A Grip on Sports: With a Hall of Fame ceremony on the docket, maybe this is a good day to drill down a little deeper into this Hooptown moniker

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Name two words that strike fear in your heart. Check engine? Dad’s home? Bullpen game? My choice on this Wednesday is simple: root canal. Why? We have an appointment for a procedure on a tooth that’s been a problem since mid-1970s. After 50 years, might a pain-free future await on the other side of the drill?

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• The tooth first broke, or exploded actually, while I was eating Grape Nuts one morning. I remember it vividly because, as a college student, I had no dental insurance. My dad had to come up with the cost out of his pocket, something he never let me forget.

Over the years the tooth never felt right. Finally, last week, an infection set in, pain resulted and my good friend, who is also my dentist, got me in for a look. The root canal done oh so long ago was incomplete. Needs to be redone. And here we are, set for an afternoon of lying in a chair, jaw propped open and all type of bad memories bubbling up as often as the water in the back of my throat. It is not my favorite activity.

But it could be worse. I guess. When I get home, the M’s will be on TV, they are riding a winning streak and have George Kirby on the mound (4:40 p.m., Root). That should supply a diversion from whatever pain exists from having a nice man drilling incessantly into the recesses of my jaw.

And if the Mariners’ are not hitting? Well, there is always the NBA draft (5 p.m., ABC and ESPN). I can sit there waiting for Cedric Coward’s name to be called. Maybe, before I fall asleep, Ryan Nembhard might even be selected. And it will be another stellar day for the Inland Northwest’s basketball legacy.

Hooptown? How about Hoopregion?

• There is a symmetry of sorts with the NBA’s draft and Hooptown’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony tonight in Riverfront Park.

One is a basketball event people from all over the world look forward to each year and is the unquestioned heart of the league’s future. The other is a celebration of what makes that heart tick. The love of the game.

Events like Hoopfest were not around 50 years ago. The main reason? Basketball was a fun game but had yet to really catch the imagination of the sporting world. It was a distant third in this country’s sports hierarchy (maybe fourth, still trailing boxing) and was just beginning to be exported overseas. In the ensuing five decades, its allure and draw has been inexorable, growing exponentially around the world and threatening baseball as America’s second-favorite spectator sport. Actually, it might have already passed the pastime for that spot. After all, its participation numbers among high school athletes trails only football and track and field.

Nowhere has basketball become intertwined with the culture more than the Inland Northwest. OK, nowhere this side of Indiana.

The reasons behind the area’s grip are many, from how deeply girls’ basketball was embraced and encouraged long before other parts of the country to Hoopfest’s invention to Gonzaga’s national success to the long history of small towns traveling to Spokane for the State B Tournament.

Which is more important? Doesn’t matter. All that does is the Hooptown moniker fits.

In my travels around the country the past couple decades, the number of times basketball people volunteer how they made a pilgrimage to Spokane to play Hoopfest or how much the appreciate the way Gonzaga’s men play or how impressed they are with Spokane basketball in general is innumerable.

This year’s Hall of Fame class encompasses many of those touchstones.

Mark Few, the architect of Gonzaga’s success. Angie Bjorklund, the first local female high school star to be recruited by the nation’s best-of-the-best programs. Heather Bowman, who stayed home to help elevate the GU women’s program. Hoopfest legend JR Camel, who honed his game in the small towns of Montana. And the University of Idaho 1981-82 men’s team, whose out-of-nowhere – hey, that’s not a bad description of Moscow in the eyes of the rest of the country – run of success shined a light on the region just as the sport was beginning its rise in prominence.

