Letters to sports: Kyle Smith hire should get Washington State basketball fans excited

WSU chose wisely with Smith

Although Texas Tech beat Gonzaga, maybe it shouldn’t have if the Zags had better displayed their top-ranked offense. But in this game, defense outplayed offense to get the Red Raiders to the Final Four.

That’s why I’m totally aboard with Washington State’s hiring of Kyle Smith as new Cougars basketball coach. I’ve been impressed with how scrappy and tough Smith’s San Francisco teams have always played. His analytics approach and defensive focus are unique and different, as is Mike Leach’s football coaching style, and I hope it will lead to better hoops results.

Beasley Coliseum should have more fans in its seats. It’s time for WSU to again have a winning basketball program.

Jeff Clausen

Spokane

Enough about the refs

Well, here we go again. Vince Grippi, thank you so much for your commentary (March 31) of the Gonzaga men’s loss to Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament. The title of your article was “Key Misses Loom Large” and the subhead was “Refs’ botched calls, poor shooting dog GU.” I can always depend on you to play the “blame game” and always blame the referees. It doesn’t matter that the GU men played a less-than-stellar game. Thank you so much for your continued validation in blaming the referees. You did this in 2017 when (Gonzaga) lost the national championship to (North Carolina.) I truly appreciate your articles.

Ellen Halter

Spokane