A Grip on Sports: Zags move into another WCC tournament final but not without a little late anxiety
A GRIP ON SPORTS • A trace of anxiety crept into the house Monday night around 7:30 p.m. The unthinkable was looming. A baseball season canceled. What, you had sports-related worries about something else?
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• OK, we’ll admit it. So did we. The way Gonzaga went into a shell to end its game with San Francisco, was worrisome. Not only to those of us who have watched the Zags play over the years – such pressure-related meltdowns were somewhat of a thing years ago – but to Sean Farnham as well.
The ESPN analyst was exhorting the Bulldogs to attack the basket. To quit milking the clock. To do something aggressive on the offensive end. No one, at least in the Orleans Arena, was listening.
It didn’t matter. Even with the tentative play of the final 5 minutes or so, the Zags still won the West Coast Conference semifinal by double digits, 81-71. On the number, as they say in the betting parlors that abound in Vegas. Of course, that 10-point bulge didn’t cover the 16.5-point spread, which means many of the GU faithful left the arena grumbling about losing money – and probably immediately lost more playing roulette.
Fitting. Once again the WCC men’s basketball season has come full circle. The Zags and Saint Mary’s, which earned its championship berth by holding off Santa Clara 75-72, will face off in the finals again.
Mark Few and Randy Bennett. The two most recognizable faces in WCC hoops. Rivals. Rival programs. A trophy for the winner.
For once an NCAA tourney berth isn’t at stake. The top-ranked Zags are in, of course. They will be a No. 1 seed. The No. 1 seed if they win. The top dog. Another first-weekend trip to Portland assured.
But Saint Mary’s is also going to be playing in 10 days or so. The Gaels locked that up long ago, even before their recent win over GU in Moraga. All that is up in the air is where they will play. Who they will play. And what number is next to their name on a million brackets.
Less drama tonight? A little. But these two programs – and fan bases – don’t like each other much, so don’t expect less intensity. Or less animosity.
• The Gonzaga women will also spend its Tuesday also playing in the WCC title game. They earned that right with a defensive-oriented win over San Francisco in their afternoon semifinal. But the Zags are in the opposite role of their male counterparts in the championship.
BYU is the overwhelming favorite. Since Gonzaga dominated the opening half of the first game, in Spokane, the Cougars have outscored their rivals about one million to 25. At least it seems that way. BYU rolled to the WCC regular-season crown and the Zags were helpless to stop it.
Both should be in the expanded NCAA Tournament anyway but Gonzaga can ensure Jeff Judkins’ team doesn’t get to host a first-round weekend with a win. Otherwise, other than pride and passion, little is on the line today.
That’s enough.
• Jon Wilner does the best job of anyone on the West Coast of covering Pac-12 sports. There is no debate. Not with us, certainly.
But he is also based in the Bay Area and has more knowledge of that area’s performers than those from outside the area. That doesn’t invalidate his choice of Stanford’s Harrison Ingram as the Pac-12’s freshman basketball player of the year in this recent column. It does, however, inform his inexplicable claim “there was no serious competition in this category.”
There certainly was.
Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye was more than serious. How so? The 6-foot-11 forward came on strong in the conference season, especially down the stretch. His cumulative stats weren’t as good as Ingram’s, but his conference numbers – 8.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 22 blocked shots – were in the same ballpark as Ingram’s – 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 63 assists.
And there is the need factor. Ingram was the guy for the Cardinal. He played almost 32 minutes on average in Pac-12 contests, most of any Stanford player.
Gueye was just one of three bigs Kyle Smith used, and his playing time (24.4 minutes in conference games) reflected that.
Ingram won the conference freshman of the week award six times during the season, but only four of those came during conference weeks. And, as Wilner stated in his column on all-conference picks, “Our picks were weighted heavily to performance in conference games,” it should be in Gueye’s favor his five weekly awards all came during conference play.
Is Ingram more deserving of the overall award? Probably. But Gueye’s last-season surge certainly put him into the “serious competition” category.
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Gonzaga: There is so much to pass along on here, our fingertips hurt just thinking about typing it all. We start with Theo Lawson’s game story. … Theo also has his usual rankings story from Monday. … Jim Meehan’s contributions include focusing on the defensive effort on USF guard Jamaree Bouyea, a pregame story on Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren being named to an All-American team and the game’s difference makers. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo report from the game. … Dave Boling, who we used to battle years ago over day-old pizza in the S-R newsroom (he always won), is in Las Vegas and writing columns like this one. … We are at home and writing TV Takes like this one. … Colton Clark is in Vegas as well – WSU begins the Pac-12 tournament in a couple days – and he has a story on ESPN’s Joe Lunardi taking in the game. … The folks in the office took care of the recap with highlights. … Editor Rob Curley is in Las Vegas as well and he connected with one of Gonzaga’s biggest fans. … Jim Allen had the early afternoon duty, covering the women’s hard-fought win over USF with this game story, a pregame piece on freshman Bree Salenbien’s season-ending knee injury and a preview of sorts of today’s title bout. … Colton chipped in with this story on how the Zags won. … And Tyler did double duty in the photo report world. … Jim Meehan, John Blanchette and Richard Fox had their usual Zags Basketball Insiders podcast on Monday as well. … Outside of basketball, the baseball team finished off a sweep of highly ranked Oklahoma State and moved up in the rankings as well. … Around the WCC, we covered most everything in the beginning of the column except BYU’s win over Portland which earned the Cougars their spot. … San Diego fired coach Sam Scholl on Monday.
WSU: Colton didn’t neglect his Cougar duties as he has this story on Gueye’s most recent freshman of the week award. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, UCLA would love to play its NCAA opening round games in San Diego. But that may not happen. … Mike Hopkins will be back at Washington. … No one wants to play Arizona State, especially not Arizona. … Colorado is happy to have earned a bye. … In football news, Washington’s newest offensive coordinator is looking forward to the challenge. … The Arizona State depth chart has been thrown in disarray since the season ended. … We’re not sure but we believe the pre-spring position previews available for Oregon football might have set a record.
EWU: The Eagles will begin their quest for a Big Sky tournament title Wednesday afternoon against Northern Arizona. Dan Thompson has this preview of what’s ahead. … The women lost their tournament-opening game yesterday to Northern Colorado. … Around the Big Sky, the NCAA berths for men and women are in play this week. … How does a coach prepare for a conference tournament? There are differing views. … Montana is a threat in both tournaments.
Mariners: With the lockout in full no-play mode (though the gap may be closing), minor leaguers are in the crosshairs. Prospects like Noelvi Marte become the story of the day.
Seahawks: The Hawks’ trip to the combine resulted in some news. … Richard Sherman entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor charges and won’t go to jail.
Sounders: After a MLS defeat, Seattle has to prepare for the CONCACAF quarterfinals against Leon.
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• Our fingers do hurt. Too much pounding. Not a day hasn’t gone by in the past 40 years we don’t wish we had paid more attention in typing class. At least my two index fingers wish we had. It makes me think of the H.L. Mencken quote about the tools of journalism. Something about a reporter using the tools of their trade: their two eyes, their two ears and their two fingers. Until later …