each team. As Eastern coach Shantay Legans told our Ryan Collingwood, “just the way the game was officiated tonight made it a choppy, choppy game.”

There’s a simple solution. If both teams would quit karate-chopping each other, there wouldn’t be so many whistles. Or maybe not. It is a rivalry game, after all.

• Just wondering. If you are Mark Few, would you rather be a one seed in another region or the two seed in the West? That question actually could be relevant this year, even if the Zags don’t lose another game.

The reason? San Diego State is undefeated, ranked above GU in the NCAA’s NET – love the acronyms – rankings (also ranked above everyone else – at least this morning) and, because the Aztecs play in the Mountain West, probably will be favored handily in the rest of their games.

So would you rather play your regional final games in Los Angeles as a two seed, or would it be better to be the top seed in Houston or Indianapolis or New York?

Either way, Gonzaga is almost a lock to open the tournament in Spokane – because Idaho hosts the subregional, the Bulldogs are allowed in the building – before heading to Sweet 16 at one of the regional sites.

My guess is Few would rather be in Los Angeles, where the GU fans should make a huge impact. After all, when it comes to the one or two seed, about the only real difference is the color of uniform you wear if you get to the regional final. 

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Gonzaga: The first half was lackluster from the Zags’ point of view. The second half? It was lustrous. Jim Meehan was in the Kennel to document the change (possibly caused by what Drew Timme termed in a postgame interview on CBS Sports Network as Few getting into their, well, another term for donkey) in this game analysis. Jim also has the keys to the game. … Colin Mulvany was also in McCarthey and has this photo report. … The folks in the office put together a recap with highlights. … I linked it above, but if you missed it, here is the TV Take. … Zach Norvell has found a new NBA home. Jim has more here. … The women traveled to Stockton, Calif., and hammered Pacific last night. Jim Allen has all the details in this story. … Elsewhere in the WCC, BYU got going in the second half as well and blew out Portland. … Saint Mary’s, GU’s Saturday opponent, struggled with San Diego in what was a classic trap game. … Pacific got past San Francisco.

WSU: The recruiting wars for this year are over, so Theo Lawson turns his attention to other aspects of the new Nick Rolovich regime. It’s worth spending time with. … Theo and Ryan Collingwood spoke with Larry Weir about recruiting at WSU and Eastern, respectively, on the latest Press Box pod. … Around the Pac-12, can Washington turn its season around? … The big game last night was in Tucson, where Arizona, playing its best ball of the season, held off a late USC rally. … Arizona State shot well and shot down visiting UCLA with ease. … It took overtime, but youthful Utah once again found a way to win at home, stopping Stanford. … Colorado is also good at home, as California found out last night. … Oregon will be missing a couple players when it plays Oregon State. … In football news, recruiting is expensive. … Oregon State has benefited from the transfer portal. … USC is hiring a new assistant from Kansas State. … Who gets the blame for UCLA’s budget deficit.

EWU: Ryan has the coverage from Missoula of the Eagles’ tough defeat. We also can pass along more from the Missoulian. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, it took a record-breaking performance but Weber State defeated visiting Sacramento State. … Northern Colorado handled Southern Utah. … Northern Arizona topped Idaho State in overtime.

Idaho: The Vandals went down to defeat in Bozeman, dropping to 2-9 in conference play. … The women couldn’t get past Big Sky leader Montana State in Moscow.

Preps: It was the last regularly scheduled night of GSL basketball last night, so there are roundups from girls and boys action. … We also can pass along the same roundups from area boys and girls.

Seahawks: It won’t be easy for the Hawks to keep the offensive line together.

Sounders: There is an agreement in place between the MLS and its players.

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• My idea of a perfect Spokane winter is simple. We get plenty of snow around Christmas time, so that the holiday season seems like a holiday season. It melts in early January and is never replaced. Instead it rains often, which is snow in the higher elevations so the snowpack is robust and the ski areas are filled. Then it warms early so we can get back to the golf course. In other words, this winter has been pretty darn good, with only an early spring needed to cap it off. Until later …