Northwest Notes
Chiefs announce preseason,
regular season schedule
The Spokane Chiefs will play seven preseason games over three weeks in advance of the 2013-14 WHL regular season.
Spokane will play in the Everett Silvertips Holiday Inn Preseason Classic on Friday, Aug. 30 vs. Portland, Saturday, Aug. 31 vs. Everett and Sunday, Sept. 1 vs. Seattle.
The Chiefs will then play in the Tri-City Americans Red Lion Hotels preseason tournament the following weekend with games Sept. 6 against Kootenay and Sept. 7 against Tri-City in Kennewick.
The schedule will finish with a home-and-home series vs. the Americans on Sept. 11 at a location to be determined and Sept. 14 in Kennewick.
They will open the regular season on Sept. 21 against the Tri-City Americans and will play Tri-City again on Sept. 28 in their home opener in Spokane.
Spokane and Tri-City will play each other 12 times, six in each other's building. The teams are coming off their third straight season of facing each other in the playoffs with Spokane winning in 2011 and 2013 and the Americans in 2012.
In total, 10 home games will be played on Friday nights, 13 on Saturday and three on Sundays. The Chiefs will host two Tuesday and eight Wednesday night games. Tuesday through Saturday home games will start at 7:05 and Sundays at 6:05.
Zags basketball players to
sign autographs at Hoopfest
SPOKANE - Players from Gonzaga's men's and women's basketball teams will be signing autographs at the State Farm Battle in Seattle booth in Riverfront Park today through Sunday.
Complimentary 8x10 photos of the Gonzaga basketball players will be available and the first 2,500 fans will receive a surprise State Farm Battle in Seattle collectable as a part of the Spokane Hoopfest weekend.
Players will be available during the following days and times:
Friday
3 to 5 p.m. - Rem Bakamus, Brian Bhaskar
5 to 7 p.m. - Stephanie Golden, Keani Albanez
Saturday
10 a.m. to noon - Gary Bell, Kyle Dranginis
Noon to 1 p.m. - Haiden Palmer, Jazmine Redmon
1 to 3 p.m. - Sam Dower, Drew Barham, Angel Nunez
3 to 5 p.m. - Shelby Cheslek, Keani Albanez
Sunday
10 a.m. to noon - David Stockton, Gerard Coleman
Noon to 2 p.m. - Chelsea Waters, Danielle Walter, Maiki Viela
Idaho athletes sweep 2012-13
WAC Joe Kearney awards
DENVER - Idaho distance runner Hanna Kiser and men's basketball standout Kyle Barone are the 2012-13 Western Athletic Conference Joe Kearney Award winners.
Named in honor of former WAC commissioner Joe Kearney, the awards are given annually to the top male and female student-athletes in the WAC.
This marks the second consecutive year a student-athlete from Idaho has received the award. Kiser becomes the first Vandal woman to earn the honor. Barone is only the second Vandal male student-athlete to be honored.
Kiser concluded her junior year with record setting marks. She recorded new conference marks in the indoor mile (4:37.55), indoor 3,000 meters (9:04.74) and the outdoor 5,000 (15:44.06). Kiser was also a member of the WAC record-holding distance medley relay team. She earned first team All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, with a fifth-place finish in the 3,000.
Kiser swept the WAC Athlete of the Year honors in cross country, indoor and outdoor track, becoming only the second woman to record the feat.
Barone was recognized as the WAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year this past season. He led the conference with 17.2 points per game, matched with 9.7 rebounds per game. His field goal percentage (59.7) and free throw percentage (78.2) also were tops in the WAC. Barone totaled 16 double-doubles on the season, helping him to be an AP honorable mention All-American.
He was named a first-team All-WAC performer, a two-time WAC Player of the Week and was the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame Male Athlete of the Year. The senior never missed a game as a Vandal, setting the school record with 126 games played. He finished his career ranked second at Idaho with 869 rebounds, third with a 58.5 field goal percentage and fourth with 1,433 career points.
from B1
Len walked up to meet Stern and collect his orange Suns hat, then sat down near the stage to put on the walking boot he needs for the stress fracture of his left ankle that was discovered after Maryland's season.
Noel finally went to New Orleans with the next pick. He didn't seem upset at his fall down the draft board, hugging his mother and shaking hands with Kentucky coach John Calipari.
It was a good start to the night for the Hoosiers, with Cody Zeller going to the Charlotte Bobcats two places after Oladipo.
Kansas guard Ben McLemore, another player who was considered a potential top-three pick, also dropped, going seventh to Sacramento.
Headed by a lackluster class, the draft promised confusion and second-guessing, with no consensus No. 1 pick and little agreement among the order of the top five.
And with lesser-known names in the draft, veterans soaked up the spotlight in the hours leading up to it.
Yahoo Sports first reported that the Nets and Celtics were working on a trade that would complete the breakup of the Celtics' veteran core.
ESPN reported earlier Thursday that Dwight Howard was unlikely to return to the Los Angeles Lakers when he becomes a free agent next month.
The guys coming into the league were glad for the attention they did finally get once their names were called.
"It's like a weight vest you took off after running five miles," Oladipo said. "It's relaxing, man. But at the same time, you know it's just getting started."
National player of the year Trey Burke of Michigan also was traded, the Minnesota Timberwolves sending his rights to Utah for the rights to Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, the Nos. 14 and 21 picks.
Lehigh's C.J. McCollum rounded out the top 10 by going to Portland.
Stern, retiring in February, seemed to play up the boos, which turned to cheers after every pick, fans perhaps as puzzled as some of the players at the names they were hearing.
"I was just kidding my agent because he didn't bail me out," Zeller said. "He didn't tell me. I didn't know until David Stern announced it. It's a crazy process not knowing, but I'm definitely excited that I ended up with the Bobcats."
Other players couldn't get too excited about their new addresses, because they changed quickly.
Stern was announcing deals by the middle of the first round and they promised to keep coming after he called it a night and turned things over to Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver for the final 30 picks.
The flurry of trades wasn't surprising with so much uncertainty surrounding this class and so much hope in other areas. Teams such as Houston, Dallas and Atlanta already have an eye on Howard's future, needing to have necessary salary cap space to offer a maximum contract that could lure him away from Los Angeles.
The 2014 class - which could be topped by a second straight Canadian in incoming Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins - will be higher regarded than this one, with James perhaps heading the available free agents to follow.
Local fans seemed pleased with their picks, cheering loudly when the Nets took Duke forward Mason Plumlee at No. 22 and the New York Knicks grabbed Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. two picks later.
Stern made his final pick to close the first round to cheers of "David! David!" before handing things off to Silver.