A Grip on Sports: The opening is there now that the NFL is over, so a whole bunch of sports stand ready to bask in the spotlight this weekend

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Now that the NFL has finally evicted from the building known as The TV Weekend, it’s time for basketball to move in. Right? College hoop moved quickly, subletting the penthouse to a rare Saturday SEC matchup of No. 1 and No. 2. The NBA? It seems fine with whatever was available. All-Star Weekend? Talk about basement-priced ratings murder.

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• Maybe Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez can show up. Ferret out why Adam Silver decided this was the right weekend to highlight the league’s devil-may-care approach to what was once a riveting event? OK, so Sunday’s All-Star Game (5 p.m., TNT) will highlight the league’s incredibly athletic and charismatic players. Will feature a new format, new teams and one of the NBA’s new iconic Arenas – San Francisco’s Chase Center. But it will also avoid any hint of intensity, which is fine. But boring.

Last year’s exhibition, watched by 5.5 million people – a huge jump from the year before but not what the game used to garner – finished 211-186. Yes, the East team scored more than 200 points. I’m not sure Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem Globetrotters could have done that, even against Gilligan and the Skipper.

And just like when the Globetrotters visited the island, it wasn’t entertaining.

Thankfully, despite the NBA’s “game” about the only thing on during the late Sunday timeslot, there is more to watch on this holiday weekend.

Including more, lots more, that day. Thanks NASCAR.

The Daytona 500 grabs all of the spaces in the weekend’s garage, with the signature event slated to start at 11:30 Sunday (Fox). As always, though, there are races all weekend.

The PGA Tour also sees the first completely NFL-less weekend as an opportunity, giving Tiger Woods’ tournament, the Genesis Invitational, a prime piece of real estate. Alas, Tiger isn’t playing – his mother passed this week – and the usual course, L.A.’s Riviera CC, was unavailable due to the Palisades Fire. Still, Torrey Pines will do as a rental, and CBS throws its top staff at it. It starts at noon both days.

All that is window dressing. Basketball, college version, is the prime tenant. The place to be, though maybe not tonight, what with it being Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, after a riveting Thursday, the schedule has just one game of note, UCLA at Indiana (5, Fox), so you won’t have to keep peeking at the TV in the bar throughout dinner.

Saturday? No. 1 Auburn travels 157 miles to No. 2 Alabama (1 p.m., ESPN). Bruce Pearl. Nate Oats. Johni Broome. Mark Sears. The top of America’s richest conference.

And just one of many time-worthy games.

No. 16 Wisconsin at No. 7 Purdue (10 a.m., CBS). No. 6 Houston at No. 13 Arizona (11, ESPN). Kyle Smith’s Stanford squad at No. 3 Duke (1 p.m., ABC). No. 15 Kentucky at Texas (5, ESPN). No. 11 Michigan State at Illinois (5, Fox).

And, for local fans, Washington State makes its first visit to Saint Mary’s since Tony Bennett’s last season (7, ESPN2). Gonzaga hosts lowly Pepperdine (7, KHQ). And the Monson Bowl, Idaho at Eastern Washington (4, ESPN+).

But, wait. Saturday has more. Hockey. The Four Nations Face-off. Canada. U.S. Boos galore. It’s on ABC at 5 p.m.

• I mentioned Thursday’s riveting schedule. It was. At least around these parts.

Gonzaga’s men started slowly – their first basket didn’t fall until more than four minutes in – but took over in the second half against visiting USF. And took over second place in the West Coast Conference with the 88-77 victory.

The GU women extended their winning streak to a dozen with a 66-62 overtime defeat of host Oregon State behind Yvonne Ejim’s 31 points. The woman she matched up against last Saturday in Spokane, Dayana Mendes, had 14 points and 11 rebounds in WSU’s 63-51 victory over visiting Loyola Marymount.

Maybe the best game, though, occurred away from the snow. Los Angeles. The Galen Center was the setting as USC’s Juju Watkins cracked the case against top-ranked UCLA’s less-than-mysterious defense. The sophomore led No. 6 USC to a 71-60 win with 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

Too bad that game was on Peacock. Hulu would have been more appropriate.

