A Grip on Sports: Some of what’s happened this college basketball season has been inexplicable – and not in a good way

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Inexplicable is a fun word. And can define a fun occurrence. Though when inexplicable sports trends or games pop up, they are usually not-so-fun happenstances. Recently, there has been way-too-many of these locally.

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• Gonzaga’s 40-point loss to Michigan in Las Vegas a few months ago is in the inexplicable category. Not that the Zags lost to the third-ranked Wolverines, who might win the NCAA title come April. But in the midst of a great opening run to the season, hitting on all cylinders on offense and defense, the Bulldogs were never in the game. At all. And never once put up any resistance. The result: An inexplicable final margin.

But the adjective applies even more so to a Feb. 4 game in Portland. An 87-80 loss to the Pilots on their home court. A loss that seemed even more inexplicable Wednesday night about 5 minutes into the Zags’ 89-48 Senior Night win over the same Portland team. What is the backstory behind that Portland loss? America would like to know. Well, at least the NCAA Selection Committee. 

Does a 40-point loss to Michigan trump a 48-point turnaround in two games against the Pilots? Discuss among yourselves. It’s beyond me. Though I would point out the 26-2 Wolverines are 16-1 in the Big Ten and have posted nine wins in which the margin was 30-or-more points. Portland? The Pilots are 12-18 overall and 5-12 in the West Coast Conference. For comparison, Gonzaga is 28-2 overall and 16-1 in the WCC.

Those two inexplicable events are all that stands between the Bulldogs and another undefeated regular season. Well, the two inexplicable losses and Saturday night’s annual conference trip to Moraga. The last annual conference trip to Moraga, actually, a circumstance that is extremely explicable if one understands the basis of all collegiate sports decision these days are about money.

But I digress. As usual.

• The point of this exercise is to point out another couple inexplicable basketball circumstances from around Spokane.

For example, Eastern Washington’s men were once 2-13 this season. Look at that number again. Two wins. An unlucky 13 losses. Unlucky not just because of the 13 but also because five of them came in two possession games. The Eagles were in games late at Pauley Pavilion, in Denver, in Moscow and a couple times at home – and just couldn’t get over the hump.

Until one Saturday night in early January. Against Montana. On Reese Court. Alton Hamilton IV was fouled on a putback with 4 seconds left, made both free throws and Eastern earned a 66-65 lightning bolt of a win.

The 1.21 gigawatts it supplied didn’t jumpstart their season immediately. But it gave Dan Monson’s group a new-found reserve of confidence. By the time the Eagles traveled to Montana for the rematch 26 days later, they were ready to burn rubber.

And they have, winning in Missoula and five more February games. They have vaulted from near the bottom of the Big Sky standings to second place at 9-6. Included in the inexplicable (considering the start) streak is a 12-point win at first-place Portland State, avenging a four-point loss while they were still finding their wings.

Three home games finish off the regular season, starting tonight when Northern Colorado visits Cheney. Win out and the Eagles may just find themselves the betting favorite come March 7 in Boise.

• Let’s head back to the WCC for a moment. The men’s conference standings are jumbled behind the top trio of Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara.

The Bulldogs are the top seed. But the second one won’t be decided until Saturday’s final game. Before the Gaels host GU (7:30, ESPN), third-place Santa Clara will have finished its game with fourth-place Oregon State. And fifth-place Pacific’s meeting with USF will be long done.

There should be clarity on the bye situation for Las Vegas.

Washington State had every opportunity this week to finish in the fourth spot, which would have meant another day off. But for the second consecutive game, the Cougars did something, well, inexplicable.

Saturday night’s loss at home to Saint Mary’s didn’t fit that description, sure, but one WSU shooting stat certainly did. The Cougs were 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half, then missed all seven attempts in the second. They went from trailing by a point to losing by 16.

Wednesday night in Los Angeles, recent history inexplicably repeated itself. Before intermission David Riley’s team was 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, building a 15-point lead. In the second half? The Cougars were 2 of 7. And lost 67-66 to Loyola Marymount.

Inexplicable? Well, the Cougs have squandered second-half leads of 17, 15 (last night), 12 and eight in a 12-18, 7-10 season, so probably not. What is, though, is their lone conference road victory came at Portland. You know, the same place where Gonzaga suffered its lone WCC defeat.

The best way to explain that? Just say “inexplicable” and move on.

