I think this is where I came in. About three years ago, piecing together a work on Gonzaga hoops, “Glory Hounds,” I opened with an anecdote about how...

A lot of sympathy is due Killian Tillie for his latest injury at Gonzaga, and for all the constituencies that might feel aggrieved over it, his own well-being is the most important. You name it, he seems to have had it in his three years at Gonzaga – sprained ankle and a month out during the Final ...

Happened to catch a Seattle radio segment the other day on which CBS sports bracket specialist Jerry Palm appeared. (Yes, occasionally sports-talk radio here veers dangerously from assessing what Seahawks mini-camps will look like in May and realizes we’re well into college-basketball season.) The ...

The first time Brock Ravet cast up a shot Monday at the King Showcase in Kent, it was from near-Steph Curry territory on the right wing. “Oh, my God,” muttered a guy a couple of rows behind me. Ravet missed. In fact, in a rough start for his Class 2B Kittitas High team against 4A Kentlake, Ravet fo...

You might have missed this angle Tuesday night, but an old friend of Gonzaga came oh-so-close to doing the Zags a solid. Leon Rice, the 12-year GU assistant, coaches Boise State, which fell victim to No. 10 Nevada, 72-71, on a three-point shot by Cody Martin with 4.5 seconds left – Martin’s first m...

Fired in December? Who gets fired or furloughed in December, except football coaches and federal workers? But you’d have to say Steve Alford earned it at UCLA, with a fortnight that included a 29-point thrashing at Cincinnati and home defeats to Belmont and Liberty. It doesn’t do Bruin backers much...

Among the outcomes of the autumn trial resulting from the FBI investigation into college hoops was this: Silence, from the guardians of the game. Three shoe-company operatives were found guilty, several programs were bruised badly in the testimony – and in the wake of it, coaches seemed to take the...

Sometimes it seems as though Gonzaga basketball started in 1999, so much scrutiny is given to the Zags’ unlikely launch to prominence that year and their continued ascending arc (guilty as charged for my focus on this era). Here to tell you that there’s a lot more to the story are Mike Shields and ...

In a mention last week of Wednesday night’s Washington-Gonzaga basketball game in Spokane, one account – we won’t mention names; it’s the holiday season – referred to it as a “showdown.” Showdown? Does it qualify for showdown status when one team has beaten the other by 27, 27, 16 and 20 in the pas...

Most of the hoo-ha over college-basketball rankings Monday had nothing to do with Gonzaga, and maybe that’s fitting. The Zags powered through Kansas in both the AP (media) and coaches polls to No. 1, and gee, what can you say but ho-hum? This is the third Gonzaga team in school history to crack the...