Let them play

I know the NFL playoffs are happening right now and we are down to four teams. There were some good games over the weekend and the AFC and NFC championship games should be really good. But today I want to get caught up with college basketball as the upsets are adding up with top 10 teams taking one on the chin.

There are several polls that rate college basketball teams, both men and women and the competitiveness is intriguing. We have seen a bunch of upsets in the last few weeks which are always fun to watch. This time of year you will find teams that have injury issues and a flu bug that may raise havoc with a team. Now I don’t know if injuries or illness played a role in those upset losses but they might have. Smart coaches these days try not to lay the blame for a loss because of those reasons.

If you pay attention to Gonzaga men’s basketball you may have heard that the Bulldog losses are hurting their chances of making the NCAA tournament. The women on the other hand are having a very good year. The weird thing is that last week they won both of their games handily and dropped a spot in the AP Poll. Guess you can’t make everybody happy. The women’s team is solid and beat Stanford earlier in the year which is quite a feat in itself.

The men lost in Santa Clara to the Broncos by one point. Santa Clara is a solid basketball team and is very tough on their home court but you would have thought the Zags lost to a 3-15 team. The Zags rebounded so to speak with a couple of blowout victories at Pepperdine and San Diego. The only difference in those wins was the starting lineup where Ben Gregg replaced Dusty Stromer. This change was good for Gregg but also for Stromer who came off the bench and seemed to find his 3 point shot. Stromer also played very good defense and was able to see from the bench how the flow of the game was going. In the last three halves of basketball the Bulldogs looked like some of the teams we came to know and love. The game at San Diego also allowed Coach Few to rest Anton Watson who was needed for all 40 minutes at Santa Clara and was exhausted when the final horn sounded. Don’t write this team off just yet. They are finally understanding what their roles are and the passing and shooting is coming around. They are fun to watch again.

The EWU men and women are playing really good basketball right now. The Eagle men knocked off preseason favorite Weber State on the road last Thursday and Idaho State on Saturday. They need to continue this solid basketball play. What I like about this Eagle team is that they play tough defense and play good team offense. You never know who will lead the team in scoring. The defense can’t focus on just one player. Several Eags have led the team in scoring including guys coming off the bench.

The Lady Eagles are leading the Big Sky as well and were predicted to win the conference this year. They have routed several opponents this season and lost to the Zag women in a close game earlier this season in Cheney. Coach Joddie Gleason has done a great job of building a solid team. Before she arrived in Cheney there were some issues and the Eagles lost several players that transferred out. The job she has done is remarkable and hopeful that this can continue.

So there are four teams from this area that are playing good basketball right now and all four have a good shot at making the NCAA tournament. This is not a prediction but it certainly is something that everyone should realize. It’s not often that you can go to either campus on a weekend and watch one of the top teams in their respective conferences. But you can this year in Cheney and Spokane.

My thoughts are simply this let these kids have fun and let them play and chances are they will come out on top playing that game. What is really great is that these are real teams playing together and achieving victory. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

For you WSU fans the Cougar men knocked off a top ten Arizona Wildcat team which wasn’t easy and the Cougar women are playing great right now as well. The road for the women is not going to be easy with UCLA and USC coming up this weekend and Stanford soon enough. It’s the last year for the Pac 12 make it memorable.

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].