The weekend in review

Well that was fun.

For 96 hours, I sat around, either at home, my parent's house, or the Arena and watched college basketball and hockey. Of the four games that I truly cared about, my team won three of them. And in all of them, there was no shortage of drama.

On Thursday, as I watched my bracket go down in flames, Gonzaga took on the Akron Zips in what was supposed to be a tune-up for their Saturday game. Well, not so much.

The Zags fell behind at halftime and were clearly the lazier team on the court. Akron played like they wanted it and after the first 20 minutes, they had no reason to believe they couldn't win it.

But, true to first-round form, Gonzaga established dominance in the second half. After falling behind 49-43, the Bulldogs ripped off a 31-6 run and advanced to face Western Kentucky.

Now, I watched the Hilltoppers play Gonzaga close last season and I saw them defeat Illinois. If there is one thing that team is capable of, it's hitting the three ball. I'm just a fan and saw this. Surely, HEAD COACH Mark Few knew the same thing. Right?

Well, 94 seconds in, WKU had made two 3's. At the 10:49 mark, the Hilltoppers had made seven shots. Six were from long distance. In all, they nailed 12 to stay close, but it was a tip in with about seven seconds left that tied it at 81.

With senior Jeremy Pargo calling for the ball after the inbound, freshman Demetri Goodson ran the floor, drove the lane and went Tyus Edny on Western Kentucky, hitting a layin with 0.9 on the clock to send the Zags to the Sweet 16 for the first time in three years, 83-81.

On deck for Gonzaga is just the North Carolina Tar Heels, no big deal. Apparently they're pretty good. However, they met two years ago at Madison Square Garden. UNC raced out to a double-digit lead before Gonzaga scored. But in the end, it was the Bulldogs who prevailed 82-74. Sure, the Zags don't have Derek Raivio, who led them in scoring that day, but the Heels don't have Brandan Wright, who did the same for his team. And in the big matchup, Josh Heytvelt dominated Tyler Hansbrough, outscoring him by 10.

It has the potential to be the game's best tournament. If Lawson is 100%, Carolina has the edge. If not, the Zags should prevail.

On the ice, the Spokane Chiefs split their first two playoff games, winning and losing by 2-1 scores. Only the greater one, Drayson Bowman, has scored for the Chiefs, tallying in the second and third on Friday to defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds. On Saturday, he cut the T'Birds lead in half before Spokane ultimately fell.

If Spokane can't get scoring from any of their other skaters, Seattle will advance in five games. Bowman is one of the best players in the league, but he can't win a series on his own. Anytime Ondrej Roman or Brady Calla or Tyler Johnson or Levko Koper or anyone else wants to tally in the playoffs would be great. Thanks, guys!

Game 3, tomorrow in Kent. Go Chiefs Go!