Sport Grip • You might admit it. In many cases, the insanity of March brings about the sadness of March. And not only do you get to the wrong end of the scoreboard.
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• Part of watching basketball and sports is the opportunity to see the best players compete. Who doesn’t move their seats a little further forward as Shohai Otani step into the batter’s box and heads to Gerit Cole or Logan Gilbert? Or do you have some hopes when LeBron tries to attack Rim with Giannis Antetocompo?
That sentiment certainly was something that eight of the NCAA’s best women’s basketball teams and stars would come down to Spokane for half the Sweet 16 this weekend.
Laurenbetz from UCLA. LSU’s Anesamorow. Page Booker of Connecticut. And perhaps the most predicted one is USC’s Juju Watkins, the most dynamic player in the women’s games.
Sadly, Watkins doesn’t play. And probably played her final college contest.
The Trojan star tore her right ACL Monday night after it turned out to be a 96-59 sweet 16 handful win at Mississippi. Her season is over. And with injuries occurring in late March of her sophomore season, she won’t be stepping into the university court again.
The game is less. This is true for games this weekend. The best players do that by longing for competition. And Watkins’ injury takes Kansas – Kansas is USC’s opponent Saturday’s opponent, Booker and turmeric past Oklahoma in the face of the Trojans that day.
I’m really marching sadness.
•It didn’t surprise me that in just a few Spokanes two NCAA regions already retained such a critical importance in the country’s basketball consciousness. City News Vortex has been working overtime recently.
I have delved into this phenomenon before. This is that so many national and global news stories have some sort of spokane connection far beyond the weight classes of urban or regional. Watkins’ injuries are just another example.
Want something else from the boys’ games? And is the guy who typed the story too distinctive? Ok, you’re covered.
Colorado men’s coach Nico Medved on Monday accepted his Minnesota job and returned to his alma mater. Many of you with long memories can recall that after Monson led Zags to the first Elite Eight, it was the Gopher who poached Gonzaga coach Dan Monson at the end of the last century.
No, it’s not the subject of our story. Just an impulse.
See, there is a great infusion of support in Fort Collins and elsewhere as the Rams tied to the Pac-12 hire Medved longtime top assistant Ali Farokhmanesh. And that’s where the vortex sucks all of us.
Farokhmanesh grew up in Pullman. His mother, Cindy Fredrick, was Washington State’s head volleyball coach. His father, Mashala Farohmanesh, was one of her assistants.
It’s no wonder Ali has joined coaching. After all, it’s family business. But in 2003 or 2004 – I can’t be 100% certain of this year – he was another high school player trying to improve. And he headed to Spokane’s College Best to attend Dan Fitzgerald’s annual basketball camp.
One of the camp counselors? myself. And Farokhmanesh was part of my team.
Fitz browbeated me one night about coaching at Maxwell House or Park Inn or Hoopfest sponsored camps. Of course, I said yes. I did it every year. Who told the former Gonzaga coach NO?
After the camp ended on a Sunday afternoon, Ali took his mother and dad to introduce him to him, asking for a quick assessment of his performance. I quickly listed him for being good – I quickly listed the filming given his college career in northern Iowa included one of the most famous three-pointers in NCAA history, and the skills he felt could improve.
This was probably an interaction that occurred one million times a year at gyms around the country. Has it had an impact on Ali’s future? Probably not. But it certainly made it mine.
I followed his career, like with every player I’ve ever coached. Still, that’s the case. So that’s why I’m rooting for him – not in my role here, but in a personal sense – to take the next step in climbing the coaching ladder. It’s time.
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WSU: Last night, the woman visited Utah Valley to win 57-54, opening up WNIT play. Greg Woods is in Beasley and has this game story. WSU journalism professor Matt Loveless also shared the reaction of Utah Valley coach Dunnielsen to his losses on Twitter. It’s not on the Dan Harley level, but there are similarities. …The transfer portal was sucked in by another Cougar Men’s player. First-class scorer Nate Calmise has arrived. Greg has that story too. … (now, old, future) elsewhere in the Pac-12 and elsewhere in the nation, John Wilner delves into the sweet 16 geography of this Mercury News column. …He also has a power ranking of 16 teams. …John Kanzano has been holding a mail bag since Monday. …Chuck Culpepper of The Washington Post, one of our favourite authors, wonders where all Cinderella went. … People in Monlake may be wondering where all the husky male players have gone. …Oregon’s season is over, it’s time to find out who’s returned in the fall and how it’s improved. …Utah has been found to have lost a player. …Former Arizona coach Sean Miller has moved from Xavier to Texas. …Best San Diego Big, San Diego, who no one else recruits from high schools, is in the portal. …Watkins’ injury is of course the biggest news around women’s games. …UCLA is preparing for a trip to Spokane. …Colorado has achieved some success this year. …In football news, Christian Caple looks at Washington’s tight end corps. …ESPN will be broadcasting Colorado Pro Day. …We have 10 players to focus on Arizona practice this spring. …Arizona focuses on explosiveness to defense. …Boise State needs to replace the best pass rush.
Gonzaga: My first shoe fell off. Second Grade Dusty Stromer has entered the transfer portal. Jim Meehan has this story. …The question is who will supply the pair. Or is there no more? Our Vote: More Gonzaga players enter the portal. But it’s not too much of a limb to say that. Jim and Richard Fox talked about the roster in the latest episode of the ZAG Basketball Insider Podcast. You can hear it here. …I came up with this Wilner column about the Zags season. The slight exception yesterday will be appearing in SR. I did it. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Randy Bennett literally loses some big pieces. However, St. Mary’s coach is hoping to have another NCAA berth next season. …It was a terrible Sunday for NIT’s West Coast schools. Santa Clara, USF and Stanford all lost. Only UC Irvine moved to the quarterfinals.
Ewu and Idaho: Yesterday, the Eagles trio and some destroyers entered the portal. Dan Thompson has a story. … Elsewhere in Big Sky, Sacramento has hired Mike Bibby as his men’s basketball coach. …Montana lost a player to the portal on Monday. … Northern Arizona was removed from the CBI on Sunday. …Montana held a press conference and officially announced its new female coach. He’s already coaching most of the season. …In football news, Montana is not at a disadvantage in making changes.
Preparation: Dave Nichols has a summary of Monday’s actions.
Chiefs: Dan returns with a story about upcoming WHL expansions. Penticton will be the sixth member of the Western Conference’s British Columbia division next season.
Mariners: Matt Brush took the mound yesterday at Peoria and took his first game action in almost a year. Following Tommy John’s surgery, the hard-throwing rescuers are back. …M won fewer games than this spring. Is that a bad sign? …Dan Wilson has a pretty good rest on his shoulder.
Seahawks: Depth is important. The Hawks added some to tight ends and special teams.
Kraken: Language helps how hockey teams assemble the lines.
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• Sometimes everything goes smoothly in the morning. And then the interruption hits. It happened today. And the final minutes are a desperate rush to set a deadline. How fun. Until later…
