A Grip on Sports: The madness this March isn’t confined to the men in more ways than one

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Now that the Gonzaga and Washington State women have bowed out of the NCAA tournament, we weren’t sure last night we would watch any more of the games. But we did. And we stayed a bit longer than we expected.

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• What drew us in was a matchup between Tennessee schools. The Volunteers were hosting Belmont in a second-round game. If Belmont sounds familiar, the 12th-seeded Bruins knocked Gonzaga out of the tournament last year and did the same thing to Oregon earlier in the weekend. Those upsets are just a part of more madness in the tournament. And we mean that literally, in that the women have been allowed to use the term “March Madness” this season, as well as figuratively, with each year bringing more upsets.

And they had the opportunity to do the same to one of the storied programs in the sports history. In Knoxville.

But it didn’t happen. Belmont couldn’t get it done down the stretch and UT prevailed 70-67 to move on to Wichita. And we changed the channel.

Which took us to an even more fun game. Ohio State was whipping up on LSU in Baton Rouge.

If you don’t follow the women’s game, you might think this is just a normal battle of blue bloods. Well, you would be right – in a sense. Ohio State is rich enough – in every way – that it should be good in every sport. And the Buckeyes are. It’s just this season they only earned a sixth seed in the tournament, despite having one of the better point guards in the nation in Jacy Sheldon.

And LSU? Last year the Tigers backed up a truck full of money, dumped it in Waco and waited for Kim Mulkey to say yes. The then-Baylor coach did. In her 21 years with Baylor, Mulkey won three NCAA titles and was twice the coach of the year. Now she was trying to do the same with the Tigers, who were seeded third in the Spokane region.

It was a rout. The folks in Baton Rouge tried. The players tried. Heck, Mulkey tried, even wandering too far onto the court at one point, forcing an official to hold the game up to get her back where she belonged. It was not enough.

But the action on the court was. Enough, at least, to make our Monday night a little more special.

• By the way, if you get a chance Thursday (for practice) or Friday (for games) to watch Ohio State’s Sheldon play in person, take it. She’s fun to watch.

• Two of the Mariners’ top pitching prospects made their spring training debuts Monday. One did well, one did not. Which was which might surprise you.

Matt Brash came out of the bullpen, threw two scoreless innings and impressed everyone. George Kirby, who was the talk of the offseason, started, showed impressive talent but still struggled, needing 45 pitches to get just five outs.

Kirby also allowed six runs in a 9-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.

But, you know, spring training. It’s a magical place and time where every poor outing by a pitcher is about their “overpowering stuff” and every decent one portends future greatness.

Neither is exactly true but there is, hopefully, some element of potential, especially with the young guys like Kirby, a 24-year-old right-hander, and Brash, another right-hander who is just 23 years old.

That potential may just have to be realized this year for the M’s to break their two-decades-long playoff drought. They are still a proven pitcher or two short. The top of the free agent market has been picked clean, though the Mariners did entice the best-of-the-bet, Robbie Ray, to sign before the lockout. Now, however, the only decent option left for Jerry Dipoto may be a trade.

Stay tuned.

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Gonzaga: So what interests you more this morning? A story about three GU players – Anton Watson, Drew Timme and Martynas Arlauskas – that have become fast friends? Or maybe you would prefer a story about how the players’ dads have started a support group, if you will? Either way, Jim Meehan has you covered with the former and Justin Reed with the latter. … Jim, John Blanchette and Richard Fox got together yesterday for their weekly Zags Basketball Insiders podcast. … Jim Allen spent some time yesterday looking back at the women’s loss to Louisville. … The baseball team, which has won 14 of its first 18 games, will play its first home game today. The weather should cooperate. Justin has a preview. … If you had some questions about officiating in the tournament, this might help.

WSU: The women’s basketball program is in a better place right now then it has probably ever been. Krystal Leger-Walker, the outgoing senior, played a big role in that. Colton Clark delves into just how big that role was. … BYU is ready to host WSU on Wednesday. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, Jon Wilner looks at the 16 schools that are left in the NCAA men’s tournament and ranks them. … Seth Davis does something similar. … UCLA is one of the 16 left standing and the Bruins face North Carolina. The two were scheduled to play in December, but COVID-19 forced a cancellation. … Arizona may have gotten a bit lucky to get past TCU. Now Houston awaits. … Washington has lost one player off its roster to the pro ranks. Utah may have lost three to the portal. … Colorado is already in offseason mode. … Stanford is coming to Spokane for this weekend’s regional. Lexie Hull made sure of it. … Arizona, which made a run to the women’s national title game last season, is out, having lost a home game to North Carolina last night. … Utah expects to be back in the NCAA tournament quickly. … In football news, defending champion Utah begins its repeat quest with spring practice. … Former Washington State assistant Dave Nichol has stepped away from USC’s spring practice due to an illness. … Arizona is already five practices into its spring. … Arizona State has a big hole to fill at running back.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado won again last night and moved into the CBI semifinals. … Montana filled a hole on its coaching staff.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Monday’s action.

Chiefs: The Spokane Jr. Chiefs 14U-A1 team will be playing in USA Hockey’s national tournament again. That news leads off the S-R’s local briefs column.

Mariners: Brash and Kirby were the main attractions yesterday.

Seahawks: All Drew Luck asks for is a little faith. Is that too much? Maybe. He certainly is in a tough spot though. Still, he’s excited. … Rashaad Penny is excited about the new season’s potential as well.

Kraken: Seattle has made a lot of trades lately. Why? General manager Ron Francis tries to answer that question.

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• Spokane’s high temperature is supposed to reach into the low 50s today. Heck, it’s supposed to hit the mid-60s tomorrow. What does that warmth make our thoughts turn towards? Well, being an older man, it’s simple. Baseball. We’re heading out to watch a baseball game today. It happens every spring. Until later …