A Grip on Sports: Turns out Gonzaga’s sky was falling – and it fell right on Oregon State last night in the Kennel
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A GRIP ON SPORTS • What the heck is wrong with the Zag men? They failed again Tuesday night. Hey, before you start typing your aggrieved email, remember these two salient points: They didn’t score 100 points and they failed in the most important mission of all, earning the Kennel Club their free tacos.
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• Oh, one more thing. Their 20-point halftime lead probably killed ESPN2’s second-half ratings. Can’t have that. The folks in Bristol have to be kept happy, especially the next few months as the new-look Pac-12 tries to wring every nickel possible from its upcoming media deal.
Breath. Exhale. Take a trip to a Caribbean island. Whatever it is you do when the unworldly standard Gonzaga has built in your mind over the past 25-plus years isn’t met in late January. Sure, the Zags’ second half against visiting Oregon State wasn’t as good as its first. But that was only because of late substitutions of the guys whose practice efforts are rewarded with a few minutes of national TV exposure. Try as they might, the group couldn’t land that crucial 10th 3-pointer.
The 98-60 win was everything Mark Few, his staff and the folks seated in Section 115 could have hoped for, wasn’t it? Oregon State isn’t awful – the Beavers came in 54th in the NET rankings, have 15 wins and, of course, topped the Zags 97-89 in overtime a couple weeks ago in Corvallis.
Good enough, in fact, Gonzaga’s NET number rose from 15 to 11 thanks to the win. That’s 11th in the nation folks (out of 364), not 11 in your heart. The KenPom rating for the Zags is better than that – by one spot.
The blowout also continued to showcase not just team improvement, but individual as well. Graham Ike not only returned to the starting lineup, not only posted monster numbers for a second-consecutive game (22 points and seven rebounds), he also kept his inner Hulk under control when the Beavers tried to get him mad enough to release it.
Khalif Battle came off the bench again, found his stroke and led with 23 points – in 23 minutes. With the recent upward trend in Michael Ajayi’s numbers (he had 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench), it’s starting to look as if the mid-WCC-season hiccup was just that. Not a slump.
Then again, more evidence may be needed for some.
Good thing there is a trip to Moraga scheduled for Saturday. Undefeated-in-conference Saint Mary’s (and 18-3 overall) is the perfect adversary to supply it.
And possibly allow the “what’s-wrong-with-the-Zags” crowd another opportunity to resurface.
• Want to feel old? Klay Thompson will be 35 on Feb. 8. Makes me want to channel my inner Garth and say “no way.” And then realize “Wayne’s World” is almost as old as Thompson.
It can’t have been almost two decades since he first stepped on Washington State’s campus and realized, wow, this place has a lot of hills. Some 15 years since he was raining 3-pointers on the rest of the Pac-10. Or forever since he struck out in that intramural slowpitch game – for some reason I can’t find the video I took on about seven iPhones ago.
But here we are. Stuck in some sort of Dorian Gray NBA existence. Or at least it felt that way this week as Thompson hit seven first-quarter 3-pointers for – yes, this is sad – Dallas in a rout of Washington. The Golden State-vintage offensive explosion was featured prominently on SportsCenter. It reminded everyone in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex just how good a shooter Thompson is when he’s locked in – and his legs are not giving him fits.
And also reminds everyone that, yes, he is going to be 35. At that advanced-in-pro-basketball age, the legs are even-more crucial to success. Injuries to them robbed him of two seasons with the Warriors. Limited him to a tick under 24 minutes Monday – he’s coming off a sprained ankle and needs to reacclimate.
Birthday or not, Thompson can still fill it up from long range. Maybe not as often as he did in Pullman or Oakland back in the ancient times.
He may no longer be young but nights like Monday’s can certainly make us all remember how it was to feel that way.
