A Grip on Sports: In a season when Gonzaga’s defense was the driving force behind its success, the Zags couldn’t get the one stop they needed
A GRIP ON SPORTS • After all the flotsam and jetsam is swept away, sometimes a college basketball game, an NCAA Tournament game, comes down to making one play. Saturday night in Portland, Texas did. And Gonzaga’s season once again fell short of its ultimate goal.
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• That goal, of course, is to win a national title. Has been for about two decades. But this morning it seems further away than any time since, well, Adam Morrison was on campus.
The Zags didn’t let a late lead slip away last night. They didn’t suffer an emotional Elite Eight loss. Heck, they don’t even have to deal with a missed out-of-bounds call that may have cost them their best title chance.
Winning Saturday came down to getting one late stop. One stop to give them a chance to score the go-ahead bucket as the clock expired. As with just about every defensive possession, getting that stop came down to everyone doing their job. Or, as Mark Few put it, having his Bulldogs “hit their coverage.”
Instead, Tyon Grant-Foster got caught ball watching, over-helped on Tramon Mark and Texas’ Camden Heide, inserted just seconds earlier for just this purpose, was free in the right corner.
Mark found him, Grant-Foster couldn’t recover in time and Heide’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left sealed a 74-68 second-round win for the 11th-seeded Longhorns.
And left GU with a bunch of what-ifs. Again.
The biggest of course, in a 31-win, four-loss season, was the what if concerning Braden Huff’s knee. That injury doesn’t happen, Saturday night’s loss probably doesn’t either. Then again, after a 40-point loss to Michigan in Las Vegas late in 2025, the biggest what-if seemed to revolve around whether the changing face of college hoops is leaving the Zags behind.
What-if they can’t afford to stay up with the multi-million-dollar programs such as Michigan, Duke, Arizona and, yes, Texas? What-if their NCAA title window has closed? If money matters, and it does, will Gonzaga, a non-football playing school – a good thing in this equation – about to be in a lower-end revenue conference – a huge bad one – be able to put together a roster that can survive the rigors of a 31-game regular season and the three-weekend gantlet that is the NCAA Tournament?
That’s a question for another morning. Maybe one that doesn’t dawn for a couple more years yet. After more data, include the all-important one: Will schools actually be limited to some sort of upper limit of NIL payments to athletes?
If so, then schools like GU still have a shot. If, say, Texas, can “only” spend $22 million across all sports and nothing more, nothing from the outside, then the Zags and other non-football schools can compete. Their NIL budget will be big enough to allow that to happen.
But there is the what-if of tomorrow’s payments. If outside entities are allowed to contribute unlimited funds, then the Gonzaga program might be entering a gun fight armed only with a pencil. A sharp pencil, sure, but there is no way it would be enough.
It wasn’t Saturday night.
• Don’t forget. You can find all the S-R’s stories about the NCAA Tournament at this one handy-dandy link.
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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner made his second-round picks yesterday morning in the Mercury News. He did not do all that well at the pay window. … There were little in the way of upsets Saturday and no Cinderella runs. There should be one great coaching matchup today. At least. … Arizona is one of the favorites overall. The Wildcats face a possible Cinderella in the second round, soon-to-be Pac-12 member Utah State. Do the Aggies have a shot? … UCLA and UConn meet today, with sideline antics certain and technical fouls a distinct possibility. … Is Randy Bennett going to be Arizona State’s next coach? … Should the women’s tournament move back to neutral sites? … The Washington women have a second-round matchup with TCU and its star guard Olivia Miles. … Oregon faces one of the best teams in the nation in Texas. … Colorado bowed out with a first-round loss to Illinois. … UCLA started slowly but ended up rolling over Cal Baptist. … Clemson thought it had topped USC and moved on. Either on a made last-second shot or on a foul that seemed to happen a few tenths earlier. After a lengthy review, which included a stopwatch, both were waved off as too late. The Trojans won in overtime. … San Diego State’s season continues in the WBIT with a true home game. … In football news, Colorado has recruited quite a few transfers who are moving up to a Power Four conference. … Arizona is sorting through its linebackers.
Gonzaga: The folks in Portland didn’t have to look ahead, at least last night they didn’t. Theo Lawson had to try to explain the 40 minutes of back-and-forth hoop in his game analysis. And to share his thoughts earlier with the recap and highlights. … Dave Boling looked back on the game and what it meant for Graham Ike, who has finished his Gonzaga career among its best players ever. … Jim Meehan also mentioned Ike and all the other seniors whose Bulldog career is over. … Jim added his three takeaways and a look at how Texas coach Sean Miller seemed to make a lot of winning moves late in this one. … Tyler Tjomsland summed up the game visually in this photo gallery. … Bill Oram wonders about Gonzaga’s future in this Oregonian column. … John Canzano has some thoughts about that as well. … Texas seems to be the hottest team in the tournament currently.
Preps: It turned out to be a beautiful spring Saturday in the area – and, yes, spring is officially here. There were plenty of local high school athletes taking advantage. Their games are covered in this roundup.
Chiefs: I can attest the Arena area was overpacked yesterday, thanks to a large youth basketball tournament, two home pro soccer matches and the Chiefs hosting the Tri-City Americans in the penultimate regular season WHL game. Spokane earned a 6-1 victory.
Zephyr: Spokane couldn’t find the net at ONE Spokane Stadium, the D.C. Power did and left town with a 2-0 victory.
Velocity: Three first-period goals were enough for the Velocity to pick up a 3-1 win over the expansion New York Cosmos on Saturday in Spokane as well.
Mariners: It was a big day for Seattle as the regular-season start looms. The M’s made a decision on Colt Emerson (he was sent down) and Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh made it clear the WBC handshake controversy is now in the past. … Speaking of Raleigh, how does he follow-up his breakout season? … I linked this column about Brendan Donovan yesterday when it ran in the Times. I link it again today from the S-R. … George Kirby was really good. The bullpen, which hasn’t been all spring, was not once more and the M’s fell 7-1. … There are still questions about the TV coverage.
Seahawks: The fifth-year options on 2023 first-round picks Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon gives Seattle some certainty for a couple seasons.
Storm: The season will be here quickly. There is a lot to be done.
Kraken: The road trip is quickly killing any momentum Seattle built as the regular season winds down. Another game, another loss, this one in Columbus.
Sounders: Jordan Morris might be back for Seattle’s MLS match at Minnesota today.
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• Funny thing. As soon as I typed something about the rain stopping and the sun coming out yesterday morning, both happened. I’m going to ask for one more thing today. Is it possible that all social media could just fritz out and I never have to see it again? Or a winning lottery ticket shows up at my feet? I might as well test and see how far this new-found power stretches. Until later …