Zags win Maui Invite; shows it is reloading, not rebuilding

Welcome to Gonzaga men’s basketball – version 9.0.

Maybe even 10.0. It would be fitting, but that’s to be determined in March when the regular season comes to a close. For now – as the Zags enter another year of what could be another prosperous season – the West Coast Conference coaches have predicted Mark Few & Co., will once again win the conference.

The Bond that holds the team together

Kevin Bond grew up in a basketball family. His father played high school ball on the Oregon Coast. His older brother was a Gonzaga Prep athlete, with which he followed that to a four-year hoops stint overseas in Germany, where their mother was born and raised.

Running for Pirates’ treasure

Lining the walls of Whitworth cross country Head Coach Dr. Toby Schwarz’s office used to be quite a bit of portraits from runners past and present, reminding him of his past success.

A majority of those pictures and memorabilia rest at home as the offices in the athletic department are in a transition of renovation and expansion. But one particular memento remains close to his desk.

A nest of their own

Collegiate hockey in the Inland Northwest? With all of the attention this time of year toward the winding down of football and the bright prospect of basketball ahead, it may come as a surprise that there are competitive teams on skates right outside your back door.

While they may not be considered a “varsity” sport by technical means, the breadth of competition and quality of play by the Eastern Washington University club hockey team proves otherwise.

Women’s College Hoops Preview – WSU

When June Daugherty arrived in Pullman, her and her staff promised there would be a new era in Cougar basketball.

Even though the wins have not yet come to be realized, year one was still considered a success by Daugherty, as she helped bring excitement, optimism and a bright future to a program that had not seen any hope of progress in the last 25 years.

Women’s College Hoops Preview – Whitworth

The Whitworth women’s basketball team will have plenty of experience coming into the 2008-09 season with a roster loaded with juniors and seniors.

There isn’t a single true freshman on the roster. And this is a fact that was not overlooked by the Northwest Conference, as the team is picked to finish second in preseason polls.

Women’s College Hoops Preview – CCS

At 10-4 in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) standings and 22-8 overall, the Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) Sasquatch entered the year-end tournament as the team with the 12th best record of the 34 teams in the conference. But that didn’t stop them from making a spirited run in the tourney, finally falling to Columbia Basin College 49-37 in the championship game.

Women’s College Hoops Preview – EWU

At the conclusion of the 2007-08 season, the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team was licking its wounds from a 4-25 season, which netted only one Big Sky Conference victory. The bright side was that every starter was to return, one year more mature and experienced.

Women’s College Hoops Preview – Gonzaga

Creeping toward the top.

That is what the Gonzaga women’s basketball team has been doing each season during Head Coach Kelly Graves’ eight years at the helm of the Bulldog program.

B-Aware of B-Moore

The gleam of a bald head for a young athlete screams intimidation. Add that to a 6’9”, 250-pound frame, and that makes a safe pick as inclusion for Scariest Athletes of the Northwest.

Meet Brandon Moore.

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