Saturday, March 31, 2012

University of Pacific to Join WCC in 2013

The WCC had been able to avoid the mess of realignment for 30 years until adding Brigham Young this past season. BYU was a good addition, especially for the bread and butter of the conference, basketball. Now though the conference has joined in the craze of destructive realignment.
I cover WCC basketball so I don't know too much about Pacific's competitiveness in other sports. I do know however that without basketball the WCC is on the level of the Sun Belt, Atlantic Sun or SWAC, small and unimportant.

Pacific had a solid couple seasons in the mid 2000's. From 2004-2006 they made the NCAA tournament. They won one game in the first two years. The Tigers haven't been back since and have only one other time (1997) in the 30 years of WCC stability I mentioned earlier.

This season the Tigers won 11 of 30 games played. They finished 7th in the 9 team Big West. Stat guru Ken Pomeroy has the Tigers ranked at 286 out of 345 D-1 teams. Pepperdine, the lowest ranked WCC team, sits at 289th. Pacific lost to the Santa Clara Broncos who went win-less in the WCC.

I could go on and on about just how bad the Pacific Tigers are. I won't, I think I've proven that point. After the jump I'll explain why this is a horrible move by the WCC. Once again, I'm talking about basketball here.

Monday, March 26, 2012

2011-2012 Season Recap: Gonzaga

Gonzaga was coming off a strange 2010-11 season, in which the team lost 10 games, was an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament (their worst since 2001) and faced an uphill battle to win the WCC and make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the Bulldogs 1999 elite eight run.

They lost one of my favorite Zags, Steven Gray, to graduation, as well as junior starter Demetri Goodson who left to play football at Baylor. Gray was the leader of that team and Goodson was the starting point guard. Goodson never played at a high enough level and Gray had an injury riddled and in-general-unfortunate senior campaign. As much as I liked Gray I didn't feel that his departure would be super impactful. Then there were the dark off-season months, full of boredom and scheduling/recruiting rumors.

I remember the excitement of November 11th, 2011 quite vividly. The months of waiting had finally come to an end. This was no exhibition, practice, or rumor. It was game against a D-1 opponent that would count from now until the end of the season. A Spokane County rivalry, Eastern Washington vs. Gonzaga. Gonzaga's starters were Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Marquise Carter, David Stockton and Mike Hart. The Zags only used 3 players off the bench, Sam Dower and freshmen Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. Looking back, that seems so foreign.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bittersweet Sixteen: Gonzaga 62, Kentucky 79

The Gonzaga women's team's season came to an end today with a loss in the Sweet Sixteen to Kentucky. Gonzaga is 28-6 on the year, as is Kentucky. The Zags made their 4th straight NCAA tournament appearance, 6th straight postseason appearance and 8th under current head coach Kelly Graves.

Zag starters Kayla Standish, Katelan Redmon and Kelly Bowen played their last game for Gonzaga in the loss. Shannon Reader also played her last game as a Zag, though she receives limited minutes off the bench. Last year the Zags lost one of the greatest players in the history of college basketball, WNBA All-Star Courtney Vandersloot, but recovered this season with a 3rd straight sweet sixteen. Next season will be interesting as the Zags aren't losing an all time great, but will have to replace three solid veterans.

Recap of the game after the jump.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Sweet Sixteen: 11 Gonzaga vs 2 Kentucky

The Gonzaga women's basketball team have played 10 of their last 11 NCAA Tournament games in the state of Washington. On Sunday they will head to Kingston, Rhode Island to play the 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats in a Sweet Sixteen match-up. These two teams play a fast paced style with lots of offense as a result.

Kentucky plays that up tempo style on defense as well. Full court pressure that generates turnovers allow them to score points in transition. They lead the nation in turnovers forced. However the Zags don't cough the ball up all that often, ranking seventh nationally in assists to turnovers ratio.

While the Wildcats force a lot of turnovers they've been committing an extremely high number of them so far in the tournament. They had 34 turnovers in their last game, against Green Bay, including 20 in the second half. Somehow the Wildcats escaped with a win despite that outrageous number.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

100 Seasons Completed: LMU Eliminated in CIT Quarterfinals

Utah State 77, Loyola Marymount 69

My friend and old roommate was visiting last night so I wasn't able to watch this game and from what I've read about it that disqualifies me from writing about it. There was a tense moment when both benches cleared and the Lions coaches picked up two technicals.

