A Grip on Sports: There was March’s madness here, there and everywhere on Thursday night, even if the calendar had not switched over yet

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It wasn’t March in Pullman. Nor San Francisco. And certainly not Cheney. Not yet anyway, though it was only minutes away. Instead, all we had was the madness. And Thursday night, that was more than enough.

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• The madness in Pullman, as Washington State somehow, some way, raised its record to 22-7 by pulling out a 75-72 win over visiting USC, was accompanied by another bout of fatalism. At least online.

Not sure how the 8,288 folks in Beasley felt about it – we were not in attendance – but those watching at home and connecting on X, certainly seemed resigned to the Cougars’ (losing) fate midway in the first half as they trailed by a dozen points. Or in second half as they fell behind by nine. But that’s the school’s way, right? To upend the expected? Call it the reverse term-that-we-refuse-to-use.

Key 3-pointers. Young and old players stepping up. Putting some Stick-Em on their hands and finally taking care of the ball. Stops. More stops. And, once again, it was USC’s followers who were banging their heads against the wall.

Those who cheer for 19th-ranked WSU? They seemed shocked to be celebrating.

We were unequivocal here a few weeks back, when the Cougars won at Oregon on Feb. 10. That win assured them an NCAA at-large berth. We weren’t pinning our prediction on the game itself, but what it represented. A tough six-point victory on the road. Against another NCAA wannabe. It showed what these Cougs had in them. Something they’ve been displaying ever since, even in their lone loss since. To be precise, their lone loss since Jan. 20. Kyle Smith’s guys are good enough, tough enough, poised enough to be in the NCAA Tournament. They will be. Heck, they might even head in as the Pac-12’s final champion.

• It was madness in the Chase Center, home of the Warriors. Or maybe just mad for many of the 6,480 in attendance. At least in the second half.

Gonzaga played an NCAA-worthy 20 minutes, basically spanning the final five of the first and the first 15 of the second. It was more than enough to earn an 86-68 win over San Francisco, the Zags’ second Quad 1 win of the season. For now.

As we said back on Feb. 10 – ya, it was a fateful Saturday for local teams – Gonzaga is not going to miss the NCAA tourney. The run is not ending. This team, while not the best GU team of the past quarter-century, is good enough to make some noise in March. Like it did in the waning hours of February.

• No hard-to-explain comeback. Or blowout half. Still, more madness on Reese Court. A different form, but madness nonetheless.

Wth Casey Jones, the bespectacled ball of energy, playing the role of conductor, the Eagles posted a solid 89-79 win over Montana. And, when Weber State won in Greeley, the outright men’s Big Sky title returned to Cheney for the second consecutive season.

The most-maddening of this month’s madness is there is no chance Eastern is playing in the NCAA unless the Eagles win three games in Boise, starting in about 10 days. A tough nonconference slate prepared David Riley’s team for Big Sky play – and was the foundation for the regular-season title – but ensured the Eagles another season of win-or-else. It’s a maddening crapshoot that may or may not go their way.

• Want even more madness? Just spend some time at one of Washington’s State basketball tournaments. It’s high school sports, so anything can happen. Leads slip away late. Teams find a way to play their best. Others melt. The outcomes lead to tears, some of joy, most of disappointment.

In Spokane, in Yakima, in Tacoma, seasons come to an end. Happens on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Come Sunday, a dozen schools will have possession of a gold ball, a championship trophy the school and the players will never forget.

Madness? Sure. Until it ends in devastation. Or rapture.

