A Grip on Sports: Odd acronyms aside, tonight’s game in Pullman has special significance, especially for the Cougars

A GRIP ON SPORTS • This is it. The final Pac-12 (AWKI) basketball showdown between Washington State and Washington. In Pullman. With, possibly for the Cougs, a conference title at stake. At the least, NCAA seeding, again only for WSU. Oh, and maybe the final Mike Hopkins’ coached game in the state.

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• A lot to unpack here, right? About as much as following a three-week road trip in the family truckster.

We’ll start with the acronym. As We Know It. We’ve read those four words so often since August we’re numbed to its import. But tonight’s game in Pullman (6, FS1) brings it forward in a way we haven’t felt before.

Barring some weird confluence of events in Las Vegas, birthplace of many a weird confluence of events, this will be the final time Washington, the state’s urban flagship, and Washington State, the rural beacon, will meet as conference rivals in college athletics’ second-most popular sport.

That’s a long way of saying what the heck is going on here? OK, we all know. But losing games like tonight’s is the result of so much chicanery and stupidity we want to bang our head against the wall. Instead, we will just save the bruise and hope the large crowd in Beasley will enjoy themselves no end. It’s such an odd confluence of events that has put the Cougars in a position to win the conference (AWKI) title for the first time in its last go-round.

They started with maybe Pat Chun’s smartest decision as athletic director, hiring Kyle Smith to replace Ernie Kent. And then his second-smartest, giving Smith time to develop the program his off-beat way. The dividends are being banked this season, one that was expected to see a big drop in the stock price. Nope.

If tonight is also the final time we see Kyle Smith coach in Pullman, so be it. Nothing can stop movement and change these days, not among the players nor the coaches. Smith has delivered on his promises. His track record shows he’s willing to start over every few (successful) years. It’s the path he’s chosen.

If that path includes a Pac-12 (AWKI) title or not, an NCAA run or not, it’s still been special for the Cougars. The Beasley crowds last week showed that. They harkened back to the days of Bennett Ball, the days of Klay, all days long ago.

Nothing UW is doing these days harken back to halcyon days, other than maybe the play of Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks Jr. The 6-foot-7 All-Pac-12 (AWKI) forward may be the only thread keeping Hopkins in Montlake after three disappointing seasons – and the Big Ten challenge awaiting in the fall.

Will the Huskies make a change? Probably. After starting out 48-22 in his first two Coach-of-the-Year-winning seasons, Hopkins has been under .500 since (69-83), though the Huskies are 16-14 this season. But only 8-11 in the conference, assuring them of their fourth sub-.500 finish in those five years.

Is that good enough to lead UW into the new adventure? Maybe Hopkins and his Huskies can win tonight. Ride that momentum into the Pac-12 (AWKI) tournament. Make a long run. And earn him one more year.

• The Cougar women’s season ran into a brick wall of their making Wednesday night in Las Vegas. Once more time since the injury to star guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, Washington State struggled to score. The result was a 65-54 loss to California, the third this season to the Bears.

And yet, if WSU wants to keep playing, it will have the chance. The Pac-12 tourney loss will make it harder to earn an NCAA at-large berth, sure, but the Cougars’ NET ranking of 28 keeps them in that conversation. The selection committee, however, will note much of that analytical success came with Leger-Walker and has a convenient way to dismiss them from the conversation.

But that doesn’t preclude them from being invited to the NCAA’s new Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, a 32-team event put together to equalize the organization’s offerings.

A difference between the women’s event and the men’s NIT, however, is the NCAA dropped a guaranteed spot for men’s conference regular season champions who miss out on the Big Dance. That still applies for the women. Which makes us think if Eastern Washington were to somehow come up short in Boise next week, the Big Sky champs would be a perfect match for WSU.

Failing an NCAA at-large invitation for the Cougars, of course.

