A Grip on Sports: Is it weird that college basketball’s regular season starts on the same day, but it ends at different times?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Pac-12 men have a week to go. Other conferences will be finishing up their regular season next weekend as well. But for Gonzaga and the West Coast Conference, this is it. The end of the line. The last weekend of a regular season schedule that stretches back to 2021 and included the worst part of the pandemic. Then it’s time to wait. A long time for the Zags.

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• The WCC has always been a little different. The need for the key broadcast partner – read: ESPN – to fill its championship week’s not-so-important days and times has meant mid-majors have been finishing up early for years. And the WCC is still in that category.

Though, with perennial NCAA championship threat Gonzaga at the top of the heap, the postseason tournament title game usually gets a premium time slot and broadcast crew. Even if it’s a midweek night while the Power 5 schools are still trying to determine seeding for their tournaments.

Which means tonight in Moraga, the Zags will face Saint Mary’s with a chance to finish the WCC regular season undefeated once more. And will be doing that in a packed gym – the only real way to describe that building – on Senior Night. And the GU women will be spending the last Saturday in February doing the same thing, albeit in the afternoon.

For years the WCC’s off time prior to its tournament and then the lag before the NCAAs start were considered a detriment to Gonzaga’s national title hopes. Being that GU hasn’t won one yet, maybe those worries have merit. But there is opportunity in the time off as well. The Zags have used it to heal. To fine-tune their offense and defense. And, in some years, play a game. No longer, though. Now it’s BYU, with a COVID-19-caused hole and the need to improve its NCAA resume, reportedly looking for a match. Nothing has come of it, however.

So the WCC schedule ends tonight. And the Zags, who have earned a bye until the tournament semifinals, won’t play again for nine days. That will match their longest stretch of down time since early December, and that took a virus-caused hiatus to occur. The women will have the same time off.

It will seem like an eternity.

• The Pac-12 splits its men and women when it comes to the postseason tournaments. The women finish the regular season today and begin their tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It finishes next Sunday. In between, the Cougars will try to ensure a second-consecutive NCAA bid.

Meanwhile, the men will continue to play. Their tournament doesn’t even start until March 9. Before then, Washington State will have finished up its series with Washington (today in Seattle) and then play a home-and-home set with Oregon State before finishing the regular season hosting Oregon next Saturday.

Then comes a key week in Las Vegas. For WSU to make the NCAA tournament, it will need to do something special in the desert. If not, a season that began with so much hope and promise may seem like a disappointment.

• Speaking of the postseason, Whitworth is playing an unlikely home playoff game tonight. Win, and the Pirates advance to the NCAA Division III tournament once again. Lose to rival Whitman and its up to the selection committee, which is never a good thing for West Coast D3 schools.

How did Whitworth end up in this spot? Thank the Blues. With Linfield the top seed in the Northwest Conference tournament (Whitworth, Linfield and Pacific Lutheran all finished with the same conference record), the Pirates were scheduled for a date in Oregon if they won their semifinal. They did. And then fourth-seeded Whitman upset Linfield in McMinnville. Just like that Whitworth had another home game. It is in the Fieldhouse tonight starting at 7.

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Gonzaga: Jim Meehan has covered way too many key games at Saint Mary’s. Heck, he’s been at it so long we covered one there together. He has a preview of tonight’s game as well as a look at the key matchup. … Theo Lawson has a look back at the win over USF. … Jim Allen has the preview of today’s game for the women against Loyola Marymount. The seniors will be honored. … Around the WCC, it is Senior Night at BYU. … If Gonzaga is in your conference, you shouldn’t be eligible for any mid-major awards.

WSU: Because the women’s tournament starts next week, the weekend schedule is a bit different. Which means Colton Clark’s preview for today includes both genders. The women play at California and the men at Washington. … UW’s men need to do well in the next four games to get Mike Hopkins off the hot seat. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, second-ranked Arizona is on the road at Colorado. It will be a tough challenge. … Arizona State is at Utah. That shouldn’t be as big a challenge. … USC is still trying to reach its offensive potential. … UCLA needs to shoot better and play bigger if it wants to get back on track at Oregon State. … In football news, the alliance with the Big Ten and ACC is working. At least Jon Wilner thinks so.

EWU: Dave Cook caught up with a former Eastern football coach, Chris Hansen, living in Ukraine and put together this story. … Around the Big Sky, it’s Senior Night at Northern Arizona. … Northern Colorado opened a new sports performance center. …  The week ahead will be a busy one for Montana State.

Preps: Mead finished fourth in the 3A/2A State gymnastic meet. … There were regional basketball games last night, with Mt. Spokane posting a big 3A boys upset, defeating second-ranked Auburn 69-58. We have a roundup to pass along covering all the action.

Chiefs: Spokane scored four times in the third period and roared back to defeat Seattle at the Arena. Kevin Dudley has the game story.

Track and field: John Blanchette continues his looks back at previous USATF Indoor Track and Field Championships, with this year’s event at The Podium. His flashback today takes us to 1970 and the no-longer-run 600-yard race. … John also has this story on Olympic gold medal-winning pole vaulter Katie Nageotte as she returns to the Inland Northwest this weekend.

Seahawks: Don’t worry. The Hawks aren’t trading Russell Wilson. … And Pete Carroll is changing how he coaches.

Sounders: The MLS season begins for Seattle tomorrow night in Nashville. The Sounders are one of the league favorites and they should be.

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• I loved riding my bike around Sierra Madre when I was a kid – even with all the hills. It signified freedom from my parents. But when I hear about another person near my age being in a significant bike accident (this isn’t the first), so bad as to necessitate surgery and rehab, it makes me happy I gave up riding back then. Walking is dangerous enough. Get well Dan. Until later …