A Grip on Sports: With only minimal competition, college basketball opened its season with some grand performances on grand stages

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Thank you College Football Playoff selection committee. And, to a smaller degree, the folks in New York who put together the NFL schedule. You basically left Monday night to college hoops. And its opening night extravaganza. Those of us who love the game appreciate it.

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• Dallas and Arizona on Monday Night Football? Sorry, had to stifle a yawn. Who won anyway? Did anyone care? Those YouTube subscribers who weren’t able to watch – you didn’t miss much – but after that, maybe 74 people in Denton, Texas, a handful in Chandler, Arizona and a gambler or two in Des Moines, Iowa.

Whether it was a happy coincidence or not, the MNF matchup, along with the CFP and ESPN deciding Tuesday nights are the best nights for their weekly rankings reveal, the first Monday in November was wide-open. The perfect spot to kick off a college basketball season that promises to be the same.

The men’s favorite? Name any of a dozen or two teams and I’ll consider them. Everyone has strengths and everyone has flaws. Even Duke.

The women’s favorite? The number of capable teams might be fewer than the men but the same top-of-the-pyramid argument still applies. There isn’t one team standing astride the sport like a Colossus. There is a handful or more who could raise the trophy in April.

And the young stars. Wow. Koa Peat. AJ Dybantsa. That’s just the western duo that debuted in Las Vegas last night. Both were exceptional. In different ways. Bottom line, though, is both of their teams, Arizona and BYU, won. That bodes well for the sport.

But how about around here? On a night in which two schools separated by nine miles met on the Palouse, Gonzaga began another march to March and Eastern Washington opened in one of the game’s revered facilities, how did it go?

Pretty well for everyone except the Cougars. Of both genders. And in football’s Corvallis faceplant Saturday and this has been a week your neighbor with the Cougar flag would like to forget.

It’s bad enough to lose to the Vandals in a mid-day Beasley women’s game. Especially when the UI player who led the second-half comeback, Kyra Gardner, played at WSU last season. But to then to have David Riley’s men fail to defend for 35 minutes against their neighbors on the same night in the same place, that has to hurt.

Add in two of Idaho’s best returning players, point guard Kolton Mitchell – a local high school star – and wing Jack Payne combined to go 4-for-14 from the floor and dealt with foul trouble and yet the Vandals still went home with an 83-81 win, that’s not a great way to start the season.

Though not all losses are a bad way to start.

The Eagles had one in Pauley Pavilion, dropping an 80-74 decision to 12th-ranked UCLA, but played well enough the Bruins volatile coach Mick Cronin had a bit of a postgame meltdown in front of the media. Maybe it was for show but the stress Eastern put on UCLA’s interior defense all night was real. And, no matter how poorly the Bruins played – Cronin will tell you it was awful – it seems Dan Monson has put together a group that can compete on any given night.

Or is that an overreaction?

At least a little, sure. But that’s what opening nights are for in a way. Take Gonzaga, for instance. The Zags played a woefully overmatched Texas Southern team, missing its top returning scorer. In the Kennel. With 6,000 fans ready to celebrate the new-look roster that includes two old-school twin towers inside.

And yet it wasn’t a blowout from the opening tip.

That happened, but not at first. A pregame turnover – credited an unnamed assistant coach for that one – meant the Bulldogs’ first five wasn’t actually the group Mark Few had decided upon. Tyon Grant-Foster was surprised as anyone to hear he was starting over Arizona State transfer Adam Miller.

The mix up might have mixed up the rotations a bit. And slowed the march toward the inevitable some. But the Zags’ depth asserted itself – when Few looks down the bench he sees dudes – and rolled to a typical 98-43 opening-win.

Which means in everywhere but Pullman, all is right in the region’s college basketball world.

• Though not everywhere around the nation.

The folks in Auburn, Alabama are probably grumbling about nepotism as anointed coach Steven Pearl’s first game in charge after his dad’s abrupt preseason retirement was a tense, seemed-to-be-lost 95-90 overtime win over visiting Bethune-Cookman.

Defending champion Florida saw its winning streak snapped as Todd Golden’s third-ranked Gators fell to Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona team in a battle of former WCC assistants.

And three guys in that game, officials Keith Kimble, Kip Kissinger and Bart Lenox, missed the most-obvious double-dribble in the building since the Harlem Globetrotter last performed in the T-Mobile Arena.

Peat, the freshman phenom from Gilbert, near Phoenix, had just hammered down back-to-back dunks, part of his 30-point, seven-rebound, five-assist effort, giving the 13th-ranked Wildcats a 74-70 lead with 6 minutes, 40 seconds left.

Golden called time out. Drew up a play for star Alex Condon. Running off a double-high post set, Condon received a pass at the right below. Caught it. Took one dribble to the middle, picked the ball up and prepared to hand it off to a guard zooming by. But the UA defense blew that up. So Condon pivoted, was pressured, and attacked down the lane with two more dribbles, scoring a much-needed bucket.

No one saw the violation. Not even, it seemed, anyone in the building. But the camera did, even if TNT never showed a replay. The DVR is always there.

Luckily, the snafu did not impact the final score. Not even the one that matters more than all others in Las Vegas (Florida was favored).   

