A Grip on Sports: Words that should have been left unsaid and a battle in San Diego highlights Monday’s action
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There are a lot of items to cover today. Whistles in San Diego, wolf and otherwise. Words from Pullman. A Monday to remember in ways both good and bad.
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• Gonzaga handled San Diego State convincingly Monday night. On the road. Played a slow game better than the home team, who wants it glacial. Battled. Fought. Dug deeper. Kept the Aztecs at arms’ length. Met aggression with aggression.
Moments of artistry. Moments of MMA. Fast-twitch moments. Jerky ones.
All of it accompanied by a soundtrack of whistles. Constant. Turning a game that could have been a concerto into third-grade music class.
OK, the Aztecs love to muddy the waters. That’s understandable. Physicality is their calling card. Always has been under Brian Dutcher and his predecessor Steve Fisher. They want to take a race car and turn it into a 40-year-old pickup. It’s the officials’ job to make sure they do it within the rules.
If one were to pull up the box score this morning, one would see Gonzaga shot 31 free throws (and made 27) to the Aztecs’ 18. One might think Verne Harris, Jason Phillips and Brian Dorsey, the third team on Steve Fisher Court last night, did just that. But a deeper dive into the numbers make it clear it’s not that simple.
The foul count? San Diego State 22, Gonzaga 21. One team that, basically, fouls three or four times on every possession, and dares the officials to call them all, whistled for one more personal than a team that doesn’t have that philosophy?
San Diego State manhandled the GU offense out front. Grabbed, held, slowed it down. Only when the Zags attacked the basket with gusto did a whistle blow. Allowing such a strategy to flourish destroys the beauty of team offense. Turns the game into a one-on-one battle. Exactly what the Aztecs want. That’s the way they play the game.
No matter. Turns out, on this night at least, Gonzaga played SDSU’s game better than the Aztecs did. And won by 13 points. In more than one sense, it was blowout. But it could have been even a bigger one.
• What was Jake Dickert thinking yesterday? The WSU coach met with the media and spoke about Saturday’s game at Oregon State, the first matchup between the schools since the Pac-12 became, well, the Pac-2. The first since the two schools were left behind by their 10 compatriots to rebuild the West Coast’s premier conference.
“(Oregon State is) one of our biggest rivals now,” Dickert said. “That’s the way I looked at it. That’s not bulletin board material. I hope they would say it the same way, let’s go compete.”
Nothing wrong with that. It’s true. In actuality, there has been stretches in which the Cougars and Beavers hated each other. That’s OK too. But what Dickert said prior to the rivalry talk was a bit disturbing.
“I’ve never gotten into, like, they’re our buddy,” Dickert said. “Oregon State’s not our buddy. They would have left us as fast as we would have left them. This is what it is.” (Emphasis mine.)
True? Maybe. Maybe not. Should it have been said? Definitely not. The two schools’ administrations have been working in lockstep for more than a year, trying to rebuild the Pac-12. It’s important they show a unified front. Don’t let anyone argue they are ready to dump each other and move on – if possible.
That’s not what Dickert said but his statement will be used that way as the conference tries to find an eighth-football playing school with juice. That specter should never have been raised. Heck, all Dickert had to say was simple:
“We love Oregon State,” Dickert could have said. “The Beavers are our Pac-12 brothers. And, like brothers, every once in a while you throw each other around. Punch holes in the walls. Compete. We’re doing that Saturday.
“When it’s done, and we’ve won, we’ll wipe off the blood, shake hands and get back to the important work of rebuilding the Pac-12. The greatest conference in the country.”
