Grip on Sports: The snow wouldn’t be such a bother if Sunday’s Gonzaga, WSU results had been a bit different

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Monday mornings are bad enough. But they are even worse when they include a too-small-for-skiing snowfall. And the hangover from losses by local college basketball teams. Read on.

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• The snow shovel got a workout today. It will get more of one later this week. At least that’s the forecast. For those of you that enjoy winter, you can rot in an igloo as far as I’m concerned. Just kidding. I like winter as much as the next person. If that next person lives in Cabo.

Anyhow, the best part of winter is college basketball. And the best part of college basketball, at least in these parts, is the presence of the nation’s top-ranked team. But that’s gone today, courtesy of Tennessee and Admiral Schofield.

Schofield led all scorers with 30 points as the Volunteers upset the top-ranked Zags 76-73 in Phoenix.

The loss will drop Gonzaga out of the polls’ top spot when they are released today. How far? Probably not too much, considering the Bulldogs’ wins and the close nature of yesterday’s defeat. But you never know. Polls are fickle. There are times when schools are overvalued, other instances when they are undervalued.

Thank goodness college basketball is a sport in which it doesn’t matter. With 68 spots available, every school that is good enough to capture the NCAA Tournament gets in. The national champion is truly that, not some figment of a committee’s imagination, the best of a four-team tournament that often excludes two or three schools who could win it all if given the chance.

• Just winning would be nice for Washington State right now. The Cougars are muddling through another nonconference slate, winning some, losing some. But last night’s loss in a home game played away from home – Kennewick – is the worst defeat they’ve endured this season.

Montana State is having a down season. The Bobcats have struggled to score. They have struggled to win, entering Sunday night’s contest with a 2-6 record.

Neither matter in this one as MSU hit 16 3-pointers, scored nearly triple digits and defeated Washington State 95-90.

There have been a lot of “worst” losses in Ernie Kent’s Pullman tenure and this is one of them. You know what I mean, right? After the Cougars lose a game the fans thought they should have won handily, the narrative is “this is the worst loss ever.”

This one, against a team tabbed to finish eighth in the Big Sky Conference, might actually fit that narrative. The Bobcats’ best win – remember, they only had two – came at home the other night against 5-5 North Dakota.

They have lost by 30 at home to Utah State, by 45 at Indiana, by 22 at Arkansas, by 19 at UC Santa Barbara (all good teams) and by 24 at Nebraska-Omaha (not a good team), a school with only two other wins, and one of those is over a Division III school, Buena Vista.

No matter where you want to rank it, last night’s was a bad loss for Kent and the Cougars.

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Gonzaga: If you look through Tyler Tjomsland’s photo report from the Talking Stick Casino Arena, you will notice a lot of empty seats. It’s an NBA-arena that holds almost 19,000 so there was bound to be open spots even with more than 10,000 announced as the attendance for the doubleheader. But no matter how many folks were there, they got loud at times. … Jim Meehan and John Blanchette were also in the building, with Jim having his game analysis, keys to the game and a sidebar on Josh Perkins moving past John Stockton on GU’s all-time assist list. John has a column on the end of the undefeated season. … The guys in the office have highlights and a recap. … We put together a TV Take. … The Gonzaga women hosted Washington State as well yesterday, with GU pulling away for a 76-53 victory. Jim Allen has the game story and Libby Kamrowski the photo report. … Back to the men, Yahoo has a story written after the game concerning Mark Few’s comments on the FBI investigation and the NCAA response to it. … There is also coverage of the game from CBS and Sports Illustrated. … Around the WCC, USD picked up another win.

WSU: The Cougar defeat leaves them with a 5-3 mark as nonconference play begins to wind down. … There was a Montana State record set in the victory. …  Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Washington held off a game Seattle University squad last night for a 70-62 win. … Arizona traveled to Alabama and lost to the Crimson Tide, 76-73. … Saint Louis edged visiting Oregon State. … Utah and BYU, at least some folks anyway, have made up. … In football news, former Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre has found employment.

CCS: The Sasquatch women won a tournament in Everett.

Chiefs: Everett scored late to record a 2-0 win over the visiting Chiefs last night.

Seahawks: Minnesota is in Seattle tonight and a win for the home team will just about clinch a playoff berth. Either way, win two more against either Minnesota, San Francisco and Arizona and the Hawks will be playing in the postseason. … Why isn’t Russell Wilson in the MVP conversation?

Mariners: Lou Piniella came up one vote short of making the Hall of Fame in a vote of a do-over committee.

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• The snow is melting. The snow is melting. But it will be back. You can count on it. Until later …