A Grip on Sports: The spring forward was made more challenging by last night’s anticipated – and long – wait for basketball games to finish

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Hating on Daylight Saving Time is all the rage. Not the idea of later sunsets itself, sure, but the back-and-forth, switching time twice a year. Especially in the spring, when we all take that forward leap. As we did overnight – giving each of us an hour’s less sleep. And keeping me in the dark.

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• For the past few days, heading downstairs for the second cup of coffee finally was happening in the light. Natural light. The sun’s shine. It did not last long. The trip will be taken in darkness today. Hope I don’t trip. Break a hip. Or something.

If that happens I won’t be able to cover the handful of items I want to cover this morning. Already done one.

You know, Daylight Saving Time. The change? The national angst? You understand, right? Or is everyone still asleep?

OK, other than the darkness-in-the-morning thing, I’m OK with switching back-and-forth. So let’s move on.

• One thing I did last night was try to get to bed at a decent hour. But the WIAA, Washington’s prep sports governing body, made a mockery of that attempt.

The 4A boys basketball final was scheduled to start at 9 p.m. in Tacoma. Not sure if it did. I was in bed, trying to build a reserve of energy for this morning.

Would have too, if my phone had shut up. A certain group of friends took it upon themselves to keep me updated on what they were seeing.

The final minute of Gonzaga Prep’s 57-55 title win? Fallen asleep by then. But, thankfully, I have a NFHS streaming subscription. And I was able to watch it on, well, tape isn’t the right word anymore, but before I began this morning.

And the last minute was exciting. Other than the four or five timeouts – I lost track and didn’t want to go through the touchy interface to count them up again – in the final seconds.

Thanks to tourney MVP Drew Jones’ right corner jumper, Puyallup, which traveled across the mountains last Saturday and lost a first-round matchup with the Bullpups, hit a shot to tie it with less than 30-seconds left.

But Brogan Howell, Gonzaga’s senior guard who had to chase Jones around last Saturday and last night, drove and hit a Keith Smart-like jumper with 2.2 seconds left to put the Pups back on top.

Puyallup called time. Prep called two. Puyallup passed the ball into the front court and called time. The Vikings got the ball in Jones’ hands, he was able to get to the right corner again, but his final shot, over Brogan’s contest, hit rim and fell off. The Bullpups had their fourth state title since 2011.

• Central Valley’s girls have won their first State title in 1993. Won again in 2001 and 2002. Won every other year between 2016 and 2020. But the Bears hadn’t made State since. That was expected to change the minute Brynn McGaughy, Washington’s best player and a McDonald’s All-American, transferred from Colfax before the school year.

It did.

And they made the most of it, winning title No. 7 in a 39-34 slugfest over Lakeside of Seattle in the 3A title game.

• As much as we all moaned – often – about the Pac-12 Networks, it sure would have been nice to have it in play last night. For us cable subscribers, anyway. Those of you who are all in with streaming, I’m sure watching the Cougar men play their best game in a while at the right time (the WCC tournament), or watching Eastern’s men and women bowing out of the Big Sky tournament, was pretty easy.

ESPN+ is not my best friend. Heck, it’s barely an acquaintance. Even if the Cougs had been on at an early hour – their 94-77 win over Loyola Marymount wasn’t – watching would have been a chore.

Worth it, though.

• Will getting rid of Geno Smith be worth it for the Hawks? For a third-round pick?

Yes, Smith was maddening at times. Mainly early in games. In the red zone. But, still. He was competent. More than competent when the game was on the line. More than competent when you factor in the lack of protection.

And, no matter what, his strengths and weaknesses were known commodities.

Whoever the Hawks hire to replace him won’t be. Please, don’t say Sam Howell. He’s not the guy. Not if Seattle has plans to win this upcoming season. There has to be another starter.

The signs point to Sam Darnold.

A good move? Or not?

For most of last season that was an easy answer. Darnold left New York, spent a season with the 49ers, then blossomed with Minnesota. An MVP-like season. Until it came apart in a final-week loss at Detroit – a tough place to play – and a first-round playoff loss to the Rams in Arizona – not as tough, but worse looking.

The Vikings decided to move on. The Hawks? They have a few guys in their building that know Darnold well, including new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. If he believes Darnold is a fit, then maybe he is.

As Bob Condotta pointed out, if Seattle takes the money they offered Smith and gives it Darnold, they will have made a de-facto trade: Darnold for Smith and a third-round pick (No. 92 in the upcoming draft).

• There were a heck of a lot of great men’s college basketball games on TV yesterday. Alabama ruining Auburn’s senior ceremonies in overtime. Kansas beating up Arizona in Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Kentucky driving past Missouri on the road. St. John’s renaissance continuing with a buzzer-beating win over Marquette. UCLA blasting USC in another edition of their storied Big Ten rivalry.

The men – other than Michigan State vs. Michigan (9 a.m., CBS) – basically yield the stage today as the women take over. There is one highlighted contest. The third one between No. 2 USC and No. 4 UCLA (1:30, CBS). Winner gets a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Loser falls to a No. 2.

