ESPN + Spokane = Gonzaga bedlam

In case anyone is still harboring hopes of getting on television for their fleeting 5 seconds behind Digger Phelps' ubiquitous highlighter, here's some hope for you: ESPN's College GameDay will be coming to Spokane this Saturday as the 18th-ranked Zags host the 14th-ranked University of Memphis Tigers.

Look for Jeremy Pargo (who's a friendly guy, FYI) and Mike Goodson to press Tyreke Evans. I haven't been impressed with Evans the few times that I've seen him this year, and I think this is definitely a winnable game for the Zags if they can force Evans into bad decisions and turnovers. The Zags will have to be strong inside against Shawn Taggart, Robert Dozier and Pierre Niles-Henderson to keep them off the offensive glass to win as well. As a team, Memphis holds a +4 turnover margin and nearly a +5 rebound margin.

As a side note on a team Gonzaga has dispatched of twice this season, what happened to Tennessee? Talk about unmotivated and unfocused -- a total of five losses in the past two months. Games against Gonzaga and Memphis ended with losses to quality teams. But Kentucky, LSU and Kansas aren't the best resume builders. Tennessee should dominate the second half of their schedule against a weak Southeastern Conference this season. It will be imperative for them to find a go-to-guy (Wayne Chism?) if they are to be successful down the stretch. Also, here's Bruce Pearl's bare chest.

As usual, men's and women's swimming in first place down home stretch

The Whitworth University men's and women's swimming teams remain unbeaten in Northwest Conference meets following clashes with Lewis & Clark and Willamette last weekend. The men's swim team (5-1 overall, 5-0 Northwest Conference) and the women's swim team (5-0, 5-1) host Whitman College next weekend in the last Whitworth Aquatic Center regular season meet of the season.

Highlights from the weekend featured a smattering of domination:

• Whitworth men go 1-2-3 in 200-butterfly (Justin Leyendekker, Kellen Pacheco, On Leung) and 200-yard breaststroke (Rory Buck, Quinton Darling, Kyle Homad) and 100-yard freestyle (Michael Woodward, Justin Brandler, Eric Patterson) against L&C
• Whitworth women sweep top three places in 200-yard freestyle (Jennifer Benson, Kara Fisher, Brenda Foster) against L&C
• Whitworth sweeps Willamette in men's 100-yard butterfly (Buck, Brandler, Patterson) and 400-yard individual medley (Darling, Pacheco, Dan Neal)
• Women's team takes top three slots in 50-yard freestyle (Benson, Foster, Allison Shigley)

Noel Sollom-Brotherton, who has the third best time in the NWC for the 200-yard backstroke, and Chris Bendix, third best in conference in the 400-yard individual medley, will lead the Missionaries into the meet in Spokane. Lauren Flynn holds the fifth best time in the NWC for the 50-yard freestyle and Linnea Scott is fifth best for the 400-yard individual medley on the women's side for Whitman.