A Grip on Sports: Made-for-TV? Yep, that’s true of Gonzaga’s showdown with Saint Mary’s on Saturday

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s funny. On a weekend in which there are big-time college basketball games from the Atlantic to the Pacific, some in danger of being impacted by the weather, the biggest TV event in this area may not feature a competition. Directly at least.

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• For once, the Kennel isn’t expected to be full. That’s odd for a Gonzaga basketball event, right? But College GameDay’s latest visit to Spokane – the ESPN show has been here twice before – feels a bit like an old sweater, comfy and warm but not needed every day.

Actually, though, with the way the weather has been not just around here – Thursday was bitter cold – but throughout the nation, the pregame event featuring stars Rece Davis and Jay Bilas may be just what we need.

Not us, per se. There is no way we’re getting up before 6 a.m. to experience a made-for-TV event. But for the newest generation of Zag fans, sure.

The GameDay visit is our pick to click on this college basketball-heavy weekend of TV. (Hey, you think that pick-to-click thing will catch on? No one has used it before, right?)

But it is not alone, actually. Heck, the game (7 p.m., ESPN) it is highlighting, No. 15 Saint Mary’s, atop the WCC standings at 12-1, at 12th-ranked Gonzaga, a game back at 11-2, is one of the better ones of the season. The Gaels own a late-game comeback win over GU in Moraga from last month and are trying to win the conference outright, something they last did in 2016.

It is not alone, however, as a matchup of ranked teams. Fifth-ranked Purdue tries to right the train a bit when it hosts 17th-ranked Indiana (4:30 p.m., Fox 28). There is also a top-10 battle, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Baylor (11 a.m., ESPN).

Other than the hoop Saturday, the weekend isn’t the strongest of the year. Oh, sure, if you want to experience warm weather vicariously then golf’s Honda Classic from Florida is the place to be. Unlike California, which is dealing with Midwest-lite conditions today, the Sunshine State still has plenty of its nickname.

The highlight of the weekend? Let’s go a bit far afield and pick a surprise. From Arizona. Tempe, to be precise – though Surprise would have been cooler. Anyhow, the M’s play the Angels on Saturday. And ROOT will broadcast it at noon.

Now that will get your mind off the snow.

• Gonzaga snowed under San Diego on Thursday night, showing this Mark Few team is capable of staying in the moment if need be. Sitting among the Bulldog literati (thanks to a last-minute ticket gift from someone snowbound in Portland), we were shocked how in the moment they were as well. The buzz around us concerned San Diego’s lack of talent and ability.

Sure. That’s it completely. Except, most of those in attendance might be shocked to learn the Toreros game a week ago at Saint Mary’s was in doubt in the final minute.

Steve Lavin’s undersized crew fell behind early against SMC, as it did again last night, but rallied aggressively in the second half, something Gonzaga did not allow. The final in Moraga was 62-59, with Saint Mary’s not scoring a point in the final 7 minutes.

Yes, San Diego is not good. Yes, the Toreros are tiny. And yes, Gonzaga demolished them at home. That’s not something Saint Mary’s can say.

• How are the other men’s teams in the area doing? Let’s see. Eastern Washington has won 18 consecutive games, are the first team ever to post a 16-0 mark in the Big Sky’s history and have clinched the regular-season title outright.

Washington State has won four consecutive games itself, are within a game of .500 overall and play 3-25 California on Saturday.

The women aren’t too shabby either, with Gonzaga’s win last night in San Diego clinching the WCC title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney. And Washington State did something it’s never done before, win a game at Pauley Pavilion. It’s 62-55 upset over the 17-ranked Bruins leaves them alone in sixth-place in the nation’s toughest conference.

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WSU: The basketball victories take centerstage, of course. Colton Clark has the coverage of the men’s 67-63 slugfest at Stanford. The win evened the Cougars’ Pac-12 mark at 9-9. … The women’s win is part of this roundup. … We also can pass along this Jon Wilner column on Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff’s strategy to include streaming as a main element of the new media-rights deal. It’s in The Spokesman-Review. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, Wilner returns in the S-R once again to share his ranking of the best West teams. … Washington has been winning often lately as well, so Thursday night’s victory over woeful California shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. A 65-56 outcome is not what anyone would call a statement win, however. … Utah and No. 4 UCLA was a lot tighter than expected, even with the Utes at home. … USC defeated Colorado in Boulder 84-65. … Arizona and Arizona State meet Saturday. … So do Oregon and Oregon State. … Among the women, Stanford won a top-25 showdown in Boulder, topping Colorado in double overtime. … Washington couldn’t get past USC in Los Angeles. … Oregon State melted down late, losing to Arizona State. It was the Sun Devils first conference win. The Beavers also lost their leading scorer for the rest of the season. … Oregon snapped a long losing streak, handing No. 14 Arizona a crucial 73-59 loss in Eugene. … Utah pounded California 101-76. … In football news, if you have questions about Washington, we have Christian Caple’s mailbag in The Athletic to pass along. … Another Oregon State position preview is available.

Gonzaga: Covering the eased-up 97-72 victory was Theo Lawson’s responsibility last night. We can pass along his story as well as Jim Meehan’s difference makers. Remember this, San Diego was outsized and early foul trouble didn’t help. … Colin Mulvany took care of the photo gallery. … The folks in the office have this recap with highlights which includes a new feature, a slide show. … We mentioned GameDay above. Jim Meehan delves into it much deeper with this oral history of the first time the show visited Spokane in 2006. … Justin Reed looks back at all the times the Zags played at the show’s location. … Thomas Clouse has this story on the show’s impact. … We also mentioned the women’s win from Thursday. Jim Allen has this story. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the Santa Clara and USF men both won last night, as everyone jockeys for tournament seeding. … Saint Mary’s crushed Pacific 83-52 on Senior Night. … BYU will hold that event Saturday. … The Portland women had to postpone their game with BYU.

EWU: Dan Thompson watched the stream from Ogden, listened to David Riley on 700 ESPN after and has this coverage of the 89-82 win over Weber State. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the big news was about a game that wasn’t played. Portland State couldn’t get to Missoula. The game with Montana was postponed. … Sacramento State got to Bozeman and lost to Montana State 60-56.

Idaho: The Vandals fell 65-55 at Idaho State.

Preps: Mead came this close to winning the State 4A/3A gymnastics title.

Mariners: One of the newest Mariners, Teoscar Hernandez, is in camp. The team won the arbitration hearing with Hernandez recently, but that doesn’t seem to be bothering the new rightfielder. … The M’s have an abundance of pitching to choose from this spring. … Want a feel-good story? How about Evan White battling his way back to the bigs? … Hey, it is a mailbag.

Seahawks: The Rams are going to cut Bobby Wagner loose after one season. Could he return to Seattle? Sure. But will he? No one knows just yet. … The Athletic is reporting Russell Wilson tried to get Pete Carroll and John Schneider fired and that trigged his trade. Huh. To paraphrase Omar, if you come for the kings, you best not miss. … The XFL seems to be the domain of the Mueller brothers.

Sounders: You want to watch the MLS? It will be different this season.

Kraken: Seattle started quickly. Battled all the way. Faded late as visiting Boston returned a favor from earlier in the season, winning 6-5 at Climate Pledge Arena. … The Kraken hope to give a goalie some minor league time.

Sonics: Nate McMillan’s name is in the news again. He’s no longer an NBA head coach. Well, good. Maybe he’ll be available when the league gives Seattle an expansion franchise for next year. OK, we’re just dreaming, but it’s about darn time.

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• Friday. That is all. See you on the weekend. Until then …