A Grip on Sports: Complaining is a constitutional right and few Americans take more advantage of it than basketball fans
A GRIP ON SPORTS • As this week rolls on, there is one thing we call can be sure about. Complaints will multiple. The loudest ones? They’ll have to do with your clocks, as Daylight Saving Time kicks in Sunday morning. Right behind, though, will be basketball ones.
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• The bellyaching will begin early on this damp Monday morning. The NCAA selection committee, Division III version, will announce its men’s basketball field just after this column hits the Interweb’s street. And there is a great chance it will not include the 22-4 Whitworth Pirates.
Pick up your jaw. Are you new here? This is the NCAA, money is involved, and the Pirates, winners of the Northwest Conference’s regular season, will be penalized for picking the wrong Friday night for playing their worst game. Partly, at least because it saves the NCAA on travel costs.
Part of it falls on the Bucs, sure. Damion Jablonski’s team could have won its NWC postseason tournament. After all, the Pirates earned the right to host, were the conference’s best team all season and knew what was at stake. They didn’t. Lewis & Clark took home the trophy and the playoff berth.
Which left Whitworth’s fate in the hands of a computer program – the NCAA rates teams in that regard even at its non-scholarship level – and a group of administrators. Plus, you know, bean counters.
Sunday’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference final at Cal Lutheran was probably the last nail in the Pirates’ coffin. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps upset the top-seeded Kingsmen 72-71 and grabbed the conference’s auto berth. That threw Cal Lutheran and Redlands, which lost in the semifinal, into the at-large pool. Each is ranked higher than Whitworth. And each will get one of the at-large spots. Plus, it is easier (and cheaper) to fly from L.A. to Houston or wherever the at-large folks have to go. And that is a consideration for a tournament that loses money for the Godzilla that oversees college athletics.
Funny, one DIII mock bracket – yes, bracketology reaches every level of the sport – has Lewis & Clark, Cal Lutheran and Hardin-Simmons at St. Thomas (Texas) for one of the pods.
You know what those schools have in common? All but the pod host lost at least once to the Pirates this season. And yet, despite playing a tough nonconference schedule which included swings through Texas and Southern California, the computer ratings have them too low (42) to make the tournament.
One can argue they had their fate in their hands and that’s true. But one bad night at the wrong time can also destroy a whole season of accomplishments. And that’s tough to choke down. Without complaints.
• The complaints will multiple, and reach a decibel level of near-runway levels, this week at three sites: The Spokane Arena, Yakima SunDome and the Tacoma Dome. That is if what I experienced Saturday carries over. It will.
Watching three high school basketball games Saturday, I was overwhelmed by the ferocity of the folks watching. Their vitriol was scary at times. And needs to stop.
It wasn’t everyone, to be sure. And it (probably) wasn’t going to lead anywhere. But, boy, was it ugly. Ugly enough we first moved around then just left. Kim and I craved a little quiet and civility. We went home, turned on one of those political talk shows from D.C. and enjoyed the relative calm.
• There will be a similar atmosphere in far-flung places up and down the Coast.
The Big Sky Conference tournament begins Saturday in Boise. It sports one of the better monikers in college hoops: StarchMadness. And it will be as competitive as it gets, what with the conference an NCAA one-bid league.
By the time the Boise hijinks tip, the West Coast Conference tournament will be in full swing in Las Vegas. Though, in these parts, only the Washington State men, seeded sixth, will take the floor before we lose an hour of sleep. The Cougar women and their third seed start Sunday in the quarterfinals while both Gonzaga teams don’t have to play until next Monday’s semifinals.
The WCC women will be playing for one NCAA tourney bid. The men? Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga have earned a spot no matter what happens in Vegas. Everyone else more than likely has to win the auto bid to make the Dance.
Is that worth complaining about? Not really. But you’ll hear them anyway. Always do. It is basketball, after all.
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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, playing college basketball is hard. Especially when you have two children at home. … Fresno State reinstated one player who was under the cloud of the gambling investigation. … The San Diego State men had some issues Saturday in Wyoming. … The Stanford women picked up a big home win to end the regular season yesterday. Though they will still need a long run in the ACC tournament to keep their NCAA streak alive. … Washington helped its NCAA at-large hopes yesterday as well. The Huskies topped visiting Oregon. … USC’s JuJu Watkins is the player of the year. No one else is close. And the Trojans may be the best team. Though others, including UCLA still, will have a say about that. … Recruiting never stops. Ask Oregon State. … In football news, what did the best players who once were in the Pac-12 think of the new demands in the new conferences? None of them loved it. … How can the SEC and Big Ten be stopped from ruining the CFP in its infancy? It will take everyone involved banding together. … Christian Caple has been putting out Washington news on his website for two years now. Time flies. … Arizona State has as much talent returning next season as anyone in the nation. … Arizona is still trying to fill out its coaching staff.
Gonzaga: Interested in how the Zag men shut down USF on Saturday night? How about what’s ahead in the tournament? Jim Meehan has you covered. … How about the women’s tournament – and the Bulldogs’ dogged run to the regular season title? Greg Lee has you covered in that area. … Anton Watson spent his entire first NBA season playing for Boston’s G League team. He sat on the Celtics bench at times but never checked into a game. Yesterday, the Celtics waived him. Theo Lawson has more in this story. … Another former GU standout, Jalen Suggs, will undergoing knee surgery this week to fix a cartilage issue. He hopes to return this season but nothing is assured.
EWU: Dylan Darling’s homecoming Saturday in Cheney resulted in what most every game the Central Valley High star played this season has. He scored 24 points, had six assists and fly around to the tune of four steals. He did it in an Idaho State uniform. There is a long story behind that, one Dan Thompson covers today. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana is in the midst of a strange accomplishment right now. Both the Griz’ football and men’s basketball coaches have won more games at the school than anyone ever. … Northern Colorado and Montana will go into tonight’s final regular season games 14-3. The Grizzlies host Eastern and the Bears are at Weber State.
Preps: Dave Nichols has a quick look at all the local teams playing in the six State basketball tournaments.
Mariners: We’ve said this before. Multiple times. Hope is not a strategy. The M’s are hoping a trio of things – maybe more – will come true this season. It’s their only path back to the postseason. … One at-bat can make or break a bid to jump from the minors to the big leagues. … Logan Gilbert pitched well but the M’s lost Sunday.
Seahawks: There were some conclusions one could draw from the combine concerning the Hawks. … They may end up drafting another running back. … They also have to fix their offensive line. That hasn’t changed in years.
Kraken: Phillip Grubauer is back with Seattle.
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• I contemplated waiting until the NCAA DIII pairings were announced online this ugly Monday morning. And writing about it tomorrow. Then I remembered some advice I received not that long ago. With the way news flies around the globe in these modern times, it is better to look ahead when you can. I could today, so I did. If you are a Whitworth fan reading this after the announcement, laughing because I was wrong and the Pirates did earn an at-large bid, sorry. But if I’m right? Sorry again. Until later …