A Grip on Sports: The double play in Cheney this winter was a thing of beauty unless you happen to root for another Big Sky school

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We know a couple Eastern Washington men’s basketball season ticket holders. They sit down near the court and quietly express their joy in watching their alma mater race past Big Sky Conference foes that once used to consider a stop in Cheney a respite. It may be cold outside but the dish of red-hot revenge must taste better than even the excellent concession-stand popcorn.

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• There have been special moments at Reese Court over the years, sure. Years in which the Eagles were special because of the team effort and others when they shined due to legends like Marc Axton, Alvin Snow, Rodney Stuckey and a series of stars brought into Spokane’s gravity by former coach Jim Hayford.

But the past few years Eastern has shown growing magnetism. A force revolving around two coaches who served under Hayford: Shantay Legans and David Riley. They happen to be the last two head coaches.

We all know what happened with Legans. In his fourth season, he put together a high-scoring team, it took Kansas to the brink in the NCAA tourney’s first round and he hightailed it out the door to Portland, something of a tradition at Eastern. (And, in another tradition for former EWU coaches, he’s in the process of flaming out with the Pilots.)

Left to pick up the pieces was Riley, the former Whitworth shooting star with deep coaching bloodlines – his uncle is the legendary Oregon State football coach Mike Riley – and the affection of the Eastern players. But Riley’s Eagles have looked nothing like Legans’ last group. Well, roster-wise. Just about everyone left. But the winning hasn’t. The past two years Riley’s group has earned Big Sky regular season titles. Heck, with its 91-88 road win last night in Sacramento, Eastern finished three games to the good of second-place Montana, a result only fantasized about in the last century.

Now another ladder rung awaits. Three times in the past 20 years the Eagles have carried the Big Sky banner into the NCAA Tournament. Ray Giacoletti took Axton and the 2004 squad into that uncharted territory first. Hayford got them there in 2015, Legans in 2021. Can Riley and his group of everyone-chips-in-almost-every-night, team-first guys do it again?

We’ll find out next week. It’s all of nothing for the Eagles in the Big Sky’s postseason tournament. Everyone travels to Boise, plays a lose-and-you-go-home affair and then one team awaits their NCAA assignment. It’s usually against one of the nation’s power teams. This year will be no different.

That’s a challenge Riley’s team, and our Statler-and-Waldorf-like fan friends, seem eager to accept.

• What’s different this winter in Cheney is there are two Big Sky champions in the house. And Joddie Gleason’s team, though its conference edge was only a game, put together an even better overall season than its male counterpart.

Gleason came to Cheney in 2021 and set out to remake a program that hadn’t had a winning season in three years. After a tough first 12 months, she used the transfer portal widely and wisely, building a record-break group that has won more games than any in Eastern NCAA Division I history, no matter the gender.

Now they have a chance to participate in the NCAAs for the second time.

All it takes, of course, is to navigate three tough games in Boise. An odd reward, as always, for a team that won 26 games overall and went 16-2 in conference.

• Neither EWU team is ranked, which isn’t a surprise. The Big Sky only occasionally produces teams that earn national recognition. But that doesn’t mean the Monday poll releases aren’t important for ego-boosts.

Take the women for example. Their neighbors in Spokane, Gonzaga, moved up a spot to 15th in the Associated Press poll yesterday. What does that say about the Eagles, who took GU to the wire in late November, losing 82-80 on a last-second shot? That they will be a tough-out for whomever they draw in the NCAA tourney – if they survive the Boise gantlet, of course.

The men weren’t that close in Pullman a couple days before, but with the Cougars moving up to 18th in the A.P. poll and fighting for the Pac-12 title in the final week, the 82-72 loss looks much better for the Eagles.

Both are dots of color on the masterpieces painted in Cheney this winter.

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WSU: Ah, the polls. We mentioned Washington State’s upward movement above. And Greg Woods has a story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has his power rankings in the Mercury News, in which he points out WSU has done something no Pac-12 team has ever done before. … John Canzano posted his mailbag yesterday. … There are power rankings from Eugene to pass along. … We love what Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr. did recently. … There are Jimmy Anderson-like folks all over college basketball. But few as beloved in one place as Anderson was in Corvallis. The Beavers longtime assistant (and more) died yesterday at 86. …  The Oregon NCAA resume needs more work. … Colorado has shown toughness down the stretch as its dealt with injuries. … Branden Carlson had one heck of a Senior Night. … The Oregon State women are back at full strength for the Pac-12 tourney. … It’s redemption time for Colorado. … In football news, should the ACC and Big 12 agree to the latest playoff format? Wilner thinks so and he explains why in the Mercury News. … Washington’s Rome Odunze was not the only Husky to impress at the NFL’s combine. … Oregon State is about ready to start the first spring under coach Trent Bray. … USC has added a veteran to its coaching staff. … Finally, we’ve read a lot about women’s sports “having a moment.” Uh, that’s not true. It’s more than that. A lot more.

Gonzaga: Of course we can pass along a poll story about the Bulldogs. Jim Meehan writes it this week. It includes the NET numbers and our hated bracket projections. … The women’s poll results and bracket projections? Greg Lee has that coverage as part of his women’s basketball notebook. … Theo Lawson takes care of another other item, Graham Ike taking home player-of-the-week honors again. … Jim and Richard Fox have another episode of their Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast, which you can listen to here. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Pacific and Pepperdine are looking for new men’s coaches. Lorenzo Romar’s second stint in Malibu was not as successful as the first. For the Tigers, former Idaho coach Leonard Perry struggled in his three seasons.

EWU: We won’t add any more personal thoughts here. We’ll just pass along Dan Thompson’s coverage of last night’s 72-59 Senior Night win for the women over visiting Sacramento State. The win clinched the regular season crown. And produced a bunch of smiles. … As we said, the men won 91-88 in Sacramento. They’ll either play Idaho or the Hornets on Sunday in their first tournament game. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, it was a good Senior Night for Montana’s men, winning 79-65 over Idaho State. … Same for Montana State’s men, with a hard-fought 76-64 victory over Weber State. … Northern Colorado locked up the second seed with an 82-74 win at Northern Arizona. … The UM women finished out with a 67-65 win at Idaho State. … Montana State won 67-65 at Weber State. … Northern Arizona ruined Northern Colorado’s Senior Night 67-61. … Former Montana football coach Bob Stitt has found work as an offensive coordinator.

Idaho: The men lost in Portland 72-57 while the women topped the Vikings at home 60-44 on Monday night. Both are handled in this story.

Mariners: We can pass along these early-in-spring-training observations.

Kraken: We watched the final few minutes of last night’s game and saw one heck of a fight. And some fight in the Kraken, who needed the 4-2 road win over the Flames. Needed it a lot. … The trade deadline draws near and one Seattle player wasn’t available last night.

Seahawks: The big news yesterday for the 12s? It probably is a decision made in Denver, where the Broncos told Russell Wilson thanks for the effort but see you later. The veteran quarterback will be free to sign with anyone when the free agent period begins and Denver will be on the hook for most of his contract. Could Wilson end up back in Seattle? Probably not, but the Hawks have their quarterback issues too. If the possible Hall of Fame quarterback is willing to play nice, he should have that option but he won’t because he won’t – if you get our drift.

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• Yes, we were wildly wrong about the polls. As if no one has ever gone bankrupt underestimating the intelligence of a group of American experts before. … Speaking of American experts, the S-R sports staff won an APSE award for its college basketball special section. … And one more thought. Other than sports, why do cable networks exist anymore? This is a great story from the A.P. Until later …