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WSU: Coward should be selected in the first round tonight, an amazingly fast rise for a player whose started at Division III Willamette, moved on to play for David Riley at Eastern Washington and then followed his coach to Pullman this time last year. Greg Woods covers all that one more time and also adds another Washington State note. … As we love to say, recruiting never stops. The Cougars soldiered on with its 2026 football class. Greg has that story as well. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, a lot of good questions and answers in this Stewart Mandel mailbag on The Athletic site. … Colorado continues to attract recruits. As does Utah. … Oregon missed out on the No. 1 quarterback recruit for 2026 as Ryder Lyons decided to attend BYU. After his LDS mission. … In basketball news, the Oregon women picked up a big recruiting win. … Yes, there will be players from the old and soon-to-be-new Pac-12 drafted tonight. One is Colorado State’s Nique Clifford. … Another possibility? Arizona’s Carter Bryant. … USC incoming freshman Alijah Arenas spoke about his truck crash for the first time. … If you are wondering why Oregon State baseball has 14 players in the portal, the House settlement and its new roster limits has something to do with it. … One Beaver experienced lows and highs in his time in Corvallis.

Gonzaga: There is little chance the Zags will have a draft pick in tonight’s first round. But there is a better chance Ryan Nembhard will get chosen tomorrow during the NBA’s second round. Theo Lawson has more in this story, which also touches on Coward a bit as well. … Theo checks in with the Zags’ recruiting for 2026, as Few’s program has received another mention by one of the classes’ top recruits. … The pre-draft trades that hit yesterday ensnared Kelly Olynyk once again. He was sent to the Washington Wizards. Theo has more on that as well.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State traveled to Minnesota for its latest football recruits. … Once again the NCAA told Sacramento State it can’t move up to FBS football without a conference invitation. It looks as if the Hornets will play this fall in the Big Sky one last season and then play as an FCS independent. … The Hornets also added a veteran coach to their staff. … The Weber State men added a nonconference game at Utah State to their basketball schedule.

Hoopfest: The countdown to Hooptown’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony continues with Greg Lee’s story on Bjorklund’s journey from youth basketball through a State 4A runner-up finish in 2007 (fixed from earlier), an NCAA title with Tennessee and a pro career overseas. Now Bjorklund is coaching in Europe. Helping the next generation of players reach their goals and dreams.

Indians: The road beckoned and Spokane answered, heading to Hillsboro for a six-game set with the Hops. It started well Tuesday night, with the Indians picking up a 10-3 win.

Mariners: Julio Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth brought home what proved to be the game winner in a 6-5 decision over the Twins. No big deal, right? Wrong. The M’s had broken on top 5-0 early. Then Luis Castillo lost focus, grooved too many pitches and host Minnesota came all the way back to tie. When the Mariners loaded the bases in the ninth with one out against the Twins’ closer, it was imperative for Rodriguez to come through. Or a devastating loss might be in the offing. He did. And Seattle won. … Is this the time Rodriguez begins his annual summer hot streak? … We linked this Matt Calkins column yesterday when it ran in the Times. We do it again here. … The MVP subject came up in another story today.

Kraken: The newest addition to the roster fills a key role.

Sounders: Seattle’s Club World Cup adventure is over, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t ancillary benefits. One was the rest of the world’s soccer intelligentsia discovering what Seattle has to offer.

Storm: Despite Caitlin Clark’s shooting slump bottoming out – maybe – last night in Climate Pledge Arena, the visiting Fever still found a way to get past the Storm 94-86. … The crowd was pro-Storm but with more support for the visitors than usual.

Seahawks: Why did the Hawks trade Russell Wilson? Bob Condotta examines Wilson’s recent testimony in a court case to shed light on the decision.

Golf: It looks as if the PGA Tour has finally started to get past its TV slump that started in the pandemic and continued to deepen due to LIV defections. The latest tournament drew much-higher viewership numbers than last year and continued a trend.

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• It’s ironic that I struggle with dental procedures. Not alone in that, I know. But the irony part revolves around two good friends. Both dentists. One has been a friend for more than 50 years. The other has grown close in the past decade or so. Neither will be working on me today, as the procedure’s demands call for a specialist. Ah, well. In a few weeks I’ll be happy it was done. Maybe even in a few days. Fingers crossed. Until later …