A Grip on Sports: What’s a Wednesday without some sort of trap being laid for the nation’s best team?
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There isn’t much to say about this Wednesday except we are getting closer and closer to the weekend. But with football over, really over, is that as big a deal as it was just a month ago?
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• Well, there is college basketball. There actually happens to be a game tonight for the Gonzaga men, an odd day of the week for a West Coast Conference contest not involved in some sort of rescheduling issue. But the top-ranked Zags are in Malibu, where they face the classic “trap game” against an overmatched foe.
Why? Partly because the Waves have been pretty bad this season (again), taking care of the overmatched aspect. The trap part, however, comes from the last three games of the regular season. Gonzaga has its Senior Night on Saturday against Santa Clara and then ends WCC play with games at USF and Saint Mary’s.
Talk about saving the best for last. After tonight, of course.
• There is a small kerfuffle in the WCC and, for once, it doesn’t involve Gonzaga or BYU. Or Saint Mary’s.
Two nights ago, Santa Clara was scheduled to play a game in Portland. A makeup game from Jan. 8, when omicron was ravaging college basketball schedules from Maine to California.
The game didn’t happen.
On Feb. 9, during a conference call among WCC athletic directors, Santa Clara’s Rene Baumgartner informed her peers the Broncos had decided not to play any makeup games.
They only had one. Against Portland. Even though Santa Clara had negotiated a new date and had signed an agreement to play, it wasn’t going to play. Which means the Broncos were forfeiting, right? Nope. The WCC let them skate, calling it a no contest. Really?
To buttress its decision, Santa Clara said it was worried about too much missed class time. In this day and age of tutors, zoom and every way possible of being part of a class without actually being there, that was the excuse? How about it was worried about a late-season loss that might derail any postseason plans?
You can be sure the Broncos practiced on Monday. That’s not as much fun for the players as playing a, you know, actual game. Something those at Santa Clara and Portland missed out on.
• Though baseball isn’t starting this week – pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to their spring training sites until the lockout hit – there is another spring activity that’s just around the corner.
Spring football is coming to a college campus near you.
And with that comes the arrival of position previews and the like for each school.
Honestly, reading another 1,000 words on the state of the running back room at, say, Oregon, isn’t our idea of fun. But we do it. Just in case someone asks who is going to replace Travis Dye.
• If you want to know why college athletes need the freedom to transfer at least once in their careers, just remember Oumar Ballo.
Ballo came to Gonzaga from Africa, following Tommy Lloyd’s siren call. And then sat on the bench for most of his first two seasons. Rightfully so. The Zags had dudes in front of him who could play.
It would have been the same this season. He wasn’t going to crack the rotation of Drew Timme, Chet Holmgren and Anton Watson. But Lloyd got a new job and needed another big. He enticed Ballo to Arizona, where the big man is playing key minutes for the third-ranked team in the nation.
Gonzaga is just fine. Arizona is better. Ballo’s college experience is better. It’s the way it should be.
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Gonzaga: Theo Lawson is in Southern California, where it is warmer than here. Tonight he’ll be at Firestone Fieldhouse, which is significantly worse than any other WCC venue. Between now and then, he offers a preview of the game as well as the key matchup. … Jim Meehan has news as well. He shares this story on David Stockton being named to the U.S. squad for the World Cup qualifiers and another piece on next year’s Phil Knight tournament in Portland. … Around the WCC, BYU is making history this season. For the first time there isn’t an LDS player in the starting lineup. … Alex Barcello is making some history as well.
WSU: Around the Pac-12 and college basketball, Jon Wilner has this S-R piece concerning the conference’s power ratings. Arizona is way ahead. WSU still is fifth despite its recent issues. … He also updates the coaching hot seats in the Mercury News. … Colorado did what everyone has been doing lately and coasted to victory over Oregon State. …. Next up for the Beavers? Arizona. … UCLA needs to improve its defense. … In football news, we linked this yesterday, but Wilner’s quarterback depth update ran in the S-R this morning. … Hey, guess what. We can pass along a preview of Oregon’s running backs in the spring. … There is another new assistant coach at Colorado. … Also at Utah.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State has rescheduled a game with Southern Utah. … Weber State is finally getting around to honoring Dick Motta. … Northern Arizona faces off with Portland State. … Northern Colorado’s turnaround revolves around depth and leadership. … In football news, Montana State has a new assistant coach and player.
Preps: The Washington basketball playoffs continued last night, with Dave Nichols covering a doubleheader at Gonzaga Prep. He has this story and Colin Mulvany has this photo gallery. … Dave also passes along this roundup of the other action.
Chiefs: Portland pulled away in the third period for a 4-2 victory over Spokane at the Arena. Dan Thompson has this story on the Winterhawks fourth win in the five-game series.
Seahawks: Seattle made its staff changes official Tuesday, announcing a new defensive coordinator among other changes. What do the alterations say about Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson and the Hawks?
Mariners: Spring training was scheduled to start this week. It isn’t.
Sounders: Seattle unveiled its new primary uniforms, called kits in soccer parlance, yesterday.
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• Is it March yet? We’re ready for some madness. Until later …