A Grip on Sports: Take a breath, but only a short one, as we get ready for the week’s onslaught of college hoops hysteria

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Madness. Indeed. What a Sunday afternoon. And what a week ahead. Thank goodness today is what it is, a day to take a deep breath. Let all of college basketball’s hoopla, anticipation and discussion wash over you. Fill in a bracket. The pandemonium comes later.

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• One truism of the week ahead? You need to have access to truTV. This year more than ever. Oh sure, your penchant for impractical jokers, non-withstanding, the cable channel is basically less than an afterthought 51 weeks a year. But the first week of the madness it’s indispensable.

The First Four games (as the NCAA calls the Dayton experience) to decide who plays themselves into the “real” tournament (as every fan thinks of the games) begin tomorrow night. Wagner vs. Howard. Colorado State vs. Virginia, with two local high school players, Jake Groves and Blake Buchanan, playing for former WSU coach Tony Bennett. Both on truTV.

Same for Wednesday. Grambling vs. Matt Logie’s Montana State team. Colorado, with former Gonzaga assistant Billy Grier on staff vs. Boise State, with former Gonzaga assistant Leon Rice in charge of a team that includes former Mt. Spokane star Tyson Degenhart. Both on truTV.

For once a reason to pay attention. At least in these parts. So many connections.

That’s a theme that will be repeated throughout the week.

Take Thursday, for instance. Salt Lake City is full of folks with Inland Northwest ties. That includes Gonzaga, playing in the dreaded 5-12 matchup (in the upset seat). The Zags are on TBS starting at 4:25 p.m. Washington State is playing in Omaha to cap off the night – on truTV. At 7:05.

And that’s the “light” day.

Friday features games in Spokane. Four of them, in fact. Saint Mary’s is in town – again. So is San Diego State. Yale too. All three of them played at Gonzaga this year. But the trio isn’t alone in connections.

Three teams from the state of Alabama were sent 2,300 miles northwest, though, ironically, Alabama State wasn’t one of them. Maybe if the Hornets had made an improbable run from the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s eighth seed to the title, they would have been. Instead, it’s just Auburn, UAB and, yes, Alabama.

Pretty full, huh? Not even including all the games from other pods that will destroy our brackets. And the women’s tournament, which kicks off that morning.

The Eastern Washington Eagles will have to wait all day to play, though. Their opener at Oregon State – one of seven Pac-12 schools in the field – doesn’t start until 5 p.m. It will be on ESPNU.

The rest of the women’s tourney kicks off Saturday, with Gonzaga’s pod part of that day’s festivities. The first game in McCarthey will tip at 4:30 on ESPN2, as the fourth-seeded Zags host UC Irvine, making only its second appearance ever in the event. The other matchup in town pits fifth-seeded Utah against South Dakota State, starting at 7 on ESPNU.

Of course, we don’t know what else might be of interest in the NCAA’s signature events. It all depends on who wins and moves on – everyone’s goal. But we do know there is more out there, thanks to two tournaments the NCAA also sponsors. The men’s NIT has little in the way of local connections, but the first-year Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament kicks off Thursday, with Washington State as a No. 1 seed in the 32-team field, hosting Lamar. The Huskies were also invited and will host Georgetown the same night. If you can’t get to Beasley or to Hec Ed, you can watch on ESPN+.

• The changes the NCAA introduced this year to the men’s NIT, put in place to mollify the power conference schools – sound familiar? – ended Eastern Washington’s season. Which is too bad. The Eagles finished first in the Big Sky regular season before a first-game tourney loss in Boise. Last year, they were guaranteed an NIT spot. This year they weren’t. And were passed over.

The other two men’s tournament are pay-to-play either through travel of hosting fees. Eastern didn’t accept an invitation to either. Northern Colorado and Montana, who finished second and third in the conference regular season, respectively, did and are playing in the CBI. The Eagles’ season is done.