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WSU: Every college basketball team has an assistant that is the sport’s equivalent of a defensive coordinator. In the Cougars’ case that is veteran Jim Shaw, who for many years played the same role for Lorenzo Romar on the UW bench. He wasn’t at the game in Seattle earlier this season due to a health issue but he’ll be on the bench for Senior Night in Pullman. Greg Woods uses his presence to lead off his game preview. … There is a preview in the Times as well. … We can pass along this S-R story on the women’s loss to California. … Former Washington State baseball star Kyle Manzardo played at Lake City High and still lives in Coeur d’Alene in the offseason. He’s now in Arizona trying to make the Cleveland Guardians’ roster. Funny thing about this story. It makes a big deal out of getting out of the awful Idaho winters. We’re pretty sure the weather in Cleveland that time of year is much worse. … Jon Wilner has his weekly Best in the West rankings. … We pass along these Pac-12 tournament memories, mainly because of one from 2011. Klay Thompson’s 43-point game. The final Pac-12 tournament game we covered as the S-R’s beat writer. And we still have one question. After scoring 43 points and making a record eight 3-pointers, why wasn’t the ball in Klay ‘s hands for WSU’s final possession in UW’s 89-87 victory? … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, the Washington women also saw their season end, losing to Arizona on Wednesday. … Oregon also lost, to 18th-ranked Colorado, but that’s not news. The Ducks finished the season on a school-record 14-game losing streak. … No. 13 Oregon State has the perfect player coming off the bench. The Beavers will open against the Buffaloes. … No. 22 Utah got past Arizona State in the nightcap. … As the Pac-12 ends, Tara Vanderveer sheds a tear or two. Her second-ranked Stanford team begins their last Pac-12 tourney tonight. … For the men, Colorado has an opportunity to impress with its game against Oregon in Eugene. … Branden Carlson has had a stellar career for Utah. … Waiting to get into tonight’s game with Arizona is a labor of love for UCLA fans. Going down a memory lane of games between the two Pac-12 powers is one for the rest of us. … USC can count on a resilient Boogie Ellis and a healthy Isaiah Collier most every night. … In football news, Jack Westover had a stellar final season at Washington. … Michael Penix Jr. has shot to the top of the draft boards. … Chip Kelly is smiling these days. John Canzano would like to know why that bothers folks.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs will enter the WCC tournament as the second seed this year. That’s not unheard of in their 25-year run of excellence. Neither is excellence. The Zags are 14-1 as a two-seed in the tourney. Jim Meehan has that and more in this story. … Admon Gilder has been, seemingly, everywhere, man, since he left Gonzaga a few years back. But he’s playing in the G League now and even gets a rare chance to head home to Texas.

EWU: Speaking of playing everywhere, Jake Groves has had quite an adventure in his college career. Walking-on at Eastern. Transferring with his brother Tanner to Oklahoma. Moving on this year to Virginia, where he’s helped the Cavaliers to third place in the ACC and on the NCAA bubble. He spoke with Dave Cook recently for this story. On a personal note, we coached Jake with his Eastern Washington Elite travel team the summer before he began at Shadle Park High and have remained close since. When he was looking for a new home last summer, we connected him with Tony Bennett, who was looking for offensive firepower. It was a match. A successful one.  

Preps: The Spokesman-Review is hosting two local high school all-star basketball games again this year, with this edition of The Spokesman-Review Showcase scheduled for March 26 at Lewis and Clark High. Dave Nichols has more in this preview of the event.

Kraken: Alex Wennberg has been in purgatory the past few days. He was finally traded to New York.

Seahawks: The Seattle defensive rebuild, and salary cap relief, continued yesterday with the release of Bryan Mone. … The safety changes, and tight end Will Dissly’s release, put the new brain trust on the clock.

Mariners: There is bullpen depth in Seattle. Because of that, who Scott Servais calls on each game may be different. … We pass along the Matt Brash story again today, as it appeared on the S-R’s website. … The M’s picked up a Cactus League win Wednesday. … Mike Zunino announced his retirement. We are sure he either hit a home run with his announcement or struck out. There was rarely any in-between for the former M’s cannon-armed catcher.

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• Not sure many folks saw this, but last night’s USWNT Gold Cup semifinal win over Canada was played on a lake in San Diego. No, really. There was so much standing water on the field in the first half the ball would just stop at times. And yet they played on. Silly. Not smart. TV-driven we’re sure. It was better after halftime. The U.S. won in a shootout. Until later …