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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Grip on Sports: There have been many accomplishments from local college basketball players but none greater than John Stockton

Two-time Olympic gold medalist John Stockton will participate in panel discussion Tuesday, July 16, 2019, at the Spokane Public Library. (Young Kwak / Associated Press)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Now this was hard. Trying to distill all the college basketball players who have played in the Inland Northwest over the past 50 years into the three most accomplished. Or five. Or 10. No matter how long you make the list, it’s hard. But someone had to do it.

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• Well, not really. But it seemed like a good idea at the time. What were we thinking? Mainly, we were thinking you would enjoy it. So we decided to accept the challenge.

First, some parameters and criteria. As with all our lists we will be putting together in this time of home confinement, we are only going back 50 years, to 1970. That was actually our freshman year in high school and about as far back as we can remember. The players who came before then? We will leave them to someone else to rank.

We are also not trying to limit this list to the best players, hence the term most accomplished. A player like Bryan Depew, for example, accomplished more at Whitworth than just about any other Pirate. But is he is among the best players the area has seen in the past 50 years? We’re not sure, but he makes this list.

So let’s get to it. By the way, we’ve limited the list to 10 this time, instead of the 11 we had with the coaches. It just seemed right.

10: Brian Kellerman, Idaho (1980-83): Don’t ever forget what Kellerman meant to the Vandals. As their leader, he spurred them on their magical run in 1982, when they won 27 games and were ranked as high as sixth nationally. His 390 career assists are still a school record.

9. Bogdan Bliznyuk, EWU (2015-18): Bliznyuk’s influence was felt at Eastern for more than his magical senior year, as he is the school’s all-time scoring leader (2,169 points). But that year was special, as he scored a school-record 741 points and led the Eagles to 20 wins.

8. Bryan Depew, Whitworth (2000-04): In his first game at Whitworth, the Central Valley High grad led the Pirates to victory with 22 points. He did both often over his four-year career, leaving as the school’s leading scorer (2,013 points) and with a big hand in 75 victories. The 6-foot-5 post was also a four-time first-team All-Northwest Conference selection. If there were to be another Pirate on this list, it would be Nate Dunham, who led them to the 1996 NAIA Division II title game.

7. Ron Cox, EWU (1974-77): Time has a tendency to blunt accomplishments, but what Cox did at Eastern can never fade away. When he graduated he was the Eagles all-time leader in points (1,741), rebounds (1,273, still the record) and field goal percentage (62.9). His Eastern teams also won 77 games. A first-team All-American in 1977, he went on to an illustrious high school basketball coaching career in the area.

6. Steve Puidokas, WSU (1974-77): There is a certain symmetry to having Puidokas and Cox back-to-back, considering their college careers coincided. As did their playing styles. Puidokas also left WSU as its scoring (1,894 points) and rebound (992) leader.

5. Orlando Lightfoot, Idaho (1991-94): Lightfoot was a beast. He holds the UI scoring record (2,102 points) and left third all-time in rebounds (766). He also had the single-most dominating performance in the old Kennel, the night he scored 50 against the Zags in 1993. OK, we’re a bit prejudiced as we watched from the upper seats.

4. Isaac Fontaine, WSU (1994-97): There may never have been a better go-to scorer in Cougar history than Fontaine. His consistency allowed him to top the WSU scoring list (2,003 points) and the school’s 3-point shooting percentage list (an unheard of .457 percentage on 455 attempts).

3. Klay Thompson, WSU (2009-11): Thompson is all over the Washington State record book, though he only stayed in Pullman for three seasons. But the NBA beckoned and he couldn’t resist – and shouldn’t have. His accomplishments include third all-time in points (1,756), second in 3-pointers (242) and three NBA titles with Golden State. Oh, and his uniform number has been retired by the Cougars.

2. Adam Morrison, Gonzaga (2004-06): As a Zag, Morrison had the best offensive single season ever, which earned him national player of the year honors. He was an impossible-to-stop scorer at times and finished his three-year stint with 1,867 points, a record 926 coming in that junior year of 2006. A Mead High graduate, Morrison’s NBA career may have been stunted, but his accomplishments at Gonzaga can never be understated.

1. John Stockton, Gonzaga (1981-84): The stats don’t blow you away. Sure, Stockton left GU as the school’s assist leader with 554 (he’s now fifth on the school’s all-time list) and led the WCC on scoring, assists and steal his senior season. But it is what Stockton accomplished after leaving Gonzaga that lifts him atop the list. We could recite the NBA numbers from assists to steals to playoff appearances but the most important accomplishment happened in 2009, when he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And, by they way, he returned to Spokane after his NBA career was over.

• As I said, that was hard. Tomorrow, we will return with our favorite local players from the past 50 years. And with some of our friends’. That should be easier.

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Gonzaga: One outgrowth of the success GU has put together over the past two decades is many of its players continue to play professionally. Those overseas were recently confronted with a dilemma, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim Meehan contacted a group of them recently and relays what they’ve been dealing with since the virus outbreak. … Missing the NCAA Tournament? Who isn’t? We told you yesterday KHQ/SWX sports director Sam Adams has come up with a way to simulate it for his viewers. Larry Weir spoke with Sam about it for his latest Press Box pod. And Larry and I spoke the day before, though in another of those failing short-term memory moments, I didn’t link my Press Box pod appearance yesterday. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Gonzaga fans may not consider this Saint Mary’s game an accomplishment, considering who was on the Gaels’ squad. … There was a large earthquake in Salt Lake City yesterday, and it shook up BYU athletes a bit.

WSU: We linked this story yesterday morning as well, but Theo Lawson’s look back at former Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew’s rise from sixth-round draft pick to the QB of the future for Jacksonville is worth linking again. (Mainly because it appeared in today’s newspaper.) … Around the Pac-12, the Associated Press women’s All-American team was released yesterday and the conference dominated. More specifically, however, Oregon did, with three players on the first two teams. … Washington has canceled everything for the spring, including all the football activities. Washington State will announce a similar policy today. But every team is also dealing with a recruiting calendar that is in disarray. … Speaking of disarray, the HBO documentary on the pay-for-play basketball recruiting scandal should do just that to the Arizona program. But its impact might be blunted with all that’s going on in the world today.

Shock: The team is mostly still in the area and the owner vows to play this season. I wonder what type of odds Las Vegas would put on that. Anyhow, Ryan Collingwood has more in this story.

Preps: Lewis and Clark High has a new head football coach, though it’s a familiar face. Dave Nichols tells us in this story Joe Ireland has been promoted.

Seahawks: There was a school of thought the Hawks would pursue running back Todd Gurley. As happened many times in the past few years, they were unable to corral the former Ram running back. He’s headed to Atlanta. … They are, however, still trying to rope in another pass rusher, insurance if Jadeveon Clowney doesn’t come back. Or as an addition if he does.

Mariners: The M’s finally closed their spring training facility.

Sounders: The MLS has pushed back its season again, though many players are just waiting out the virus-induced break in Seattle.

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• As we mentioned above, we’ll be back tomorrow with our favorite local college players of the past 50 years. I’ll give you a hint. I have players from all five four-year schools and one from CCS. As a bonus, we’ve asked some other long-time local journalists for their lists as well. Until later …