A Grip on Sports: An excellent Thursday night is followed by a weekend with an X in it

A GRIP ON SPORTS • This is supposed to be the first non-football weekend of the year. Then something that starts with an X comes along and ruins what could be the best college basketball stretch until March. No, we’re not going to let it.

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• Hardly anything good starts with an X, except a few folks we’ve met in our life who have been named Xavier or Xander or X-Ray. Wait, that last one might have been a comic book character. Anyhow, X marks the sport as one we’re not sure we want to watch. The XFL kicks off this weekend with a team in Seattle and a spot on the ESPN and ABC schedule. Really? Haven’t we showed that spring football – or late winter, as it is now – isn’t a going concern often enough to kill it?

Guess not.

The Sea Dragons, or whatever Seattle’s team is called, opens its season against the D.C. football team – hey, if the NFL isn’t using that name anymore, it’s fair game for morning columnists, isn’t it? – Sunday night at 5. On ESPN. Bet you have an alarm set up in your iPhone for that, huh?

Not us. We’re more interested in college hoops. Especially after last night’s performances around these parts. We’ll get to that in a minute but before we do, what’s on tap this weekend?

Well, instead of watching football, how about turning to FS1 at 4 p.m. Sunday and watching the Cougars ruin Oregon’s slim hopes of an NCAA at-large berth? And build some momentum for the Pac-12 tourney. Both could happen.

Before then, though, we have a Saturday full of outstanding games, highlighted by Gonzaga visiting Mark Few’s least-favorite West Coast Conference venue, Firestone Fieldhouse. Oh, it’s not the Malibu views that bother him. Nor is it the opposing coach, as everyone loves Lorenzo Romar, or his players. It’s the setup. Pepperdine is old school, so old school the Zags have to walk past a concession stand to get to their locker room at halftime. A surely apocryphal rumor has it one Bulldog tried to buy a hot dog before having to listen to former Zag coach Dan Fitzgerald berate his first-half performance.

Anyhow, the GU games starts at 4 p.m. and will be on KHQ and Root.

If you want to spend four hours watching Gonzaga hoops, you can, as the women play at 2 p.m. on SWX. It will be Senior Day, though the number of seniors who will be honored is still up in the air.

But back to Saturday’s other games. We are looking forward to sampling Notre Dame at Virginia at 9 a.m. (ESPN2), Tennessee, just off an upset of No. 1 Alabama, at Kentucky at 10 (CBS), Baylor at Kansas at 1 p.m. (ESPN), Colorado at Arizona at 5 (ESPN2) and BYU at Saint Mary’s at 7 (ESPN2). A pretty fun day.

• There are other sports to watch this weekend, of course.

NASCAR has a race entitled – and we are not kidding – the Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner 300 on FS1 at 2 p.m. Saturday. Then you can have a chicken sandwich for dinner. The main course is Sunday, though. The biggest race of the year. The Daytona 500 (11 a.m., Fox 28).

Golf comes to us from Los Angeles and, if Thursday is any indication, tourney host Tiger Woods may just be playing on the weekend. CBS has the broadcast rights with a noon start both days.

There is hockey, with the Kraken hosting Detroit on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Root). Plus, if you are into exhibition events, the NBA holds its all-star festivities in Salt Lake City (5 p.m., TNT).

• There is little chance anything will be able to top Thursday’s night’s local success, however. How is this for a successful night?

Gonzaga’s men avenged their home loss to Loyola Marymount by scoring more than 100 points in Los Angeles. They led by as many as 51 in the 108-65 rout. The women breezed to a 69-58 win over visiting Pacific. Washington State’s men hit 14 3-pointers and blasted Oregon State 80-62 in Pullman. Eastern Washington won its 16th consecutive game with a 72-55 victory over visiting Northern Arizona. And even Idaho, who has been hit-and-miss all season, joined the win parade, edging Northern Colorado 84-82 in Moscow.

