A Grip on Sports: It’s not Christmas yet – no matter what the ads on TV may scream – but it’s another day of presents as college basketball begins

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s finally OK to run downstairs and open the presents. To rip into the wrapping paper, to hold up what’s inside and let your grandparents post a fuzzy video on Facebook. It may not be Christmas, sure, but this Nov. 3 is almost as good. It’s the opening day of college basketball season and just about everyone who is anyone is playing.

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• At least among the Division I men in the area.

Gonzaga? Check. Though having one of the road warriors from the SWAC in the Kennel – Texas Southern in this case – tonight is the equivalent of opening a big box of sweat socks when you were hoping for Call of Duty XI.

Washington State? Idaho? You can check off both in one spot. The two are meeting for the 189th time – can that be right? – with 141 of those coming in Pullman, site of tonight’s 6:30 contest.

Eastern Washington? Yes indeed. And Dan Monson’s squad has the toughest assignment, facing 12th-ranked UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.

Call it Christmas in November if you want. I’ll just stick with saying “it’s about darn time” and move on.

• Three of the region’s four major women’s programs start today as well, with only Gonzaga waiting until Friday – a Fargo matchup with North Dakota State.

Washington State and Idaho will open with a late-morning matinee at Beasley Coliseum, tipping at 11 a.m. Eastern Washington is at home, hosting Northwest University.

• While making double-sure this morning Eastern’s matchup with the Bruins was in Pauley – you know, UCLA’s home court since John Wooden’s days – and not somewhere else, I was struck by a couple aspects of the former Pac-12 power’s nonconference schedule.

UCLA is playing Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona State. It’s almost as if Mick Cronin is: A) saving on travel costs and miles; B) understands how good the Pac-12 would still be if it were, you know, still together; and C) catering to those of us over the age of 30 who yearn for the days of yore, or, as you may refer to them, back before Larry Scott ruined West Coast sports forever.

The only blemish? Not all are in on-campus venues.

The Nov. 14 Arizona meeting is down the 405 some 15 miles – or 137 minutes at rush hour. The game with Cal on Nov. 25 will be across the Bay at the Chase Center. Heck, the Dec. 13 matchup with Gonzaga, soon to be a member of the Pac-12, will be in Seattle.

• Speaking of the Best Coast, can anyone from the Pacific Time Zone actually win a national title this season? It has been 30 years since that’s happened. I know. UCLA’s surprising 1995 run to the title hasn’t been matched since.

And the PST schools who finished runners-up? That would be San Diego State in 2023, Gonzaga in 2021 and 2017 and UCLA in 2006.

Funny, two of those three will be in the Pac-12 next season. Just not the one with 11 of the conference’s 15 national titles.

• Not sure if there is a correlation, but the last time a Pacific Coast school won the title, the season began Nov. 29, almost four weeks later than now. And Kelvin Sampson had just left Pullman on his long journey that came this close to a title in April.

• At least the women in the time zone have won a few NCAA titles since 1995. OK, one. Stanford in 2021. The Cardinal are also the only West Coast school to play for one in the past 30 years, finishing second to UConn in 2010 and to Tennessee in 2008.

The best chance for a title this season? Third-ranked UCLA. Not only do the Bruins return just about everyone from their 34-3, NCAA semifinal team – they lost 85-51 to UConn – but they also welcome one of the best guards in the nation to their lineup, someone fans in this area know and appreciate.

Former Washington State star Charlisse Leger-Walker will make her Bruin debut tonight after spending the past year-and-a-half rehabbing a major knee injury.

• Wow. I just spent 673 words bloviating this morning and not a one of them concerned the Seahawks’ dominating 38-14 win in the other Washington on Sunday night.

Journalistic malpractice? Or personal preference? A mix of both. And neither.

Come on. You watched. You saw Sam Darnold carve up an older-by-the-second Commander defense that seem befuddled by Jaxson Smith-Njimba – understandable – and Cody White – not so much.

You also may have seen – if you hadn’t gone to bed by then –what some are calling coaching malpractice, as Washington’s starting quarterback, and the franchise’s savior, Jayden Daniels, suffered a gruesome left-elbow injury with 7 minutes, 29 seconds left in the game. When the score was 38-7.

That aside, Sunday night’s blowout ensured one thing. A week of the Hawks, 6-2 and atop the NFC West, being listed as a Super Bowl contender. Though I’m sure someone will say they aren’t because Darnold will implode when he’s needed the most. Past history and all that.

Not me. I’m more worried about the status of middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who left the game in the second quarter with a right knee injury. He spent the second half on the sideline in street clothes.

At least Mike Macdonald sounded optimistic after, saying it wasn’t a season-ending injury. But he had no idea how much time Jones, a key cog to one of the better defenses in the league, would miss.

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WSU: The Cougars are on a much-needed bye. Needed because everyone in college football can use a break midseason. And needed because the Cougs could use some time to heal from a bunch of recent tough breaks. Most notably, as Greg Woods points out today, up front on the offensive line. The group has been torn asunder by injuries. … Greg also has a preview of tonight’s basketball game. I would like to point out my neutrality in this Battle of the Palouse, and not just because of professional ethics. The Cougars have one of my former travel-ball players on their coaching staff – graduate assistant Nick Mason – and the Vandals have one starting at point guard – Kolton Mitchell. … Colton Clark’s weekly look at local players in the NFL begins with former WSU standout linebacker Daiyan Henley, who had more motivation than usual yesterday. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the loss at Oregon State forced Jon Wilner to drop the Cougars down a spot in his Pac-12 football rankings. … John Canzano has an in-depth interview with Oregon State president Jayathi Murthy on his website. … The Cougs fell in CBS Sports’ ranking of all the teams. … Utah’s bye may just interrupt the momentum the Utes built in the rout of Cincinnati.

• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, listed chronologically. All are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.

– Northwestern at No. 20 USC (6 p.m. Friday, Fox): The Trojans knocked out Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola for the season.

– Colorado at West Virginia (9 a.m., TNT): Ten weeks into the season and the Buffs still are unsettled at quarterback.

– No. 6 Oregon at Iowa (12:30 p.m., CBS): The Ducks are favored. But not by much. The Hawkeyes present a series of physical challenges not seen since the Indiana game.

– Kansas at Arizona (12:30, ESPN2): The Wildcats won easily in Boulder but were not perfect.

– No. 24 Washington at Wisconsin (1:30, Big Ten): There is a number before the Huskies name here. They are ranked in the Associated Press poll. It’s the first time that has happened since 2023.

– Stanford at North Carolina (1:30, The CW): Bill Belichick should be feeling better after Saturday.

– Texas State at Louisiana (2, ESPN+): The Ragin’ Cajuns and Bobcats both need a win in the worst way, though Louisiana is coming off one.  

– California at No. 14 Louisville (4, ESPN2): The Cardinals just keep winning. 

– Nevada at Utah State (4:30, CBS Sports)

– Nebraska at UCLA (6, Fox): Here is another opinion on the Bruins’ possibly leaving the Rose Bowl. And another condemnation of the school even thinking about it.

– Sam Houston at Oregon State (7, The CW): It was an emotional win for the Beavers. One has to wonder if there will be a bit of a hangover this week. … Will OSU’s starting quarterback be available? No one knows yet.

– San Diego State at Hawaii (8, CBS Sports): Before the long plane ride, the Aztecs can look back one more time at the 24-7 shutdown of Wyoming.

• In basketball news, we start with a former Washington State star who has found another home. Myles Rice landed at Maryland this season. … Oregon will have to rely on a backup until point guard Jackson Shelstad’s return from his injury. … Colorado welcomes in Montana State for its opener. … The USC basketball teams have questions to answer. … Arizona State faces five factors that will determine its fate. … Arizona opens in Las Vegas tonight, facing defending national champion Florida. … Colorado State faces Incarnate Word to open the Ali Farokhmanesh era. … Utah State hosts Westminster. … In the women’s game, Oregon State coach Scott Rueck sat down for an interview last week. … The 18th-ranked Trojans are reloading without JuJu Watkins.

Gonzaga: The women played their final exhibition yesterday afternoon, hosting Carroll College from Helena, Mont. It wasn’t close from the get-go. Greg Lee was there and has this game coverage. … If you believe the Zags have a shot of winning one more game this season than they did in 2017 and 2021 than you probably point at the roster depth. As Theo Lawson tells us in this preview of tonight’s opener, there are three players who spent last year – or more – in Spokane prepping for this season. All of them can’t wait for the tip. … And if you are a little hesitant to think of the Bulldogs as title contenders, you might carry the defensive fears shared in this CBS Sports piece. … Back to Theo, who has the key matchup with Texas Southern. … And in another example of recruiting never stops, GU has a California small forward in for a visit tonight. Theo covers that as well. … Gonzaga is mentioned in this Yahoo piece kicking off the season.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana State shut down everything host Northern Colorado wanted to do Saturday. … UC Davis couldn’t do the same at home against Idaho State. … Cal Poly is in the middle of a four-game slide.

Preps: The first round of the State football playoffs, the Round of 32 if you will, hits this weekend. Dave Nichols has this story covering all the GSL teams and who they match up with. Where and when is still to be determined in some cases.

Velocity: It’s November. Playoff time. And Spokane is winning again. John Allison tells us Spokane handled the USL League One’s best offensive squad, South Georgia Tormenta, in the quarterfinals Sunday, winning 4-3 in a shootout and moving on to Sunday’s semifinals in Spokane.

Seahawks: We didn’t spend much time on the Hawks this morning. But that’s OK. We knew you were covered with what appeared in the S-R. We start with Dave Boling’s column, as he uses his institutional memory to not only praise the throwback uniforms the Seahawks wore but to also put the 38-14 win into better context. … There is also this Bob Condotta game story. … Matt Calkins feels the Hawks look like a contender. … Grades? Always. Quick takeaways? Sure. … There is an update on Jones too, one we linked above as well. … The trade deadline is tomorrow at 1 p.m. PST.

Mariners: Sure, the Dodgers showed grit to win their second consecutive title. But what ended up being the largest payroll in the league helped a lot too. How many teams could have survived the pitching injuries they did and still make the postseason? Maybe one or two others. … Here are the key offseason dates coming up. 

Sounders: It is actually a must-win match tonight in Seattle. No hyperbole. Win and the Sounders head back to Minnesota. Lose and the MLS season is over.

Reign: Seattle will be seeded fifth in the NWSL’s playoffs after a draw at Orlando on Sunday.

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• As I watched Cam Little’s 69-yard field goal attempt sail through the light Las Vegas air on the RedZone, one thought hit me. Could I even run that far anymore? And then I realized, as it cleared the bar with ease, the NFL record for longest field goal is now the same as my age. So, the answer is no. I can’t. But Little probably can. Until later …