MASTERY IN SPORT • Last night’s college football was entertaining. The nation watched. Tonight’s college basketball will also be entertaining. Although the domestic audience is, more than likely, limited to people with connections to the interior North West. Or those without an Amazon Prime subscription.
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• Remember the person you lived with your first year of university? I do. Tom Fenelon, although I’m not 100% sure of the spelling. After all, it was a long time ago and spelling wasn’t that important to me back then – I was studying social sciences.
Regardless, I’m sure Tom never jumped on my back, stole my football, and ran 83 yards across the quad. In fact, Tom may have never touched a football in his life, preferring to spend his time listening to Eric Clapton’s guitar riffs and lounging in a haze of smoke. Still, if I had come across him, say, three years later and we were competing for something, I would have wanted to kick him from there to Montebello.
I thought of old Tom last night towards the end of Ohio State wins 28-24 in CFP semifinal on Texas. Right after linebacker Jack Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers of the football, picked him up and ran 83 to a decisive touchdown. Or when I realized that Sawyer, the first recruit of the Ryan Day OSU era, shared a home with Ewers when both were freshmen in Columbus.
Friends at the time? Sawyer said they were, although the way he jumped on Ewers’ back to drop the ball reminded me a lot of another old college roommate, John Kremer, who once did the same thing because it had been checked. I neglected to do the dishes again.
It turns out that John and I still keep in touch. And I always try to meet him whenever I’m in the Irvine area. Just like Sawyer and Ewers might do in a few decades. If Ewers can forgive him for ruining what was poised to be a career-defining comeback in the most important college football game he’s ever played.
But it’s sport, isn’t it? From the first time budding athletes step onto a field or course, they compete with and against friends. Often both.
• It will happen tonight at the McCarthey Athletic Center, I’m pretty sure. I would be 100% positive if Gonzaga’s Steele Venters were healthy, as the forward, dealing with another season-ending preseason injury, played at Eastern with a few of the Cougars who will invade the ‘place.
The transfer portal is largely responsible for the proliferation of Cain and Abel type meetings. They’ve been happening forever, of course, but they’re more common in our age of sports wearability. Venters was teammates with a trio of WSU players at Cheney. Three players, LeJuan Watts, Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup, are among those who followed their EWU coach David Riley to his new workplace.
But there’s another change in college athletics, conference realignment, that also made reunions possible.
Gonzaga and Washington State haven’t played in a decade. The hiatus in the rivalry – and it has been one over the years – between the Pac-12 and WCC schools has meant that many friends and friendly foes have been unable to renew what was once a year-to-year battle. year. Now that they’re both in WCC before Gonzaga moves to WSU’s rebuilt Pac-12, both have to play.
Theo Lawson spent time search the best of 150 games between schoolslinked by more than just geography. It highlighted one game per decade, starting with the first in 1907. And no, I didn’t attend that one.
But a few since 1983, of course. That’s when I moved to Spokane, back when John Stockton was Dan Fitzgerald’s point guard and Len Stevens was trying, unsuccessfully, to fill George Raveling’s iconic Cougar tracksuit . Sometimes great matches, often with fewer people than you might expect in the stands.
But this was not the case in December 2007, the most iconic game of the century between schools. It marked the culmination of contrasting styles, Mark Few’s up-and-down offense, an important part of his inevitable streak of Hall of Fame success, and Tony Bennett’s suffocating Pack defense, which not only fueled the comeback to the NCAA during these years, but also helped him win a national title in Virginia.
In that 2007 game, at least, Bennett’s players and philosophy prevailed, as the Cougars handed Micah Downs, Austin Daye and the Zags a 51-47 loss in McCarthey. As far as we can tell, that’s still the fewest points a team has ever scored.
Expect both teams to be poised to double those totals tonight (6, KHQ) as the rivalry resumes for the first time since December 2015.
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WSU: The preview of the men’s basketball game (the GU and Coug women also play this afternoon, in Pullman) is contained in the Gonzaga section below. However, Greg Woods has this look at what the Cougars need to do to put the loss of the Pacific in their rearview mirror. …Greg has plenty of football news to pass along, like Jimmy Rogers is almost done filling out his coaching staff but I’m far from finished adding players to the list. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 (current, former and future) and the country, the championship game participants are set and, as everyone predicted after Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois , or after Ohio State’s no-show against Michigan, he will pit the Fighting Irish against the Buckeyes. …Jon Wilner has his weekly mailbag in SR this morning. … Him too forwards this summary of football recruiting in Mercury News. … Oregon State East spend zero funds like drunken sailors as the Beavers attempt to rebound in the second year of the Pac-12 interregnum. …An entrant Washington player redshirted in a JC while trying to improve. … Dan Lanning and Oregon have everything is in place to sustain success. Although at the moment, all everyone still dwells on is the last game. … A couple of former Ducks appeared on police blotters recently. … Is it possible Deion Sanders will give up Colorado and go to Las Vegas to train his eldest son? …An icon in Boulder, Bill McCartneydied Friday at age 84. McCartney led Colorado to the 1990 football title. … How UCLA looks on the defensive line? …With the change of administration in Washington DC, it appears that NLRB lawsuit against USC goes away. A lawsuit against schoolhowever, is just getting started. … Arizona State Coach Kenny Dillingham Was Really Funny on yesterday’s Dan Patrick Show. …Former WSU assistant and Arizona alumnus, Joe Salave’a returns to Tucson as assistant coach. … Among the future members of the Pac-12 in the Mountain West, a former Washington State aide has joined Colorado State staff. … Just what Boise State will look like now that Ashton Jeanty is headed to the NFL? … Fresno State continues to add players from the portal in what appears to be a complete rebuild. … In basketball newsIt took a while but Oregon State Women Finally Found Their Defensive Identity. …It seems it’s a bit ironic that UCLA men’s coach Mick Cronin was forced out in a loss at Maryland last night. Mainly because he claimed his team was being killed by a hack. You don’t say? … State of Utah And Boise State See you in Logan this evening. … THE The best game of MWC Today? It’s probably San Diego State faces New Mexico in the pit.
Gonzaga: Theo not only has the history lesson we linked above, but also has a preview of the game And the key match.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, yes, Montana State lost players at the gate following their FCS title game loss to arch-enemy North Dakota State. But the Bobcats retained many others. …In basketball news, Northern Colorado wins Thursday at MSU included a rally from 20 points down. … Sacramento State’s new basketball facility should be ready for next season.
Whitworth: The Pirates hosted Willamette on Friday in a doubleheader at Fieldhouse. Whitworth won both matches.
Preparations: Dave Nichols visited U-Hi last night to cover the Greater Spokane League Titans’ doubleheader against Gonzaga Prep. The visiting Bullpups won both games. …Dave too has a summary of GSL action as well as another covering small schools in the region.
Leaders: The fourth story Dave cooked up last night? A recap of Spokane’s 4-2 loss in Everett, leader of the WHL American division, on the road.
Sea Hawks: The six wild card playoff games may depend on which team has the better quarterback. But it’s not always true. … We watched the college football playoffs with hatred. It is also possible during upcoming NFL games.
Storm: Free agency decisions loom but are depending on a few movements First of all.
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• I am angry with myself. I told sports editor Ralph Walter yesterday that I might write a TV take on tonight’s showdown at the Kennel. I forgot what else was there. Mainly, UC Irvine’s trip to UC San Diego in a 14-2 team matchup. It starts at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. We’re also not going to get a look at Russell Wilson and the Steelers trying to run Baltimore, because it’s on Prime at 5. I guess I’ll just have to skip a lot of televised sports today. See you later…