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WSU: Not sure when the Cougars decided losing wasn’t an option but it wasn’t. Not against a Trojan team that all season has grabbed misery out of the jaws of joy. Greg Woods has the game story. … Geoff Crimmins has a photo gallery. … There is also coverage of the game from Los Angeles. … As happens to the Washington State beat writer, Greg had to cover football news as well while prepping for the game. He has this story on next year’s finalized schedule. Our favorite (worst?) memory in this regard was sitting in Beasley, while a basketball game was going on, talking on the phone and breaking the news Bill Moos would be returning to WSU as athletic director. A juggle, that is for sure. Fun times. … The women’s slow slide continued Thursday with an 82-67 loss at No. 18 Utah. … Greg has one more story. The Cougar baseball team will be playing in Pullman this weekend, weather willing, after a good opening stretch in Texas. … Thomas Clouse took one story off Greg’s plate, as he covered the Pac-12’s introductory press conference of new commissioner Teresa Gould. Tom focused on WSU’s future. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, we can pass along more on Gould, including this from Jon Wilner in the Mercury News. … Host Washington was on fire from outside last night and shot down UCLA 94-77. The loss led Mick Cronin to say a few things about his Bruins. … Stanford has Colorado’s attention. … The Cardinal were smothered by Utah in Salt Lake City 90-68 on Thursday. … Arizona is using two players to handle the point. … On the women’s side, fourth-ranked Stanford overpowered a shorthanded Oregon State team 67-63 in Corvallis to clinch the regular season title. The 11th-ranked Beavers were playing without their best inside player again. … Oregon set a school record in its home loss to California. … Colorado got back on the right track with a home win over Washington. … Arizona gave No. 7 USC all it could handle but the Wildcats faltered in double overtime. … No. 8 UCLA just rolled over Arizona State. … It’s time for the NCAA to do something we’ve been harping on for more than a decade: Acknowledge the records of women who played in the AIAW era. … In football news, the Mountain West schools are looking forward to a schedule that includes WSU and Oregon State. … Wilner picks the Big 12 race for next year. Not sure you care, but we pass it along. … The ACC and Big 12 are in a tough spot vis-à-vis the playoffs starting in 2026. … Washington has a little experience coming back. … Oregon has spring practice set up.

Gonzaga: The 23rd-ranked Zags may have won too easily. USF (21-8), which came in 54th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, fell to 62nd. More losses like last night’s and the Dons might fall below 75th, which would make it only a Quad 2 win. Not that it mattered last night. Jim Meehan has the Zags’ side of things in this game story. … Theo Lawson has the difference makers along with a longer story on one of them, Graham Ike. … Tyler Tjomsland caught all the pageantry of playing in an NBA arena in his photo gallery. … The folks in the office put together the recap with highlights. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s men clinched their first outright conference title in more than a decade and they did it on the road, topping Pepperdine. Saturday’s game in Moraga will only determine one thing: bragging rights headed into the WCC’s postseason event in Las Vegas. Oh, and cement something we have locked in already. Another GU NCAA berth.

EWU: Not only does Dan Thompson cover the men’s conference-clinching victory over Montana, there is also a summary of the women’s one-point victory over the Griz in Missoula at the end. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, as we said, the Weber State men got past Northern Colorado. … The UNC women rolled. … Northern Arizona won both games against Idaho State.

Idaho: Montana State came to Moscow and rolled over the Vandals 62-48. Peter Harriman has the story. … The Vandal women won at Montana State.

Whitworth: There are few things more dependable than the Pirates making the NCAA Division III tournament in men’s basketball. But winning and moving on is not as assured. The latest challenge is playing Cal Lutheran tonight on the Kingsmen’s home court and doing that without, possibly, the Whits’ best player, JoJo Anderson. Ethan Myers has a preview.

Preps: There are way too many games on Thursday, actually, for us to delve deeply into one single one, so we’ll put together the links and let you decide what you want to read. We start with the 4A and with Dave Nichols’ coverage of the Gonzaga Prep girls’ 60-54 win over No. 2-seeded Woodinville. … The G-Prep boys fell to Glacier Peak in overtime of a late game. … Dave also has the story of the Mead girls’ 72-44 quarterfinal win, as well as Mt. Spokane’s 74-64 victory over Mountlake Terrace in the boys’ 3A ranks. Oh, and one more. North Central’s 64-53 loss to Rainier Beach. … We can pass along a 2A/1A roundup from Yakima. … From the Arena, we have Greg Lee’s 1B boys and 2B girls to pass along. … James Hanlon also has a story from the B tournaments. … There is this roundup of the other games in the Arena as well.

Seahawks: Is this the year the Hawks actually draft a quarterback again? … It seems Geno Smith is locked in as the 2024 starter though.

Mariners: Bryce Miller pushed the envelope a bit yesterday. Then the M’s lost. … The offense is focused on making better contact.

Kraken: It’s impossible to lose a shutout, right? The Kraken didn’t Thursday night, riding Philipp Grubauer’s performance to a 2-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. … We also pass along the Times’ story on Kailer Yamamoto as it ran in the S-R.

Sounders: Ozzie Alonso ended his career in the place he shined most, Seattle.

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• Man, there was so much today we didn’t have a chance to let you know what is going to be on TV this weekend. In sports, of course. We haven’t even looked, other than finding the time for the Gonzaga game at Saint Mary’s (7 p.m., ESPN) as we are working it. Maybe we’ll do some fleshing out of the TV schedule tomorrow. … The S-R had some almost impossible-to-overcome computer issues this morning. That is why we are so late with this. it is up now. Until later …