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Grip on Sports: Gonzaga hits the road again for a fourth meeting with North Carolina

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, center, is stripped of the ball by Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo, right, and David Pendergraft in the second half during the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Nov. 22, 2006, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Gonzaga won 82-74. (JULIE JACOBSON / AP)
By Vince Grippi vincegrippi55@yahoo.com

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Traveling can be fun. Or not. It depends on your outlook going in, I guess. Read on.

••••••••••

• And the weather. And the time of year. And hundreds of other things.

We’re traveling today. It’s not long and it’s not that hard, but it is messing with this feature. The airport beckons early this morning, so we don’t have the time to go in depth as we usually do.

We did, however, link every story that appeared in the S-R sports section today, so you won’t miss a thing related to Gonzaga or WSU or Eastern or the local high schools.

And, because we had a few more minutes, we added a couple extra items.

We’ll be back tomorrow morning with our usual report.

•••

Gonzaga: They have played just three times, but all three games between the Bulldogs and North Carolina have been something special. The fourth installment of their series comes tomorrow in Chapel Hill, and it should be special too. Jim Meehan looks back at the first three times these two have met.

WSU: The Alamo Bowl is not that far away – in time – so the Cougars returned to practice yesterday. Afterward, Theo Lawson spoke with Mike Leach, Andre Dillard and Gardner Minshew. … Before then, Theo looked at five recruits who are expected to sign letters of intent next week in the early period. … A reserve forward has decided to leave Washington State’s basketball program. Theo has the story of Arinze Chidom’s transfer.

EWU: Eastern Washington has always attracted some of the better players from the Greater Spokane League and that hasn’t changed. The Eagles’ offensive line is anchored by two GSL graduates who came to Cheney as walk-ons. Ryan Collingwood has the story. … Sports editor Ralph Walter explains why you should want to head to Cheney on Saturday. … Larry Weir spoke with former Eagle receiver Cooper Kupp for the most recent Press Box pod. … The nonconference basketball schedule is giving Eastern fits. The Eagles lost for the sixth time away from home last night, 85-63 at USF and saw their record fall to 1-7.

Preps: Before we get to last night’s high school play, Dave Nichols caught up with a former Lewis and Clark High basketball player who set a NAIA scoring record recently. Justin Martin scored 71 points in a win 10 days ago. … We have roundups from boys and girls basketball, gymnastics and wrestling. … We missed passing along the news yesterday, but the Spokane school board decided not to explore an indoor stadium downtown and instead will proceed with planning for a new outdoor facility at Joe Albi. Jim Allen had the story.

Seahawks: If the Hawks win at San Francisco this Sunday, they are in the playoffs. But it will be a beat-up group heading south. … The secondary is young. … The play calls don’t matter if the players involved don’t execute.

Mariners: Being in the hospital did not stop Jerry Dipoto from making another trade, this time dealing a player who only came to the franchise recently.

•••       

• Off to the airport. See you tomorrow morning. Until then …