A GRIP ON SPORTS • What are you doing this week? I mean besides watching college basketball. It's conference tournament week and everywhere you turn there is a game on. Too bad the weather is so nice. A good 16-inch snowfall would make you feel less guilty staying indoors and watching. Read on.

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• It's pretty simple today. The West Coast Conference holds its semifinals. The Gonzaga men and women are in action, the latter in the afternoon vs. BYU, the former waiting until this evening against Pepperdine. If you are not in Las Vegas – and I'm not – then you have to catch the action on TV, of course. For the Gonzaga men, the big question mark is the status of all-conference forward Kyle Wiltjer, who slipped on the court decal – happens more than you might think – Saturday and injured his hip. He's a game-time decision but if I were in Vegas and could legally wager on whether or not Wiltjer will play, I'd put my money on not. Hip injuries are funny things. They can feel fine one minute and then hurt like heck the next, usually after making a quick movement. Which is sort of what you do all game long in basketball, make quick movements. (Insert your own "Kyle-Wiltjer-doesn't" joke here.) Besides, if Wiltjer doesn't play and Gonzaga's tournament ends prematurely, the NCAA selection committee is supposed to take that into account. No matter what happens today or tomorrow, the Zags are headed to the big dance. Say Wiltjer doesn't play and they have to dig deeper to get by Pepperdine. That's not a bad thing. The extra minutes Angel Nunez and Kyle Dranginis would see may pay dividends down the road. And that's where GU is headed, down the road to an NCAA tournament first-round game, though it's about 10 days away. Enough time, probably, for Wiltjer to heal and be ready to go, no matter what his status is for today.

• The Washington State Cougars are en route to Las Vegas today and will begin Pac-12 tournament play Wednesday against California. It has been six years since the Cougars have won a Pac-12 tournament game, losing their first-round contest all five years under former coach Ken Bone. But they have more than double their Pac-12 win total this year under Ernie Kent and did split with Cal during the regular season.

• Idaho and Eastern Washington will meet in the first round of the Big Sky tournament Thursday in Missoula. The Eagles, seeded second, swept Idaho in the Vandals return to the Big Sky, but both games were close. Expect the same this week.

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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe spent some time on the blog yesterday, looking back at the win over Colorado. He also made his all-Pac-12 choices known today in his morning post. The official awards will be handed out by the conference today. ... The Cougar baseball team completed a home sweep of Sacred Heart yesterday.

• Gonzaga: Wiltjer's status is the main subject of Jim Meehan's advance and this blog post from Las Vegas, though there are other subjects covered. ... USA Today's George Schroeder has a feature on Wiltjer in today's paper. ... The Zag women face BYU today, a team they defeated on the road about a week ago. ... The Cougar men are feeling the pressure of having to stay perfect to gain an NCAA berth. ... Just received an email. Kevin Pangos is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy award, given to the nation's top point guard.

• EWU: Jim Allen will be making the drive to Missoula this week and he previews the Eagles' task in today's paper. ... The Missoulian has an advance of the men's tournament. ... The Big Sky hands out its all-conference awards today as well.

• Seahawks: It's not a done deal yet, as contracts can't be signed until later this week, but Byron Maxwell is gone, headed to Philadelphia. However, the Hawks reportedly re-signed oft-injured tight end Anthony McCoy.

• Mariners: Baseball is trying to speed up the game. Fernando Rodney could care less. It's that simple. Though, always willing to try something new, Rodney might change how he launches his arrow after the game is over. ... The M's may be using a couple of outfield platoons. There is one guy in camp who feels comfortable with that, though his name hasn't been mentioned much. ... Guess who is going to be the opening day starter? Ya, Felix. ... The Reds pounded Joe Saunders for six runs yesterday and won 10-1.

• Sounders: It was opening night in CenturyLink on Sunday and the Sounders gave their fans a lot to celebrate. The 3-0 victory over last year's Eastern Conference champion New England featured some stellar goalkeeping and a goal that was right out of the Premier League playbook. ... Though the Sounders were pretty pumped and they and their coach, Sigi Schmid, had a lot to say, the Revolution's coach was pretty terse. ... Clint Dempsey did what he does – and more – while Brad Evans is adjusting to his new spot. There was also a new man in the lineup and he enjoyed himself. ... Dempsey and Obafemi Martins seem to be working well together. ... The new Sounders general manager has some pretty ambitious goals.

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• It seems like a good day to play golf, what with the high temperature expected to be reaching into the 60s. However, there is a bunch of basketball available on the TV. Exercise or spectatorship? What do you think I should do? What do you think I will do? Until later ...