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WSU: Before we go too far with our thoughts and all the story links, we want to direct you to this spot right here. The S-R’s NCAA Tournament Central. All of the paper’s stories in one handy, dandy location. It’s almost as if the sports editor is trying to force us to examine our late-in-life choices. … Anyhow, we understand how big a deal Thursday night’s game in Omaha will be to the Cougar fanbase. We were in Sacramento in 2007 after a 13-year hiatus from the Big Dance. And in Denver in 2008 when they earned a Sweet Sixteen spot. Since then? Zilch. Nada. Nothing. The 16-year drought ends against Drake. Not The Drake, who everyone hates. Just Drake. Greg Woods has the scene from Pullman after the announcement. … Here are the other teams in Washington State’s four-team pod. … Could the seventh-seeded Cougs be an upset candidate? Well, sure. If you think the 7-10 matchup is anything more than a tossup. Which we do, lumping them into the 8-9 as pick-em pretty much every time. Other upsets will happen though. … The women, as we mentioned, were invited to the NCAA’s new invention, the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. Jim Allen has the Cougars’ reaction to their season continuing. (FYI, unlike the men, the women’s NIT still exists outside the NCAA’s control.)  … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, the West did well in the selections, though the Mountain West feels disrespected. … Jon Wilner has this column in the Mercury News covering Arizona State’s basketball future. … Oregon’s Pac-12 title run earned it an 11th seed, facing South Carolina, as the Ducks avoided a play-in game. … Colorado did not and will face Boise State. … Arizona is the second seed in the West, have only to travel to Salt Lake and would play the regional in Los Angeles. Not bad. … Utah accepted an NIT spot and will host Big West regular season champ UC Irvine. … The final Pac-12 women’s season won’t end, in a sense. Only two of the conference’s teams weren’t invited to one of the three postseason tournaments. That’s a pretty hefty percentage – and pretty sad for Arizona State and Oregon. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t hurt feelings. Stanford didn’t earn the expected No. 1 seed (Texas was given it, with the Cardinal the two in the same region). … USC did earn a top seed, as it should have, while fellow Southern California school UCLA was given a two seed. With only Long Beach State earning a men’s berth in the metropolitan area, it’s no wonder an L.A. Times columnist is all in with the women. … Colorado didn’t get to host and will face Drake in the first round, a circumstance that sparked some grumbling. … South Dakota State has Utah’s attention. … Arizona got in as well and are headed to a play-in game. … Washington and California are still playing as well. … Finally, there are always snubs and surprises with the men. This year even more than usual. It was bound to happen, as parity becomes the norm via all the rule changes.

Gonzaga: Everyone was sure the Zags were going to be invited to the NCAA Tournament. But a five seed? That’s a lot higher than most thought. And begged a question. If GU had handled Saint Mary’s (also a fifth seed) in Las Vegas, would it have earned a four and be playing in Spokane? Maybe not but it shows how much the selection committee valued Gonzaga’s top-tier nonconference matchups. Anyhow, Theo Lawson has the overview story. … Jim Meehan talked with former GU players and asked them to comment on this year’s team. He also touched on all the connections in Salt Lake City. … Dave Boling delved even deeper in the past, writing his column on Monson’s magical run to SLC – a subject covered in The Athletic and elsewhere as well. … There is also this look at the Zags’ pod. … Yes, the Zags’ demise is also being predicted in some spots. … If you want to stay closer to home, we offer two alternatives. First up are the women’s pod in Spokane. Greg Lee was there as the team learned the NCAA was giving them an unexpected host spot (after the WCC title game loss to Portland). There is also a look at the other teams in the pod. … And we can pass along this look at the Zags’ opponent, from the finest academic institution in America, UC Irvine. As rated by one respected sports writer. … One other story. An overview of the women’s tournament, with South Carolina once again the overall top seed. … If you bought tickets to Spokane’s NCAA men’s games, which will be held Friday and Sunday, the headlining team might just be GU rival Saint Mary’s. But there are seven other teams here as well. … Elsewhere in the WCC, we have stories on Saint Mary’s to pass along as well as a look at where the Portland women are headed. … USF’s men are in the NIT.

EWU: The Eagles knew they were playing this weekend. Where, when and, most importantly, who, all were still to be decided. When they found out – Corvallis on Friday against the host Oregon State Beavers – the celebration gathering exploded. But, as Dan Thompson shares in this story, the third-seeded Beavers will be a test for Eastern, given a 14 seed. … The rest of the pod is well known too. … If you want more on Oregon State, we have stories from the area to pass along. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, as we mentioned, the Montana men are in the CBI and the women are playing on as well. … Montana State’s men have to get ready quickly for their NCAA game. … Northern Colorado’s men will play in the CBI and the women in the WNIT.

Seahawks: The end of the free agent period looms, at least for Seattle. Now the pressure turns to the draft. And the remaining roster holes. … Russell Wilson was happy to land in Pittsburgh. Now the Steelers have hedged their bets with an inexpensive trade for Justin Fields.

Kraken: There is a month left in the NHL season. Probably not enough time for Seattle to turn everything around and earn a playoff berth.

Mariners: We watched a bit of the M’s game yesterday – a palate cleanse after all the hoop talk – and was impressed by Logan Gilbert. Why not? He was almost unhittable.

Reign: An early goal. Great defense. A win. Sounds like a successful formula.

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• We are the worst person in the world to ask if you want bracket advice. We never have success. Too emotional. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. Anyhow, we wanted to share some sort of guidance. So we found this story. Until later …