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WSU: Greg Woods has the details of the one-point loss in this story from Pullman. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, former Washington State basketball coach Tony Bennett has a new gig. Nope, he’s not coaching at USC or somewhere. But he will be in L.A. more often. He’s the Lakers’ new draft advisor. … In keeping with our theme today, sixth-ranked UConn’s rout of No. 15 St. John’s could be placed in the inexplicable category. Other than maybe the visiting Johnnies are not as good as we thought. … The expected happened at San Diego State. The Aztecs, given a second chance, took advantage and routed Utah State. That moved them back into a tie atop the Mountain West men’s standings. … Oregon State had to work overtime to earn a home win over San Diego, which has already announced a coaching change. … Oregon posted another upset, this one over Wisconsin. Dana Altman is back in late-season mode. … Colorado crashed the boards to overcome Kansas State’s road rallies. … Utah struggles against pressure. … California and Stanford actually won on the same night. … Donovan Dent led UCLA to another win, as the New Mexico transfer finally begins to play as the Bruins expected. … Arizona will be in the same Las Vegas season-opening tournament as Gonzaga next season. … Can Colorado State make a run to the NCAA tourney? … The Oregon women reached 20 wins with one at Purdue. … Penn State rallied past USC. … Boise State had a chance late but lost to MWC-leading San Diego State by a point. … Colorado State snapped a long losing streak to UNLV.

• In football news, Jon Wilner has his thoughts in the Mercury News on this fall’s Big Ten race. He likes Indiana again. I’m all in with Rutgers. Oh, I mean finishing last. It’s a better bet. … John Canzano has more on the Civil War’s pause. Guess what? It all has to do with money. No surprise there, right? … Washington will not hire a new offensive coordinator. … I’m not sure I linked this story on California’s ballooning athletic budget. … Arizona continues to tweak its football stadium.

Gonzaga: For the first time in three seasons, the Bulldogs have claimed a share of the WCC regular-season title. Have secured the top seed in the postseason tournament. And with a win at Saint Mary’s on Saturday, will be the outright champion for the first time since 2022. All of that, and what happened on the court and before – it was Senior Night – can be found in Theo Lawson’s game analysis or his earlier story as the game ended. … Tyon Grant-Foster’s third Senior Night should be his last, though the way the Grand Canyon (and more) transfer has played recently, maybe he would like to look into another season. Jim Meehan delved into his improvement in this story. … Jim also has three takeaways from the undefeated-at-home-capping win. … Tyler Tjomsland has a photo gallery from McCarthey, though the link is not working for me. … Theo had a couple stories before the tip, including one on the first game of next season and another concerning a documentary on the Zags that will debut in March. … The women will honor their seniors tonight at McCarthey. Well, their senior. Ines Bettencourt, who transferred from UConn before last season. She and Vera Gunaydin, a senior who chose to redshirt this season, will be recognized before the 6 p.m. game with Saint Mary’s. Greg Lee has the preview. … Greg also has his weekly women’s basketball notebook. He takes a shot at predicting the WCC’s awards. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saturday’s matchup in Moraga became for a share of the title for the home team after its 86-67 rout of Santa Clara last night.  

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky and the FCS, a Montana State men’s player is not letting a little thing like pain stop him from enjoying his senior season. … The Northern Arizona women will honor three seniors.

MMA: Former Gonzaga Prep football player Jaden Ortega fights for the first time tonight under a new contract with Combat Global. Charlotte McKinley has all the details on tonight’s fight and Ortega’s multi-fight deal in this preview.

Mariners: There are no ties in baseball. Except in spring training. Bryan Woo pitched well in his first start. … Matt Brash is back on the mound after getting his teeth fixed. Been there.

Sounders: Are the Sounders fun to watch? Yes. But more so when Jordan Morris healthy. Sadly, that won’t be for at least a month.

Seahawks: There are lessons to be learned at the NFL Draft Combine. … One of them? Mike Macdonald still hasn’t watched a Super Bowl replay. And he wants to. With the commercials. … We also learned about a Sam Darnold’s contract, a possible White House visit and Zach Charbonnet’s recovery. … What is the path forward concerning a Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s contract extension? … Is Bill Gates a potential buyer?

Kraken: The NHL is back. Well, except maybe the Kraken didn’t really return last night. Dallas manhandled them.

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• The inexplicable is also happening in the world at large, Spokane edition. The sun is out. The temp may just hit 50. In February. How great is that? Not so great, actually. The lawn needs to be raked. And guess who will have to do it? Oh, no. Not me. But I will have to spend some time cheering on Kim. I feel for her. She had physical therapy on her knee yesterday and was moving kind of slow last night. But she’s a trooper. She’ll get it done. Until later …