Fouls are the only reason the Lions lost this game from what I can tell. The Aggies shot 35 of them to the Lions 14. I shouldn't be saying this without seeing it but I will anyways, these were WAC refs in a WAC gym. Though none of them have a history of being particularly harsh they were this game. LMU isn't a team that typically commits more fouls than their opponents but they nearly doubled The Aggies' total in this one. Had that not been the case this game would have been a closer as neither team shot well.

The Aggies shot 39.2% from the field and only 23% from three. LMU did barely a percent better at 40.9% from the field but was a much better from 3 at 36%.

Sophomore Anthony Ireland had 23 points in the loss. Drew Viney had a 3-11 shooting night in his last game as a Lion, he ended with 9 points and 4 rebounds.

I'll have a recap of the Lions historic 100th season in a few days, along with ones for Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, BYU and San Francisco.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Loyola Marymount @ Utah State: CIT Quarterfinals

The centennial season of LMU Lions basketball isn't over yet. After posting wins against Cal State Fullerton and Weber State at home in the first and second rounds respectively of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament the Lions find themselves in the quarterfinals. They are the last team playing on the men's side of WCC basketball.

Utah State is 19-15 on the year, 8-6 in the WAC. They hosted Brigham Young in both teams first game of the season and won. That is the only good win they have on the season and considering it was so long ago and also before Matt Carlino was eligible for the Cougars it's not as impressive as it seems on paper. Aside from that the Aggies have played Nevada and New Mexico State (who stole the WAC's bid from the better Wolfpack) and lost all four. They do have a 15-4 record at home in the Spectrum, but as a decent mid-major that's easy to do against a bunch of lesser mid-majors.

Loyola Marymount, 21-12, hasn't played a true road game since their Feburary 15th 75-60 beat down of then #16 Saint Mary's. I hope they haven't lost the swagger that led them to a 9-3 road record in that month plus.

This game features an interesting match-up of sophomore guards who are already their team's leaders. Utah State's Preston Medlin leads the Aggies in points with 16.3 per game. Anthony Ireland for the Lions puts up 15.5 a team high, but also dishes out 4.8 assists, more than anyone in this match-up.

Senior Brady Jardine leads the team in assists per game despite having not played since their 3rd game of the year. 6' 8'' senior forward Morgan Grim has the most rebounds of their remaining players at 5.9 per game. The Aggies as a team pull down only 26 rebounds a game without Jardine's stats factored in. That's a solid ten less than the 36 the Lions grab.

Everything favors the Lions in this match-up except the crowd, but if they haven't forgotten how to play on the road that could well be in their favor too.

Loyola Marymount @ Utah State
Logan, Utah
Wed, March 21, 2012, 6pm PDT
Radio: KXLU 88.9 FM and streaming free online at KXLU.com.

Gonzaga Women to 3rd Straight Sweet Sixteen

Since 1999 a lot has changed. I gained another digit in my name for one (it was that number too). Gonzaga followed up it's Cinderella run to the elite eight with two straight sweet sixteens. Enrollment shot up at the small school thanks to the publicity. The West Coast Conference became more competitive in Men's basketball, which manifested itself this year in the addition of BYU, two WCC teams ranked in the top 25, three bids to the NCAA tournament, five teams with 20+ wins and a multi-year big time TV deal with ESPN.

It has also resulted in the elevation of the women's game in the conference, particularly at Gonzaga. It's no longer just a team that makes the postseason yearly, which they've done 6 straight times and 8 of the last 9, it's now a team that makes the tournament and advances. Four the fourth straight year they've won at least one game and for the third straight they're going to the sweet sixteen.

This year the Zags, an 11 seed, have upset 6 seed Rutgers in their first game and last night upset the 3rd seeded Miami Hurricanes. Granted both of those games were played in the Kennel (just as last year's sweet 16 and elite 8 games), but the Zags got the job done over teams that were supposed to be better. Next up for Gonzaga is 2 seed Kentucky in Kingston, Rhode Island on March 25th.

Fans of Rutgers or Miami will find it extremely unfair that their higher seeded teams had to play at the home gym of the lower seed, which it is. It speaks volumes to the level that this program has risen to. Women's basketball is a sport that doesn't draw much of an audience. Gonzaga has sold out the 6000 seat McCarthey Athletic Center 5 times this season, and almost all of the other home games had attendance over over 5000. Last season in 7 WCC home games the Zags average attendance was 4,136. Average attendance in their 7 road games was 561. I was able to watch them play against Portland last season and it was just as exciting an environment as any given Men's game.

As a Spokane native I am extremely proud of the Gonzaga basketball program. The original darlings of March haven't gone away and haven't changed with the fame (except by getting better). I'm also extremely proud of the way the community has supported the Zags. It's a symbiotic relationship and it is great.

