Northwest Notes November 17, 2020
No fans allowed at local high school games for now
Due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, teams and leagues in North Idaho voted not to allow fans at high school basketball and wrestling events for the time being.
The decisions were made following last week's decision by Idaho Gov. Brad Little to push the state back to Stage 2 of his Idaho Rebounds plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His modified plan allows only for gatherings of 10 or fewer people.
Games are still allowed to go on, but only with "essential" personnel.
Games affected this week are all girls basketball games, starting with three games tonight — Timberlake at Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls at Sandpoint and Lakeland at St. Maries.
On Thursday's schedule is Post Falls at Lakeland and Sandpoint at Timberlake.
On Friday, it's Moscow at Lake City and St. Maries at Bonners Ferry.
On Saturday, Bonners Ferry is scheduled to play at Lakeside.
Some schools, like Post Falls, Lakeland and St. Maries, have Pixellot cameras in their gyms, and fans can go to nfhsnetwork.com to watch games, for a fee.
Lakeside games can also be seen via Pixellot on the NFHS Network, for free.
Others, like Coeur d'Alene and Lake City, plan to install Pixellot cameras soon, but hope to find another way to stream games until then.
WSU's Hector named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week
SAN FRANCISCO — For the second straight week, a Washington State Cougar has earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week accolades after defensive back Ayden Hector was selected for the award, the conference office announced Monday.
Hector joins quarterback Jayden de Laura to earn Pac-12 Freshman weekly honors after de Laura received the award following the week one win at Oregon State.
Hector recorded four tackles, two fumble recoveries and his first career interception against No. 11 Oregon this past Saturday. Hector corralled all three takeaways for the Cougar defense against Ducks on three straight series in the first half.
The Seattle native, who joined WSU in October as a walk-on, enters the week leading the Pac-12 with a pair of fumble recoveries and tied for fifth on the team with eight tackles.
Boise State announces AD search committee
BOISE — Boise State University on Monday announced the search committee for its national search for an athletic director.
The search committee will be chaired by Randy Hales, entrepreneur, business leader and vice president of Boise State’s Foundation Board. Members of the search committee will include Matthew Ewing, Vice President of University Advancement; Lida Uribe-Florez, chair of Educational Technology and faculty representative; Linda Clark, State Board of Education member, Boise State alumna and Athletics supporter; Gordy Presnell, women’s basketball head coach; Nic Hunt, graduate student in kinesiology with training in biomechanical engineering; and Malia Pivec, undergraduate student, cross country runner and leader of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
The committee represents varied constituents and will provide advice, consultation and assistance as the Broncos’ next athletic director is recruited and hired.
An executive search firm will be selected by Dec. 1 to assist Boise State and the search committee. Mike Alden, former director of athletics at the University of Missouri, is advising the university leadership team throughout the transition. The university plans to name an AD by March 2021.
EWU men announce signing of three basketball players
A pair of forwards, as well as a guard with regional ties, will join the Eastern Washington University men's basketball program in the 2021-22 season, head coach Shantay Legans announced Monday.
The new additions include 6-foot-7 Skylar Wilson from Aurora, Colo., who will graduate in 2021 from the Southern California Academy after previously attending Eaglecrest High School in Centennial, Colo. The second new addition is 6-10 Ethan Price, who is from Bury St. Edmunds, England, and will be EWU's first-ever men's player from Great Britain.
Also joining the Eagles next year will be 6-2 guard Mason Landdeck, who lists his hometown as Zillah, Wash., but will graduate from Desert Hills High School in Saint George, Utah, in 2021.
As a junior at Eaglecrest, Wilson averaged 15 points, six rebounds and five assists per game and helped lead the Raptors to three straight top-16 finishes at the State 5A Championships in Colorado.
Price represented England in the 2019 FIBA U-18 European Championships. In the 2019-20 season playing for the Ipswich Basketball Academy, he averaged 23.5 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots per game while earning league MVP honors for the second-straight season.
Landdeck earned 1A All-State honors for Zillah in the 2019-20 season, and before that was 1A All-State at Cashmere (Wash.) High School. He had averages of 30 points as a sophomore and 22 as a junior, and played his freshman season at State 2B Champion Kittitas (Wash.) High.
Eastern has two seniors on its 2020-21 roster, including guard Jacob Davison, voted the conference's preseason MVP.
Pac-12 announces 22-game women’s basketball league schedule for 2020-21
SAN FRANCISCO — The Pac-12 Conference has announced the weekly matchups and site designations for the league’s 22-game women’s basketball schedule in 2020-21.
The announcement reflects the games being played and the home/away designations each week of the Pac-12 regular season. Specific dates and times for each game within a week will be announced after selections by the league’s television partners are finalized.
Conference play in 2020-21 will transition to a 22-game, double-round robin schedule in an effort to maintain the most control over scheduling and environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The season is slated to span 12 weeks from Dec. 4, 2020 to March 1, 2021 with the 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament scheduled for March 4-7 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
The Conference was set to complete its 10-year rotation as part of its usual 18-game format in 2020-21, and future scheduling formats continue to be discussed.
Here are Washington State's weekly matchups:
Dec. 4-7 — Washington/Washington State at California/Stanford
Dec. 10-14 — Washington State at Washington
Dec. 18-21 — Oregon/Oregon State at Washington/Washington State
Jan. 1-4 — Washington/Washington State at Colorado/Utah
Jan. 8-11 — Arizona/Arizona State at Washington/Washington State
Jan. 14-18 — Washington/Washington State at UCLA/USC
Jan. 22-25 — Washington/Washington State at Oregon/Oregon State
Jan. 29-Feb. 1 — California/Stanford at Washington/Washington State
Feb. 5-8 — UCLA/USC at Washington/Washington State
Feb. 12-15 — Washington/Washington State at Arizona/Arizona State
Feb. 19-22 — Colorado/Utah at Washington/Washington State
Feb. 26-March 1 — Washington at Washington State