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WSU: The Cougars have been struggling some lately. Saturday’s visit to the Bay Area is a chance to right the ship. And if it happens, they may have Ethan Price’s advice to thanks for getting through the choppy seas. Greg Woods has this preview of the game, focusing on Price’s experience in such matters. … We will mention this a lot below in our revamped – toward basketball as the main focus – list of relevant links. But the Cougs have a player that is headed to the NFL Draft Combine. Greg has more on Kyle Williams’ upcoming Midwestern adventure. … We mentioned the women’s win last night above. Here is the S-R write-up. And some coverage from Corvallis and elsewhere. … Jon Wilner spent some time Friday delving into the new Washington State president, Betsy Cantwell. And asking others about her. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the Oregon State men traveled up a snowy I-5 yesterday only to collapse against the middle-of-the-pack Portland Pilots. … TV disputes might disrupt some Boise State fans’ ability to watch games. … Fresno State is struggling. So much so, coach Vance Walberg may only get one season. … The California women have emerged from Stanford’s once immense shadow. … In football (and other) news, Wilner returns in the Mercury News with some thoughts on what BYU needs in a new athletic director. The stress on the non-revenue sports is not a huge part of it. … There are better sources for Pac-12 expansion news but we like to pass along whatever we find. … Yep, the Combine invites went out this week. Oregon will have a school record dozen players there. … Oregon State has fewer. … The school is also preparing for the money crunch that is coming. … Arizona State has one player headed to the Combine. … Same with Colorado State. … Arizona has three. … Colorado needs to extend Deion Sanders but that process is moving slowly. … Who will Utah State start at quarterback next season? … Fresno State is going to keep playing San Jose State. … Finally, John Canzano had some fun in the snow on Thursday.

Gonzaga: As the Zag offense struggled last night, Ryan Nembhard seemed to make a decision. He seemed to decide to show his teammates how to put the ball in the basket, after his assist-worthy passes were not finished as expected. His scoring binge kick-started the Bulldogs and got them back in the game. Theo Lawson has that and more in this game story. … Theo also teamed with the folks in the office for the recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan not only put together the buzzer beater notebook, he covered Grant Hill’s appearance at the game. Hill, head of USA Basketball, delivered Mark Few his well-earned Olympic ring. … Tyler Tjomsland has all the visuals in this photo gallery. … Greg Lee watched the women’s game and has this coverage. Oregon State, which topped GU in Spokane in overtime, has played six overtime games this season, just one off the NCAA record.

EWU and Idaho: Saturday’s game is just background for Dan Thompson’s story today. It covers the Monson family, from patriarch Don (the former UI coach), to Dan and through to the grandsons, one an EWU coach, the other an Eagle redshirt. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the Montana men avenged one of their conference losses, topping visiting Idaho State. … The Bengal women cracked down on Montana in Pocatello. … Montana State won both games against Weber State on Thursday. … Northern Colorado topped the Sacramento State men. … Portland State did the same to Northern Arizona. … Northern Colorado announced its football schedule.

Whitworth: Ethan Myers has a preview of the men’s weekend, covering much of the same ground we did yesterday. The Pirates have a chance to clinch another Northwest Conference regular season title.

Preps: District basketball playoffs are in full swing for the GSL schools, with Dave Nichols covering last night’s two games at Gonzaga Prep. The Bullpups won both. … Dave also has a roundup of the other action, including all classifications.

Mariners: Dan Wilson is a bit nervous. Excited too. It’s his first spring training as Seattle’s manager.

Seahawks: What’s ahead for the Hawks with their receivers, their coaching staff and the draft? We try to cover them all.

Kraken: Yep, Jordan Eberle should be back soon. … First-year assistant Jessica Campbell is soaking in the NHL experience. And the moments.

NBA: Any chance Silver will announce an expansion team for Seattle this weekend? Nothing is zero but there is probably about a 99.9% chance he won’t.

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• Hey, it is snowing in Spokane. What a surprise. After all, it is mid-February. Not supposed to happen. Except every year. No matter how long your commute is, or how many errands you have to run or whatever appointment you have to get to, drive carefully. After all, I may just be in the car next to you. And I am a worse driver than I am a writer. Ya, that bad. Until later …