That was a fun to write and long to read way to say "it's time for the thanksgiving weekend and the great college basketball tournaments that come with the holiday".
This year four of the WCC's nine teams are participating in Thanksgiving week tournaments. Santa Clara in the sub-CBE (I'll get to that later), Loyola Marymount in the Great Alaska Shootout, Saint Mary's in the Directv Classic (Anaheim Classic) and Gonzaga in the Old Spice Classic. Here is the first part of my previews for these tournaments. The following are the games on Wednesday and Thursday. The Friday and Sunday games will be determined by the outcomes of the games on Thursday and Friday so I will preview those on Thursday night after the action. The only exception is Santa Clara, which will play Eastern Washington on Friday. That preview will also be included with Thursday's round of previews.
Wednesday, November 21st:
Santa Clara (3-0) vs. Utah Valley (2-2)
Santa Clara is in the CBE Classic, sorta. The CBE Classic is made up of three basically separate tournaments. There is the four team, advertised, "host rounds" CBE, that takes place in Kansas City. Then there are the "sub host rounds", made up of eight teams and taking place at two separate sub host schools (Santa Clara and Chattanooga). Each team in the "host rounds" plays two teams in the "sub host rounds" at home prior to the actual tournament and those games have absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the tournaments. Santa Clara went to Saint Louis, beat the Billikens, yet the Billikens still went to Kansas City to play in the big tournament.
Anyways, Santa Clara is hosting a neat little round-robin tournament at home with Utah State, Eastern Washington and South Carolina Upstate. Santa Clara is playing South Carolina Upstate tonight and (at the time of writing this sentence, seriously the last seconds of the game ticked off the clock as I went to look for the score) has just won 85-65. Utah State plays Eastern Washington next, so the Broncos record is current but the Wolverines is from before their game with the Eagles.
Santa Clara enters this tournament as the favorite. They're off to an incredible start to the season with their 3-0 record and the #1 RPI in the country. Utah Valley is from the Great West conference, a new and already fledgling conference that doesn't receive an auto-bid to the NCAA tournament.
Leavey Center, Santa Clara, CA.
8:00 PM PST
Thursday, November 22nd:
Saint Mary's (3-0) vs. Drexel (1-2)
The former Anaheim Classic is now the Directv Classic, but it is still in Anaheim and the games are still being carried by Directv so it's no big change. This year's field consists of Cal, Drake, Drexel, Georgia Tech, Pacific, Rice and Xavier. Good but not outstanding as far as these tournaments go. If the Gaels win the championship they will pick up some serious cred. Saint Mary's is the only current WCC team in the tournament, but former and future member Pacific is involved and could face off with the Gaels in what would be a preview of what is to come when the Tigers are in the WCC.
The Drexel Dragons came into this season with high expectations. After a season which saw them win 29 games but miss the NCAA tournament the Dragons were out to prove they belong. The VCU-and-Old Dominion-less CAA was expected to be theirs. A title which had eluded them for a while and would have been a great help in making the big dance last season. They've stumbled out of the gate though and things don't look as good as they did before the start of the year. With losses to Pennsylvania and Kent State the Dragons are in desperate need of a win.
The hype surrounding Drexel in the offseason was as great as a mid-major can hope for and for good reason. This is a stout defensive team that returns four starters from last years 29 win squad. Interestingly, 1-2 is how they started off last season as well. This sets up to be one of the tournament's best games with the Gaels, a favorite in the tournament, looking to pick up a quality non-conference win in one of their few opportunities to do so. The Dragons are looking to stop the bleeding and prove the hype was deserved. Not to mention they are also looking to pick up a quality non-conference win after a season in which they were left out of the big dance due to not having enough of them despite, as I've mentioned numerous times above, their impressive 29 wins.
Anaheim Convention Center
1:30 PM PST
TV: ESPN 2
Online: ESPN 3
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Gonzaga (3-0) vs Clemson (2-0)
The Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida is always one of the better turkey day tournaments. This year it's field is a bit less overwhelming than usual but still filled with power conference schools and strong mid majors. The rest of the field consists of Davidson, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Marist, UTEP and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt, Davidson, West Virginia and Gonzaga were all NCAA Tournament teams last season. The Zags could face West Virginia for the second time in this young season if both teams advance to the championship game. They could also face former Zag Ryan Spangler's new team, the Oklahoma Sooners. Spangler isn't eligible to play this season due to transfer rules. He'll be at the game though, and it should be fun for him to watch what he could have been a part of this season.
Clemson is 2-0 so far this season but, like two of the Zags wins, those haven't come against teams of note. The Tigers beat Presbyterian and Furman of the Big South and Southern Conference respectively. The Tigers are averaging 74 points per game so far, which should play well into Gonzaga's effective defense. The Tigers defense on the other hand, hasn't been so great. They are averaging only 34 rebounds per game, a full ten less than the Zags.
Clemson was an absolutely horrible defensive team last season. While that doesn't mean they will be this year, they did lose three starters during the offseason, it bodes well for Gonzaga. The Zags were very efficient in their offense last season, and now this season they're first in points per game in the nation with 94.3. This game will be more challenging than any of the three previous games for the Zags. It's their first time outside of the McCarthey Athletic Center this season and it's quite a ways from Spokane. Orlando is pretty much all the way across the country and much closer to Clemson than Gonzaga.
6:00 PM PDT
TV: ESPN 2
Online: ESPN 3
Radio: 1510 KGA AM in the Inland Northwest.
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Loyola Marymount (2-1) vs. Oral Roberts (2-1)
The Great Alaska Shootout is a haven for mid major programs looking to break through. Gonzaga frequented it in the early 2000s, Murray State won it last season, now this year it features an opening match between LMU and ORU. Other teams in the field include the D-2 host University of Alaska-Anchorage, UC Riverside, Northeastern, Belmont, Texas State and Charlotte. Aside from the two teams playing in this game, Belmont is the only serious threat. The Bruins won 30 games two years ago, 27 last season and sit at 3-0 right now.
The Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts are coming off a close win over Pacific while the Lions are coming off at Cal State Bakersfield. Not much is known about these squads yet, as both have gone 1-1 against D-1 foes, with one of those losses being pretty lopsided. A Lions win over Oral Roberts at this point in the season, despite the unknowns, will probably pay dividends later down the road as the Golden Eagles are consistently one of the better mid-major programs in the country.
6:00 PM PST
TV: CBS Sports Net
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in Los Angeles
Online: www.kxlu.org (free live audio)
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM in Los Angeles
Online: www.kxlu.org (free live audio)
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