I'll be doing a preview of the Gonzaga vs. Kentucky game in a day or two. I should have been doing them from the beginning but my rookie season of covering an entire conference has been overwhelming. Regretfully the women's team has been left out except for the occasional tweet. They deserve better.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

LMU Needs Overtime to Advance to CIT Quarterfinals

Loyola Marymount 84, Weber State 78 at Albert Gersten Pavilion, Los Angeles

The leading scorer in college basketball, Damian Lillard at 24.5ppg, had 27 points for the Wildcats of Weber State. Lillard managed to score more than his average despite not making a field goal in the first half. His big second half brought Weber State back into the game and forced an overtime period. Lilliard was far and away the best player for the Wildcats, which is why they came up short in the game, no other starter scored more than 8 points.

The offense was much more balanced for the Lions. 5 players scored in double digits. Anthony Ireland recorded a guard's double-double with 22 points and 10 assists. He also led the team in rebounds with 7. Drew Viney kept his career as a Lion alive with 23 points in 42 minutes, in what could be fifth year senior's last home game. With the win the Lions advance to play at Utah State on Wednesday.

Saint Mary's falls to Purdue 69-72

Saint Mary's best season ever came to an early end on Friday at the hand of the Boilermakers of Purdue. The extremely efficient and smart Gaels team that ran over almost everybody they played, until the injury of Stephen Holt on February 15th, did not make the trip to Omaha for this game. The same players were there, obviously, but they didn't look like the Gaels. The first half was particularly strange as the Gaels, who shoot 45.7% on the year, made only 31% of their shots including a terrible one of fifteen from three. That one three came two and a half minutes in giving the Gaels their first points and Matthew Dellavedova his only points of the half.

The Boilermakers dominated this game from the beginning and did not trail until the last minute of the second half. Jorden Page hit a three with 45 seconds left to give the Gaels their first lead at 69-68, Matthew Dellavedova picked up his 8th assist on the play. His assist total along with another Rob Jones double-double were the only reason I was able to tell this was in fact the same Saint Mary's team I'd watched all season.

Friday, March 16, 2012

7 Gonzaga vs 2 Ohio State: Round of 32

Before I preview this game I want to review the fates of the 2 seeds so far in this NCAA Tournament. As of right now, 9pm Central, the 2 seeds sit at 1 win (Ohio State), 2 losses (Duke to 15 Lehigh and Missouri to 15 Norfolk St.) and 1 yet to play (Kansas vs 15 Detroit). Just had to point that out.

Based on the way the Zags played against West Virginia, particularly inside against Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli, this isn't as daunting of a match up as I had expected on Selection Sunday. Granted Jared Sullinger is a better player than either of the Mountaineers' bigs. Rob Sacre was a beast down low on Thursday and if he keeps that up Sullenger could easily be slowed down. He had only 12 points against 15 seed Loyola (Maryland) in the Buckeyes' first game of the tournament. Any less than that from the lottery pick and the Zags stand a very good chance of the upset.

It's not just Sullinger though. Gary Bell will have his hands full with senior guard William Buford who averages 14.7ppg. Pangos will likely get matched up with Aaron Craft, a sophomore guard with 4.6 assists and 8.6 points per game. While Sullinger is the Buckeyes' star and Buford their main outside threat, forward Deshaun Thomas has been the go to guy of late. He averages 15.4ppg but has gone over 20 in 3 of their past 4 games, including a 31 point performance against Loyola on Thursday. I expect to see Harris shouldering most of the load defensively against Thomas. Guy Landry Edi will be busy collapsing on Thomas and Sullinger when Harris and Sacre need help.

For Gonzaga to win it comes down to two things, the same two things that they needed in the West Virginia game. Strong interior defense from Rob Sacre and Elias Harris on Sullinger and Thomas. Then Pangos needs to feel at home in Pittsburgh once again. Columbus isn't as close to Pittsburgh as Morgantown is (185 miles compared to 75) but Ohio State is a much, much larger school than West Virginia, so expect a lot of Ohio State alumni and students to be in the crowd. I have no fear that Gary Bell will be intimidated, he has performed well in the hostile environments all season. So if Pangos is on as he was last game, the Zags' freshman backcourt should be able to hold their own against the Senior/Sophomore back court of Ohio State.