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WSU: Greg Woods does what he does every Monday afternoon. He put together the first look at this week’s opponent, the Oregon State Beavers. … Greg also has a notebook that starts with some heartbreaking news. … The basketball team returned home last night. Faced off against Northern Colorado, a Big Sky team. In that regard, Cedric Coward going off for 30 points shouldn’t come as a surprise. He did similar things while playing for David Riley at Eastern Washington. Greg has more on the 83-69 win in this story. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, speaking of Oregon State, Jon Wilner delved into the Beavers’ issues in the Mercury News today. … Wilner also predicts tonight’s CFP bracket reveal. Others have their thoughts on that as well. … John Canzano covers other ground in his Monday mailbag. … Just what is Washington going to do at quarterback? Jedd Fisch is not talking. … No one is talking about a kickoff time with the Huskies’ game against Oregon either. It’s on a six-day hold. … The Ducks are hoping to get healthy with a bye week. And, maybe, be able to clinch a spot in the Big Ten title game. … The battle in Corvallis is the Beavers final home game this season. The seniors will be honored. … Colorado needs a quarterback for next season. There is one everyone wants available. … Utah needs an offensive coordinator for next season. Coach-to-be-someday Morgan Scalley is helping to make the choice. … DeShaun Foster played in the UCLA/USC rivalry game. He’s not afraid to take pokes at the Trojans. Fun. … Arizona State’s best player eats on the field. And now there’s a burger named after Cam Skattebo. … An Arizona defensive back is showing lately what he can produce. … In the Mountain West, Hawaii fired its athletic director today. … Wyoming wants to feed its best running back. … New Mexico’s quarterback was honored nationally. … Air Force was ready for Oregon State and it showed. … In basketball news, the Oregon women are still undefeated, despite not shooting well last night against Grand Canyon. … The Oregon State men are too, their first 4-0 start since 2015.
Gonzaga: Graham Ike was tired of losing to the Aztecs. Four losses while at Wyoming, another last year with GU in Spokane. He made sure it didn’t happen last night, scoring a season-high 23 points and having his way inside. Theo Lawson has that and more in his game story. … Theo also worked with the folks in the office on this recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan documented Ryan Nembhard’s 19-point, 10-assist performance as well as putting together a buzzer breakdown. … Tyler Tjomsland has this photo gallery. … The Zags learned before the tip they had moved up to third in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. Theo has that story too. … Jim Meehan and Richard Fox talked before the game for this installment of the Zags Basketball Insiders podcast. … We also have coverage of the game from San Diego. … Elsewhere in the WCC, if you know the extended Burnham clan as we do, you would not have been surprised one bit by the show of support Sunday in Cheney as Maisie made her penultimate visit to the area as a Portland Pilot. Dan Thompson was impressed enough to put together this story on Burnham’s game and the fan support against EWU.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Portland State picked a long-time staffer as its new athletic director. … Who is going to win the Brawl in the Wild? These folks pick Montana State. … Montana has some great players though. … The last week of the regular season also has playoff implications. … After Idaho State gave up 77 points to EWU, the Bengal defensive coordinator lost his job. … In basketball news, the Montana men gave Utah State all it could handle. … The Idaho State women gave BYU a tough game but lost. … The Idaho State men also lost, to Cal State Fullerton.
Mariners: Ichiro is going into the Hall of Fame this year. And he may be the first unanimous position player in the voting. Felix Hernandez, who is also on the ballot for the first time? He’s not getting in. Yet. The ballot this year also includes a couple other players who had extended stints with the M’s or had deep ties with the organization.
Seahawks: Sunday’s win is a direct result of Mike Macdonald’s prowess. Or something like that. … All the defensive changes seemed to work. Now, can the Hawks keep linebacker Ernest Jones after the season? … Questions? We can pass along answers. … Who is the best coach in the NFL these days? It could be Mike Tomlin.
Sounders: The USMNT rolled over Jamaica, which had to make new coach Mauricio Pochettino happy.
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• We wrote one more entire section today about something we saw on TV last night. We’re still laughing about it. But we didn’t have enough space to use it this morning. Fear not. We cut it. But we saved it. And our hope is to use it tomorrow. I guess you could call that a tease. Until later …