The End Starts Here

Tonight the first game of the WCC Tournament will be held between Santa Clara and Portland at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Whichever team loses will play no more games this season. It's strange that the most exciting time in college hoops is just getting started, March begins tomorrow so get ready, but it's also the end of the line for most teams.


I don't know what to expect from this game. Santa Clara is looking to avoid losing every single WCC game they play this year so I imagine the Broncos will be playing with a lot more fire than Portland. The Pilots have 3 conference wins but only 6 total for the year. Santa Clara posted a winning non-conference record with 8 wins to 5 losses. They have unfortunately lost every single game since that 8th win back in December. Without looking at their conference records it's appears obvious that Santa Clara is the better team, though barely. However with conference records in play you can see that Santa Clara has fallen completely flat at the worst possible time. I hate to be so negative about a WCC Touranament game but honestly the only aspect of this game that matters is that it's the start of the post season. The losers' season ends, the winners' lasts for one more day.
Neither of these teams should stand a chance against San Francisco in the next round. The Dons sit at 18 wins and have proven in their last three games they are a formidable opponent. Despite going 1-2 to end the season they beat Gonzaga, lost by 1 to BYU and had a lead over Saint Mary's (who was playing to keep their at-large hopes alive) at the half before falling by only 7.

Regardless of how insignificant I feel this game is, the WCC tournament this year is the least insignificant it's ever been. The WCC is looking at 3 bids to the NCAA tournament. If the WCC got two in past years it was because Gonzaga got upset in the Championship Game and took an at large bid from a bubble team. I'm no bracketologist but heck, there could be 4 bids if LMU wins the tournament. I can't see BYU getting left out just because the WCC doesn't deserve more than 3 bids.

Tomorrow is March, and today would be if this wasn't a leap year. I have many memories of March 1st in Spokane being a significantly nicer day than Feb 28th. I always assumed that was Mother Nature's way of thanking us for March Madness Once again, it's the start of tournament season and yesterday's winter storm warnings have faded into the nicest day of the year here in Chicago, although they left behind a wind advisory (though at 60 degrees that wind feels fine for the first time since I moved here). I can't say the same about Spokane today, sorry guys, it's because I'm not there. Anyways, as far as I'm concerned it's March and I'm ready to go mad.