SPOKANE, Wash. — In terms of sports in this area, we are currently in the quietest time of year.
No college teams are playing with the exception of a few athletes in the NCAA Track and Field Championships, high school sports are over, and professional sports news with local ties are few and far between.
Add in the fact that the Indians don't even know who will be on their team yet, and there are some serious crickets.
However, there are a lot of questions that face some of our top sports teams around Spokane as they prepare for the year ahead.
5. Will WSU's men's basketball team see improvements?
Kyle Smith has been actively changing over the roster in Pullman, but will we see results? I put this as my fifth biggest question because, to be frank, there isn't a ton of pressure on Smith in his first season. However, seeing some improvement from a team that has been at the bottom of the Pac-12 for some time would be incredibly exciting.
4. Will this be one of the most competitive WCC seasons ever?
The Bulldogs will probably be the team to beat again, but Saint Mary's and BYU both return a ton of fire power. Saint Mary's returns four of their top five scorers, including Jordan Ford who could very well be a WCC preseason player of the year candidate.
Another WCC preseason player of the year candidate may be Yoeli Childs, who announced this week he was headed back to BYU after dabbling in the NBA Draft waters. BYU also returns point guard TJ Haws.
This slate will be no cake walk for a Gonzaga Bulldogs team that will rely heavily on underclassmen and a few grad transfers.
3. Will Eric Barriere become a candidate for FCS Player of the Year?
At the FCS Championship game there was a lot of talk that if Eric Barriere had been playing all season, he would have been an FCS Player of the Year candidate. So, can he live up to the potential some people think he has this season?
Barriere has a unique combination of passing and running skills that will help him light up fields this fall. Only time will tell with this question, but I do think that if Barriere is going to put it all together and ascend to the next level, he needs to be a more vocal leader on his team.
2. Who will play point guard for Gonzaga?
It seems pretty obvious that the staff doesn't think Joel Ayayi, Greg Foster, or Brock Ravet is ready to take over the reigns full-time.
Gonzaga did have grad transfer point guard Derryck Thornton in town this week, but they haven't received a commitment from him yet.
The Bulldogs getting a grad transfer point guard is pretty important because they need someone with experience running their offense. That's the biggest no duh statement of all time, but that's what it boils down to.
1. How will Gage Gubrud do in the Pac-12?
This one feels particularly unanswered because we didn't get to see Gage practice with WSU much in the spring due to an injury.
At the very last practice, Gage looked iffy at best during a drive period. He led WSU on two drives, going 5-of-8 and 3-of-8 for no touchdowns. To just put this in perspective: Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon had four touchdowns in their two drives combined that day. Still, it feels a little unfair to compare since Gage hasn't had much time with the offense.
Basically, we know Gage is a talented athlete, but if that will translate to the Pac-12 level hasn't been answered yet.