A Grip on Sports: There is way too much to unpack as we head into the end times for college hoops
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Travel days are always hectic. Remember, forget, take, leave. What to put in, what to take out. Sort of like writing this column each morning. Consider today’s column your suitcase.
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• What should we unpack first. Guess the right choice is last night’s Senior Night in the Kennel. Drew Timme taking his ceremonial walk through the students down to the floor. Anton Watson too. The two of them, who entered Gonzaga together four years ago, have been part of the Zags’ packed history.
They have the West Coast Conference tournament ahead. An NCAA run. Time to make an even greater mark, if that’s possible.
After all, Timme will leave Gonzaga as the school’s all-time leading scorer. (He could break Frank Burgess’ 62-year-old record on Monday in the WCC semifinals as he needs 21 points.) And Watson grew up in the area, learned to play on courts in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, then has worn a Gonzaga – either Prep or University – jersey for eight years.
Those are legacies, folks.
And, by the way, the Zags not only celebrated their seniors, they defeated visiting Chicago State 104-65. It was the eighth time the Bulldogs scored more than 100 points in a game this season, setting a school record.
• There is always one Gonzaga player who seems to be underappreciated by the WCC’s coaches. This year that award, if you want to call it that, goes to Watson.
The senior, who some ESPN commentators have called the best “glue” guy in the nation, didn’t earn conference first-team honors. Nor second team. He fell into the honorable mention category. OK then.
There was a bigger travesty. Not that he wasn’t named the conference’s defensive player of the year. Saint Mary’s Logan Johnson was a fine recipient. But the WCC, calling itself a major conference, doesn’t pick an all-defensive team? C’mon. Defense is a key part of the game and should be highlighted. There is no doubt Watson, whose hands seem everywhere during games, would have been on it.
• It’s interesting, to us anyway, the Pac-12 holds its women’s tournament a week before the men. Same city, sure. Just a week earlier. The final get-together for the women began Wednesday night in Las Vegas. And featured an upset or two. Plus, Washington State did something it’s never done before as an NCAA school.
The Cougars defeated California 61-49. That’s not it. But it was WSU’s 20th win of the season. That’s new. The only other time Washington State won 20, the game was overseen by the AIAW, who was in charge while the NCAA ignored the women.
Of course, it was Charlisse Leger-Walker, a trailblazer in her own right, who led the way. The New Zealand star scored 23 points as WSU advanced to play second seed, and third-ranked Utah, in the quarterfinals today.
• Back to awards. The Gonzaga women took home the big ones after winning another WCC title. Lisa Fortier was the coach of the year, Kaylynne Truong was the player of the year and three Zags were members – including Forward Yvonne Ejim and guard Brynna Maxwell – of the first team. Add in McKayla Williams as honorable mention and Calli Stokes on the all-freshman team, and Gonzaga made quite a haul. Don’t forget, however, those five players were, at some points of the season, about the only healthy player Fortier could draw from. The Bulldogs were decimated by injuries much of the year and still finished 27-3 and 17-1 in conference.
• We’re a bit disappointed we’re leaving town. It means we won’t braving the snow – we had some more this morning – to visit the Arena for the State B tournaments.
One of our traditions for many years was to walk over to the Arena (and the Coliseum) from work downtown on Wednesday morning to watch first-round games. And have a German sausage on a bun for breakfast.
We were younger then. Neither the walk nor the sausage caused an issue. Not sure we could say that these days.
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WSU: Funny thing. Here we are, waxing poetic about the postseason and all, and the Cougar men still have a regular season game to play. Against the Huskies of all people. In Seattle. Washington State rides a five-game winning streak into Hec Ed to play Washington. Colton Clark has a preview. … Colton also watched the women last night and put together this game story, which we also linked above. … Bob Condotta is in Indianapolis for the Seattle Times and has some thoughts on Daiyan Henley’s chances of ending up on the Seahawks. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, Mike Montgomery doesn’t believe neither of his former schools California nor Stanford are keeping up with the times. … Oregon has a lot on the line this week. … Oregon State is playing out the string. … Colorado star KJ Simpson is healthy but not in the same form. … Ben Howland is still in UCLA’s corner. … Arizona has been more efficient since its lineup change. Host USC will test it tonight. … At the women’s tournament, we think Oregon will be in the NCAAs, after its 52-50 win over Washington gave the Ducks 17 wins. They are 19th in the NET rankings and face top-seed Stanford today. … Though Oregon State upset USC 56-48, don’t expect the Beavers in the next tournament unless they make a heck of a run this week. … Fifth-seeded UCLA survived woeful Arizona State 81-70 in overtime. Next up is fourth-seed Arizona. … Third-seed Colorado is ready to start tournament play against OSU. … In football news, Jon Wilner enters March by making his last, best guesses about the conference’s media-rights deal and the future in the Mercury News. … There are quite a few Oregon players at the NFL combine. … Colorado has an experienced tight end coach.
Gonzaga: A stress-free Senior Night? If that’s what Mark Few wanted, that’s what he got. The 39-point win over Chicago State allowed for celebration and fine-tuning. Theo Lawson has the game story. … Jim Meehan took care of the difference makers and a story on Watson’s night. … Tyler Tjomsland was the photographer on duty and has this photo gallery. … The folks in the office handled the recap with highlights. … Theo returns with his podcast with Watson. … And Jim also returns with this story on the WCC’s awards. … Jim Allen takes care of the awards for the women. … Elsewhere in the WCC, a BYU senior hopes to key a WCC tournament run for the Cougars – after 12 years. … Aidan Mahaney is a home-grown talent for Saint Mary’s. … Santa Clara has ridden a transfer to success.
Idaho: Athletic director Terry Gawlik is looking for a new men’s basketball coach. Where will it send her? She expects to examine many possibilities. Peter Harriman has this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, a couple Montana State seniors have helped the women’s and men’s teams thrive this season.
Preps: The basketball tournaments are going in Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane. From across the mountains, Dave Nichols has stories on Gonzaga Prep’s boys and girls, as they were the only teams in action at the 4A or 3A tournaments Wednesday. … Three area teams were in action in Yakima at the 2A and 1A tournaments. West Valley boys lost though the Freeman and Deer Park girls won. … Here in Spokane, we pass along a roundup of the girls by Dan Thompson and boys action from Keenan Gray. … Want more about the scene downtown? Garrett Cabeza has that story.
Mariners: The good news is Julio Rodriguez and Jarred Kelenic hit back-to-back home runs. The bad news? The M’s lost. … Matt Festa has gotten so much better since joining the Mariners.
Seahawks: There are other players at the combine with Washington ties.
Sounders: Raul Ruidiaz may be back this week from injury.
Kraken: Nope. Seattle doesn’t look as if it will make a roster-boosting trade this week.
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• We have to pack today. That’s a given. Get from here to there via our airports. And, to add even more stress, we have a column about the Gonzaga women to finish up and another one to map out. How fun. Why do we do this to ourselves when we could be just lazing around and enjoying retirement? We’re a bit masochistic, possibly though we’ve avoided having anyone give us a clinical diagnosis. But we’re certainly brain-addled. Honestly, though, we blame our dad, who beat in a work ethic that still hasn’t faded. We don’t feel fulfilled unless we are doing something. What say you Dr. Freud? Until later …