Art Thiel

The task is formidable. Then again, what about this project has been otherwise?

Since seeding began in 1979, this is the first time that none among the No. 1, 2 or 3 seeds advanced to the tourney's final weekend. In its 34-year hoops history, Florida Atlantic has never won a tourney game until this month.

What's clear is that the performance of Smith, as well as the relatively light weight of his subsequent contract, affords the chance for the Seahawks to do many things.

Many sports fans indulge the reverie that teams most of the time share an overarching camaraderie and purpose. That's often true. But it's just about as often that managers and laborers would be thrilled to step out into the street and settle things.

Two things prioritize what seems the mandatory minimum for sustained offensive success these days in a business with both high personnel turnover and a ruthless consumer demand for instant gratification (making it identical to nearly every other aspect of 21st-century life).

"I've recommended to a number of business people that they should be a pariah at least once," he said, chuckling during a phone call from Los Angeles.

The Seahawks are the first NFL team in 20 years to make the playoffs and also have a top-five pick in the next draft.

The guess is here the Mariners are again so far behind, it will take another 20 years to catch up.

It will be a match with stakes beyond the rivalry, featuring teams on an uptick that accept the frozen darkness of the Palouse as a proper FOX Sports theater for proving they can get as metaphorically dirty as everyone else in college ball and come out ahead.

Things can change quickly. What can't change is the fact that the Seahawks have eight games of proof that their offense is better without Wilson.