But that’s not the only top five matchup today. No. 1 Texas also faces No. 5 (and defending champion) South Carolina (noon, ESPN). The stakes may be the same in this SEC title matchup.

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WSU: Greg Woods is in Las Vegas and has this coverage of the Cougars’ win. Washington State faces USF tonight. The Dons may not have star guard Marcus Williams, suspended this week due to an eligibility issue. … The women start today at 2 p.m. against Pacific. Greg Lee previews that matchup with a feature on Cougar guard Eleonora Villa. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has a column in today’s S-R in which he argues Texas State is the best candidate for the eighth-football playing school. … Oregon State had no answer for Pepperdine in the second half. The Beavers’ first season in the WCC ended with a whimper. … Great Osobor followed Danny Sprinkle when the coach came to Washington. Of course he is in his corner. … Cal and Stanford both lost ACC games yesterday on the road, with the Bears dropping theirs in four overtimes at Notre Dame. … Colorado actually won a Big 12 men’s game. The Buffs’ last home one. … Utah lost to BYU. … Mentioned this above but UCLA just walloped Eric Musselman’s USC team. … Mentioned this too. Arizona was no match for Kansas on the road. …  Arizona State lost at home to Texas Tech. … The Mountain West matchups are known, with Colorado State the second seed. … San Diego State, which won Saturday against Nevada, will face Boise State. … Utah State was nearly perfect Saturday. … In football news, Oregon is about to begin spring practice. We can pass along position previews covering specialists and tight end. … How much is Deion Sanders worth to Colorado? Could it really be $100 million? … Fresno State’s spring practice will include quarterback tryouts. … San Diego State has a quarterback competition as well.

Gonzaga: The Zag men begin their WCC journey tomorrow night against the winner of the WSU/USF game. Either way, success may be determined by how often they connect on their 3-point shots. Jim Meehan examines the stats and the correlation between makes and wins. … What would a WCC tournament be without at least one look back at Gonzaga’s past success? Dave Boling does the honors and he goes all the way back to Mark Few’s first season in charge. … The women also begin Monday, facing the today’s winner between Oregon State and USF. Greg lets us know the Bulldogs are playing their best basketball of the season. And that they are healthy, which is part of why. … Elsewhere in the WCC, is Saint Mary’s a viable target for the Pac-12? John Canzano tried to find out. … The Gaels have a great freshman. Wonder if he will end up at UConn?

EWU: Well, it wasn’t just David Riley. The Eagle men were one-and-done in the Big Sky tourney once again this season, the third consecutive time that’s happened but the first on Dan Monson’s watch. Dan Thompson took in the 66-53 loss to Northern Arizona and has this story. … Dan also covers the final game of the women’s season, a 71-67 loss to Sacramento State. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, both Idaho teams do not play until Monday. … Montana’s men start their title quest against Northern Arizona. … Travis DeCuire has won more games with the Griz than any other coach. … Weber State hammered Sacramento State. It will meet Northern Colorado. … Portland State is ready for their first game. … A couple players’ versatility has really helped the Montana State women be successful this season. … They will face Northern Colorado today.

Preps: Dave Nichols was in Tacoma to cover the 4A/3A games and he did that, with this story on the Central Valley win, this one on Prep’s title and another one on Mt. Spokane’s loss in the 3A boys. But he did more. He wrote a column on covering the event, piggy-backing a little on something I wrote yesterday. … Deer Park’s girls held on to finish third in the 2A tournament in Yakima. … At the Arena, Northwest Christian’s girls finished off an improbable run to the 2B title while Freeman fell in the 2B boys game. Madison McCord has stories on both. … Dan Thompson has the coverage of the 1B boys’ title game in which Lummi Nation edged Almira/Coulee-Hartline and the Neah Bay girls securing their third consecutive title. … Cheryl Nichols has a summary of the rest of the B games for the girls and boys.

Chiefs: Spokane had a tougher time defeating Victoria on Saturday night. Instead of a rout like Friday, the Chiefs took a 2-1 victory in a shootout.

Zephyr: Spokane returned to the ONE Spokane Stadium turf last night for the first time in months. But it wasn’t a happy return, as the Carolina Ascent took home a 2-1 victory.  Colton Clark has the story.

Seahawks: Yes, I had some questions above about the Smith trade. So did Matt Calkins. … The Times’ Condotta tried to answer some. … Hawk fans certainly want a few.

Mariners: Logan Gilbert wasn’t sharp. The M’s bats were though. Still, the Cubs took a 9-8 victory.

Sounders: Saturday’s 5-2 MLS win was a big deal for Seattle. Beating LAFC is always a big deal, especially when Seattle started mainly backups with a huge Campions Cup match set for Tuesday night in Mexico. One of the five goals, Jordan Morris’ in the 77th minute, will be remembered longest. It gave the Seattle native 87 with his hometown pro team, a franchise record. … The Sounders and Reign have a vision for what shared ownership looks like. 

Kraken: Seattle has a little while yet. But the hockey team better be better, and more relevant, before the NBA decides to put an expansion franchise in the same arena.

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• Yep, the sun came over the mountains an hour later this morning. Funny how that works. Until later …