Not sure there has been a more successful Thursday in the Inland Northwest this season.

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WSU: It might have been appropriate to link Colton Clark’s coverage of the Cougars easy win over Oregon State in the paragraph above, but we decided to wait until here, where it would get the attention it deserved. Kyle Smith’s team is peaking at a good time, though it might be too late to overcome the season’s injury-built slow start. …Baseball season begins for WSU this morning in Arizona. Colton has a preview of what’s ahead for Brian Green’s team. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, the selection committee reveals the top 16 seeds in its preliminary bracket Saturday morning. Jon Wilner wonders in the S-R how many West Coast teams will be included. We guess three. … He also shares highlights of a recent talk he had with Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. Is his conference still looking to poach Pac-12 schools?… Colorado handed Arizona State an NCAA-hopes-killing 67-59 defeat in Tempe. … Arizona decided to avenge an early conference season loss to Utah in a big way. The Wildcats rolled to a 88-62 victory in Tucson. … UCLA kept its home winning streak alive with a late push past Stanford in a 73-64 win. … USC had no trouble with California and rolled past the Bears 97-60 … In women’s hoop, Oregon will be trying to end a five-game losing streak in Pullman tonight. … In football news, Larry Stone sees Ohio State’s decision to cancel the Washington series as bad news for the Pac-12. … Former Washington coach Jimmy Lake has found employment in the NFL. … Oregon State may have a worry about a Big Ten team canceling a future game.

Gonzaga: Not close. Not after a minute. Not at halftime. Not at the end. Theo Lawson has the game story of GU’s revenge-induced 108-65 romp. … Chet Holmgren was watching near the Zag bench. Jim Meehan has that story as well as the difference makers. Our choice for that latter role? The official who tossed the opening jump ball. … Tyler Tjomsland has the photo gallery from Loyola. … The folks in the office put together a recap with highlights. … Jim Allen was in McCarthey last night with Colin Mulvany. Jim has the game story of the 69-58 win over Pacific – highlighted by two injured players returning to play – and Colin supplies the photo report. … The Zag baseball team begins today as well, with a tough schedule highlighted, in our mind at least, by a visit from longtime power (and our alma mater) UC Irvine in early March. Justin Reed has more in this season preview. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s almost blew a big lead but held on against San Diego 62-59. … Santa Clara handed BYU an 82-74 home defeat. … In baseball, we can pass along a USD preview.

EWU: The Eagles rolled once again. And Dan Thompson was in Cheney to cover the 72-55 victory over Northern Arizona. Eastern remains atop the Big Sky standings. … The Eagles also received a football commitment this week from Central Valley High’s Brandon Thomas. Dave Nichols has followed Thomas’ journey for years and has more in this story. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Weber State held off Sacramento State 52-59. … Portland State topped visiting Idaho State 79-70. … It has been a long time since Montana’s women have won in Bozeman. … In football news, a receiver is leaving Montana State.

Idaho: The Vandals rallied in the final minute to pick up the 84-82 win over the Bears.

Preps: It was a busy night in high school hoop, with schools either earning a state berth or securing seeding or staying alive for one more game. Dave covers all of it in this roundup. … We’ve known Tennessee Rainwater since his family moved from the Seattle area to Davenport. And knew he and the Gorillas would make their mark at the State B someday. That someday should be this year. Keenan Gray has more in this story.

Mariners: We always enjoyed listening to Tim McCarver. Even if others didn’t. He died Thursday at 81. … Robbie Ray is ready to move on from his awful postseason.

Kraken: The tired team this time was Philadelphia. And Seattle took advantage for an easy 6-2 victory in Climate Pledge Arena. … As we mentioned yesterday, the franchise and Root have reached a new agreement.

Sounders: The organization addressed some criticisms yesterday.

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• We have a fun Friday planned. A busy Saturday. A quiet Sunday. Seems about right. Until later …