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WSU: Around the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, if you have a question about it, yes, our answer is there are needed tweaks to the playoff format. … John Canzano shares the news the new conference’s athletic directors got together Monday and Tuesday in the Bay Area. And, no, they didn’t ask me for input. … Washington added a transfer quarterback from Tulane. … Oregon’s new transfer running back earned a lot of praise for his play at, hey, Tulane. What’s up in New Orleans? … Shilo Sanders is a little under the radar despite his last name. … USC has a new cornerbacks coach. … Jon Wilner looks ahead to 2025 in the Big 12 and lists the schools in order. No, Arizona State is not at the top of the list. But close. … Among the future Pac-12 members in the Mountain West, it’s not too early to look toward the fall. Mainly because the players are busy getting ready. … Colorado State’s coaching staff is not as finished as once thought. … In basketball news, we linked a story yesterday about the midseason point of the season. The Athletic’s piece ran in the S-R today. … The ACC travel grind is wearing on California and Stanford. Hey, who could ever have predicted that? Oh, right. Everyone. … The big news yesterday? The NCAA men’s final will tip 30 minutes earlier this year. Adjust your work schedule accordingly. … Boise State doesn’t always start the same lineup. … Air Force isn’t winning but it certainly is testing teams. The latest? Colorado State. … San Diego State trailed by a lot at halftime. The Aztecs rallied past San Jose State, though. … Utah State’s fans hope UNLV doesn’t test the Aggies in Logan tonight.
Gonzaga: One group that never slumps? That would be the S-R folks tasked with covering the Bulldogs’ games. Theo Lawson ran point last night, with his game story front and center. … He also supplied an assist for the folks in the office putting together the recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan focused on the defensive effort, which limited the Beavers to a shooting percentage 20 points worse than they had in Corvallis. … Jim also has the buzzer beater notebook. … Tyler Tjomsland does what he does, putting together the most-complete photo gallery around. … Also, don’t miss Jim’s latest Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast with Richard Fox. You can listen here. … We can also pass along some coverage of the game from Nick Dashel in the Oregonian.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, despite Kolton Mitchell’s big game that handed Northern Colorado its first conference loss, the Idaho guard couldn’t keep UNC’s Isaiah Hawthorne from being the player of the week. … A Weber State player has left the men’s team to deal with a health issue.
North Idaho College: We can pass along a story about NIC star Vaughn Weems, who had no Division I offers out of Federal Way High.
Preps: There was high school hoop last – hey, I even attended a game – and Dave Nichols has two roundups. One is on the GSL games, the other on the smaller schools. … We can pass along a story on Mt. Spokane High grad Drew Rasmussen, who has inked a three-year deal with the Rays.
Seahawks: Not that we would ever do this, but we can pass along some thoughts on betting the Super Bowl. … More Hawks are headed to the Pro Bowl.
Kraken: The defense was porous and Seattle lost to the Ducks.
Storm: The Jewell Loyd trade? It will turn out for the best for Seattle. No matter who the Storm ends up with thanks to the No. 2 draft pick.
Mariners: I thought long and hard today about writing more about the voter that didn’t vote for Ichiro and the Hall of Fame’s not wanting people to know. (And the BBWAA actually wanting all votes revealed.) My reasoning is simple. What if in Ichiro’s, and Derek Jeter’s, case, a mistake was made. In the counting. Or by the voter. Or by the Hall itself somewhere else. No one would ever know. If I was the guy whose ballot was purported to not have Ichiro’s box marked, and I thought I had, I would never know I screwed up. It’s not like the Hall calls every voter and double checks their ballot. “Hey, Vince, did you mean to be an idi, er, outlier and not vote for Ichiro?” “Uh, no. I voted for him. Why?” “No reason. Talk to you next year.”
Sounders: The roster is still being tweaked as the season looms.
Golf: Our favorite tournament that isn’t designated a major is this weekend. Pebble Beach. Our favorite course. More importantly, our late father-in-law’s favorite course, mainly because he actually was good enough to post a decent score there. Miss Fred. Miss the old format. But will still watch.
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• I can report high school hoops is still a great value. Worth every penny. Then again, I get in with the senior price. Hey, two dollars is two dollars. Or a bag of popcorn, if that’s your desire. Until later …