A Grip on Sports: The nonconference schedule has provided tests for each of the local Division I men’s basketball programs

A GRIP ON SPORTS • As the college football bowl season begins, the nonconference part of college basketball begins to wind down. Which seems to be a good time to examine how our local Division I teams have done.

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• We’ll start with Washington State for no other reason than the Cougars played Saturday. In Phoenix. Against familiar Gonzaga foe, Santa Clara.

WSU lost, 69-61, only the second blemish in 10 games. Which is a good thing. Though maybe not as good as thing as it might seem.

Coach Kyle Smith knew he was putting together a fairly new roster in Pullman. Lots of new faces. Melding them together before the gantlet that is the Pac-12 schedule was imperative.

And getting blown out against the best the nation had to offer wouldn’t be best for anyone. But playing a schedule that not only offered the Cougars (Net ranking: 44) a chance to compete while posting enough wins to ensure some sort of postseason competition might be.

That’s what’s happened.

Best win: Portland State. Worst loss: Santa Clara (the other one came to Mississippi State, a top-50 school). Chance of making the NCAA tourney: Slim, though the nonconference, which finishes with a Spokane matchup with Boise State on Thursday night, didn’t submarine it.

• Gonzaga may not be the Gonzaga (Net ranking: 37) of the past five years, but it is still something of a powerhouse. Even if its two toughest tests thus far turned into two losses.

The latest was Friday night against fifth-ranked Connecticut in Seattle. The other came in Hawaii against Purdue, who may be No. 1 next week after knocking off Arizona yesterday in Indianapolis. In between, the Zags suffered their only “bad” loss of the nonconference, dropping a road game at Washington.

But they aren’t done just yet. Two tough nonconference games await, starting with San Diego State in the Kennel on xxx. Though the Aztecs have lost a couple times, last year’s national runnerup, still sports a NET ranking of 26. That, is one ahead of Kentucky, which will host GU on Saturday, Feb. 10. The Wildcats, ranked 14th in the A.P. poll, is playing as well as anyone in the nation right now and popped ninth-ranked North Carolina 87-83 yesterday.

Best win: USC. Worst loss: Washington. Chance of making the NCAA tourney: About as solid as anyone on the West Coast not coached by a former Gonzaga assistant.

• Eastern Washington hasn’t enjoyed the nonconference success coached David Riley probably wanted. Then again, neither did last year’s team, which won 18 consecutive games and the Big Sky regular season title. And, if winning was the be-all for Riley, he wouldn’t have put together a nonconference schedule that included road games at Utah, Mississippi, Cincinnati, Stanford, WSU and USC. Wait, what? Why? Those are the Eagles’ six losses.

If iron sharpens iron, then the iron men who play for Riley should be as sharp as a Ginsu knife by now.

Best win: At Air Force. Worst loss: Stanford. Chance of making the NCAA tourney: The nonconference doesn’t matter in this regard. All that matters is the Big Sky Tournament. Win that and Eastern is in.

• There was basically no nonconference outcome for Idaho that would be considered awful. At least in comparison to last season’s team, which had losing streaks of six, five and four games en route to 22 losses.

Alex Pribble’s group has won its last three games, including its first true road win of the year. The nonconference ends this week with games in California against Stanford (today) and UC Riverside (Thursday).

Best win: UC San Diego. Worst loss: Cal State Northridge. Chance of making the NCAA tourney: Again, the nonconference doesn’t matter in this regard. All that matters is the Big Sky Tournament.

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WSU: The Cougars started slowly. They finished fast but not fast enough Saturday. Greg Woods watched and put together this game story following the 69-61 loss. … When Boise State plays WSU on Thursday in Spokane, it will be a homecoming for a couple Broncos. Theo Lawson touches on that in this story. … Former Cougar star Gardner Minshew starred for the Colts again yesterday, leading them past the Steelers and into the heart of the AFC postseason picture. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, UCLA rallied in the second half and won the L.A. Bowl, as Ethan Garbers come off the bench to befuddle Boise State. … California had the exact opposite outcome, as the Bears fell apart in the second half and lost to Texas Tech in the Independence Bowl. … Christian Caple takes a look at Washington’s next quarterback. … Oregon State seems more than willing to take anyone who wants to leave Colorado. The Beavers lost their leading tackler to USC. … The Buffaloes are rebuilding their offensive line. … USC is rebuilding its defense. … In basketball news, we listened to the Purdue broadcasters from the Boilermakers’ win over top-ranked Arizona and let us tell you, thank your lucky stars for folks like Larry Weir, Tom Hudson and Matt Chazanow. Anyhow, the Wildcats won’t be No. 1 in the next poll after their 92-84 defeat. … Colorado is surging. … Utah picked up a win over Utah Valley. … Arizona State lost big against TCU. … A bad day for Cal. Its basketball team also lost, 88-78 to Ole Miss. … UCLA lost again against a good team, this time vs. Ohio State. … The Washington women are undefeated after 11 games, matching their best start in school history. … Arizona State and Arizona meet today. … Finally, former UCLA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fell and broke his hip.

Gonzaga: The Zags loss to UConn revealed a trend that Jim Meehan explores in today’s look back at the game in Seattle. … Elsewhere in the WCC, San Francisco lost at Utah State, 54-53. … Portland lost to Grand Canyon 91-63. … Saint Mary’s edged UNLV 69-67. … UC Davis routed woeful Pacific 82-61. … UC Santa Barbara defeated host Loyola-Marymount 68-59.  

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana is back in the FCS title game, earning a shot at defending titlist South Dakota State with a 31-29 double-overtime semifinal win over North Dakota State. … In basketball, the Weber State men topped Wyoming 84-71 on the road. … Northern Arizona won 76-74 at home against Southern Utah. … Northern Colorado’s women defeated Utah State. … Montana topped host Cal Poly. … An UC Davis running back has won a couple awards.

Preps: Early in the day Dave Nichols took in a cross-border battle as Lake City hosted North Central. The Wolfpack picked up a 60-53 victory. … Wrestling and basketball highlight Dave’s roundup from Saturday.

Chiefs: Dave also was in the Arena last night as Spokane ended its seven-game losing streak by handling Portland 3-1.

Mariners: Money matters. More than anything. The M’s ownership needs to learn that. The fans deserve it.

Seahawks: Can Geno Smith be ready to play Monday? That, and the status of other key Hawks, is still up in the air. … Leonard Williams is fitting in nicely. … D.K. Metcalf was fined the most after the dustup with Fred Warner.

Kraken: It took a shootout, but Seattle fell at home to the L.A. Kings. … The newest Kraken hit the lineup right away.

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• Believe it or not, there are people in these here United States that don’t have Internet access at home. We’re staying with one right now. Luckily, we bring along our own. Or we wouldn’t be here for the next couple weeks. … We were young once and competed against sportswriters in Southern California. Not only for stories but in basketball, softball and flag football. One of our favorite adversaries in those days passed this week. Chris Foster was feisty – in the best way – on all the competitive fields. He will be missed. Until later …