A Grip on Sports: With bowl games and great college basketball on tap, December should be another gift

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As we enter the final month of – checks calendar – 2021, how would you rank this past year? Not the worst one we’ve had, right? Not the best – for us personally, that would be either 1979 or 1984 or 1987 – but not the worst. Middle of the road. Just like the month ahead in Inland Northwest sports promises to be.

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• Sure, there will be some highlights. Washington State will go bowling, but the Cougars do that so often these days it’s almost met with a collective yawn. (As an aside, when I finished writing the last two words of the previous sentence, I yawned; such is the power of these magic fingers.) It’s gotten so expected, most Cougar fans aren’t excited about spending the last week of the month in El Paso, no matter what Jon Wilner writes here. In the fans’ defense, who would be? It’s El Paso, Texas after all.

The highlight of December’s final week for WSU fans will be the Dec. 29 visit from Washington. If there is a year in which the Cougars should be salivating over playing the Huskies in hoops, this is it. Too bad the first Pac-12 matchup is during winter break. Instead of a loud, full Beasley – something of a rarity the past decade or so – the showdown may not showcase the best of the rivalry for ESPNU.

If you are wondering, Washington State opens Pac-12 basketball play this afternoon at Arizona State.

That’s just before Gonzaga plays another of its usual tough nonconference events, this one in Seattle. Yep, the Battle in the Climate Pledge Arena – or something like that – returns Saturday. This year’s opponent? Alabama, ranked 16th nationally. With the Zags coming off a loss to Duke (whose No. 1 ranking will disappear after its loss last night at unranked Ohio State), and a sloppy home win over Tarleton State, Saturday’s game on ESPN2 is something of a litmus test. It’s also prelude to GU’s own home game with Washington (Dec. 12) and another neutral-site test, this one in Phoenix against Texas Tech (Dec. 18).

The end of the month marks the beginning of West Coast Conference play, with the opener at yet another warm-weather city, San Diego. The Zags sure seem to like to visit warm spots in December.  

Big Sky play opens for Eastern and Idaho this week, with both hosting soon-to-be-ex-Big Sky member Southern Utah. The Eagles are starting to come together for first-year coach David Riley – the upset in Pullman certainly illustrates that – while the Vandals are still searching for the first win over a Division I opponent.

If we cast our gaze on the other side of the Cascades, there isn’t a lot of fun to be seen. Sure, December is Christmas time and there are a lot of folks in this area who travel the passes for the best holiday of the year. But for sporting events? Not so much.

The Seahawks? Are they still playing? Yes, they are. Though, for the first time in about a decade, the December games don’t really matter. The woeful Seattle offense has assured that. The 49ers are in town Sunday and about the only thing the Hawks can do is play spoiler. The month ends with a visit from the Bears, which seems like a perfectly good pitch for a Saturday Night Live skit but not an NFL game worth worrying about.

Meanwhile, the one Seattle pro sports franchise that seems to be ascending, the Mariners, more than likely will have put their offseason pursuits on hiatus. Along with the rest of Major League Baseball. Unless a pre-Festivus miracle happens, the owners will lock out the players late tonight our time, implementing the first work stoppage the game has seen since George and his dad were performing their feats of strength in real time.

No Hot Stove League? Now that’s the real war on Christmastime.

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Gonzaga: If you think the Zags haven’t had a few close calls against overmatched opponents over the years, you’re wrong. Jim Meehan delves into some of them today. … Around the WCC, BYU travels to Utah Valley University, which is a homecoming for Mark Pope. … Pepperdine continues to struggle.

WSU: The Cougars didn’t have a close call. They had a defeat hung on them for the first time this season. Now they have to get their act back together as Pac-12 play kicks off with a game against Arizona State. Colton Clark delves into that. … Jen Greeny’s volleyball team is back in the NCAA tourney again. Jim Meehan has this preview of their sixth consecutive appearance, a school record. … Larry Weir talked with his WSU counterpart, Matt Chazanow, about all things Cougar for the latest Press Box podcast. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Jon Wilner has his bowl predictions in the S-R this morning. … Kalen DeBoer officially took over the Washington football program yesterday. Is he another Don James or a Jim Lambright? The Huskies are hoping for the former. … Jonathan Smith has shown he’s worth a lot of money to Oregon State. … Oregon bounced back nicely against the Beavers. Now the Ducks face a Utah team that has a lot of similarities – and some relatives. The Utes hope they have learned from past mistakes. … The transfer portal will be busy. Colorado is losing a couple more players. … Who will Arizona State play in its bowl game? … Could Arizona, who is losing a receiver, attract Spencer Rattler? … The recruiting transfer portal also seems to be a thing, as USC is flipping former Oklahoma commits from Southern California. … In basketball news, Colorado has a big challenge with UCLA. The Bruins do as well. … Terrell Brown returns to Tucson with Washington. … Utah will be shorthanded against USC.

EWU and Idaho:  We did not mention Eastern’s FCS playoff run above, but it is also a December highlight. If the Eagles get past Montana on Saturday that is. The Griz’s Bobby Hauck has played rematches in the playoffs before. … Our Dan Thompson spoke with the Missoulian about Saturday’s FCS playoff game. … UT Martin has a talented offense that will test Montana State. … UC Davis’ season is over.

Preps: High school hoops began throughout the area last night (Idaho girls have been playing a while). Dave Nichols traveled to Lake City to watch the Timberwolves host Mt. Spokane. He has this story as well as a roundup of the rest of the prep action. … Before too long, Spokane-area high schools will be playing their football games in a new downtown stadium. That moved another step closer yesterday with an official groundbreaking. Jim Allen was there and has this story.

Chiefs: Spokane held off Victoria 6-5 in overtime on Tuesday night in the Arena. Kevin Dudley has the story.

Seahawks: How does Pete Carroll survive this season? … There are other questions that must be answered.

Mariners: The M’s signing of Robbie Ray is being met with some praise from national writers. … Ichiro loves the game. That’s obvious.

Kraken: Mark Giordano is showing everyone he still has something left. So are the two Seattle goalies.

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• One final reminder. We are planning on taking tomorrow off. Oh, we might wake up earlier than we hope – who can really predict what dogs will allow you to do? – and write something, but I don’t think so. If I do, we’ll let you know on Twitter. Or there will be something in the S-R’s sports email. But for now, see you Friday …