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WSU: Now on to the S-R coverage. Greg Woods didn’t have to worry about football too much – this is a bye week – so he was in Beasley for the game. He has this story, which is also linked in the Idaho section below. … There is also a photo gallery from Geoff Crimmins. … The coverage of the women’s game includes the nugget UI hasn’t topped Washington State in 22 years. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the CFP rankings will be announced tonight. In preparation, Jon Wilner ranked the Big Ten and Big 12 in the Mercury News. … There are national predictions on what the CFP committee will do as well. Remember, though, the final ones matter. These? They just give us something to argue about – and by us, I also mean coaches and conference commissioners. … John Canzano had his Monday mailbag. … How often do college coaches steal Xs and Os from each other?

• 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 don’t need to win. After all, the basketball team is back playing and we all know under Eric Musselman, USC, 1-0, is a basketball school.

– Colorado at West Virginia (9 a.m., TNT): Deion Sanders said Monday fixing the Buffs’ issues in on him. Good to know.

– No. 6 Oregon at Iowa (12:30 p.m., CBS): Two great defenses. One decent to good offense. And Iowa’s.

– Kansas at Arizona (12:30, ESPN2): The Wildcats’ physical play is translating into turnovers.

– No. 24 Washington at Wisconsin (1:30, Big Ten): Turns out the Huskies aren’t as healthy this week as Jedd Fisch hoped.

– Stanford at North Carolina (1:30, The CW): The Cardinal have made a change at quarterback.

– Texas State at Louisiana (2, ESPN+)

– California at No. 14 Louisville (4, ESPN2): It almost seems as if coach is just waiting to see how much the Bears will pay him to move on.

– Nevada at Utah State (4:30, CBS Sports): Basketball season began yesterday. Logan is a basketball town.

– Nebraska at UCLA (6, Fox): If the Bruins win this weekend, they may have to send a thank you note to USC. Boy, that would chap the alums.

– Sam Houston at Oregon State (7, The CW): Could it be? Could the Beavers go from 0-7 to 3-7 under Robb Akey? They are favored by three touchdowns, so, sure. … There is some off-the-field trouble. 

– San Diego State at Hawaii (8, CBS Sports): Wyoming’s coach wasn’t impressed by the Snapdragon Stadium crowd. At least he didn’t complain about the grass. And he did praise the team playing in front of the San Diego faithful.

• In basketball news, Washington’s men began the season with an easy win. … Oregon State scored the last points and defeated North Dakota State. … Montana State visited Colorado and went home with a loss. … Utah began with a home win. … So did Utah State. … The Bay Area schools did well. … As we alluded to above, USC is 1-0 after defeating Cal Poly.  … We linked most Arizona stories above. But not all. … It was an awful night for Boise State, who lost to a Division II school at home. … It is a new era at Colorado State, one that opened with a win. … San Diego State still remembers how last season ended. … The UW women had no trouble with Seattle U. … Oregon rolled at home. … No. 3 UCLA was tested by San Diego State. … USC will not have JuJu Watkins this season. … Arizona State won at home under its new coach. … We can pass along the Bay Area previews for men and women in the Mercury News here as well as in the WCC section. … The Chronicle looks at the prospects for the Stanford and California women.  

Gonzaga: The usual crew was in McCarthey on Monday night. Theo Lawson has the game story and teamed with the folks in the office for the recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan is working game days and has a story on the bench contributions as well as three takeaways. … Colin Mulvany has this photo gallery. … Before the contest, Theo put together a story on Graham Ike being named to the preseason Naismith Trophy watch list. … The Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast is back. Jim and Richard Fox put one out Monday prior to the tip. You can listen here. … Around the WCC, we can pass along again the Bay Area previews for men and women in the Mercury News. … The Chronicle looks at the Bay Area women’s teams. 

EWU: This story not only covers the men’s game from Los Angeles, but also has information on the women’s win over Northwest University. … We found a couple of stories from L.A., which is how we knew Cronin wasn’t a happy man afterward. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Sacramento State’s new basketball facility made its debut Monday night. … Next-year member Utah Tech upset South Dakota on the road in overtime. … Montana had no trouble in its home opener. … Neither did Weber State. … Fly fishing is something even football players do in Missoula. … Montana State stuck to its plan against Weber State.

Idaho: As promised, here is a link to Greg’s basketball game story. And another link to the women’s game. 

Mariners: Cal Raleigh is, as expected, an American League MVP finalist. If he wins, though, that will be unexpected given the I-95 corridor’s oversized representation in the voting and Aaron Judge being a worthy candidate. Don’t forget, however, Raleigh’s peers thought he had the best season in baseball. … Dan Wilson is also a finalist for A.L. Manager of the Year. … Josh Naylor is the Mariners’ top free agent target. 

Sounders: In a must-win match, the host Sounders found a way to win 4-2. Now Seattle travels to Minnesota for a winner-moves-on-in-the-MLS-playoffs match on Saturday afternoon.

Seahawks: Speaking of awards, Sunday night’s performance lifted Sam Darnold into the conversation for the NFL’s top awards. … The protection is better, which helps Darnold a lot. … Washington coach Dan Quinn admitted he messed up having star quarterback Jayden Daniels on the field late before his injury. … How do the national media view the Hawks? … How is Ernest Jones IV doing?

Kraken: A 3-1 win over Chicago extended the Kraken’s point streak to five consecutive games.

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• Thank goodness the college basketball schedule won’t be as packed every night as it was Monday. And there will be, soon, more matchups between the top teams. And in that, we include Gonzaga. Until later …