Once again Guy Landry Edi should be a spark plug for the Zags in this game. He only had 6 points last game but four of them came on two emphatic dunks. His athleticism and ability to fly in for awesome dunks can lead to momentum shifts that quiet hostile crowds. His offensive performance is an added bonus to his rock solid defensive ability. A double team of Edi and Sacre is about as athletic a duo you will see in the nation.

With the Zags coming off their best team performance of the season and the way they match up with the Buckeyes, this is going to be one heck of an exciting game. The skill edge probably lies with Ohio State, but the same can be said with 2 seeds Duke and Missouri who both lost today.

Saturday, March 17, 2012
11:45am PDT
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2 Ohio State Buckeyes (28-7, 13-5 Big 10) vs 7 Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-6, 14-2 WCC)
TV: CBS
Radio: 101.1 FM (Inland Northwest), Westwood One Radio Network (Nationwide), (also streaming online at www.oldies1011.com)

Gonzaga Demolishes West Virginia 77-54

This is the Zag team I've been hoping to see all season. Sacre played like the man he is. Bell and Pangos weren't rattled by the very decided home court advantage West Virginia had. Edi was not only the most athletic player in the game but he played like it. Mike Hart scored 5 points on top of his usual intense defensive effort. Harris scored in double figures and was only needed for... 15 minutes of play! There is no better way to head into the match-up with 2 seed Ohio State than this.

The Zag bigs shut down the vaunted front court duo of Deniz Kilicli and all Big East first teamer Kevin Jones. All the talk before the game was how would Gonzaga, who is apparently perceived by the general public as soft, handle the rugged and rough interior play of this Big East squad. Well they held them to 4 rebounds each and kept both below their season average in points. Kevin Jones averaged over 20 points a game coming in to this one and accumulated only 13. Possibly the most telling example of the Zags' dominance in the paint is that freshman Ryan Spangler had 21 minutes off the bench, during which time he pulled down 8 boards and hit 2 of his 3 shots.

The attention paid to the bigs didn't result in the Mountaineers' guards lighting it up from outside though. Tough defense, especially from Gary Bell Jr., helped force West Virginia into a downright awful shooting performance. They shot 32% from the field and an almost unimaginable 3-17 from 3. Gonzaga made that many 3s in just the first 4 minutes, on their way to 9-17 from deep for the game.

Gonzaga trailed for all of 34 seconds in this game, the first 34, and was tied only once, at 2. The Zags absolutely dominated for the entire game. For once the whole team played with a killer instinct that had been lacking over much of the season. While this game was over by halftime, with the Zags up 40-22, the Zags would go out and score 37 more points in the second. They managed that with bench players racking up huge minutes during that time.

Sacre and Bell lead the Zags with 14 points a piece. Pangos chipped in 13 and Harris had 10. Edi rounded out the starting 5 with 6 points, 4 of which came off emphatic dunks. Surprisingly the most bench points came from Mike Hart with 5. Sam Dower had an off night with only 2 points on 1-3 shooting, he wasn't needed though which makes that disappointing but acceptable.

Next up for the Zags is 2 seed Ohio State on Saturday. The performance in this game bodes very, very, very well for that game. I'll expound on that in my preview which will come sometime after the Saint Mary's/Purdue game that is about to start.

7 Saint Mary's vs 10 Purdue: NCAA 2nd Round

In just under 2 hours in Omaha, Nebraska the 7 seed Gaels of Saint Mary's (27-5, 14-2 WCC) will take on the 10 seed Boilermakers of Purdue (21-12, 10-8 Big 10) While the Boilermakers will win almost every single team name match up (seriously, that is a cool name) they will have a tough time winning this basketball game. 

Robbie Hummel is the man for Purdue. He missed the last two NCAA tournaments with ACL injuries but has come back for a redshirt senior season and leads the Boilermakers in points, 16.3, and rebounds, 7.1, per game. Not only is he Purdue's best player but also the heart and soul of the team. He's a 5th year senior who has played over 800 minutes in each season of his career. Rob Jones and Brad Waldow will need to be all over Hummel down low and on the boards. Jones in particular needs to play his exceptional rebounding game, he has hit double digits in rebounding in 22 of 32 games and averages 9 a game.

Matthew Dellavedova will obviously be the difference maker for Saint Mary's. The Junior point guard leads the team with 15.6 points and 6.4 assists per game. He'll have to deal with Purdue's senior back court of  Ryne Smith and Lewis Jackson. While both seniors, neither are as skilled as Dellavedova. So that brings me to the other Gaels guards. Jorden Page and Stephen Holt. Page will start as usual and Holt will come off the bench in his first game in over a month since injuring his knee against LMU on February 15th. Both Page and Holt are sophomores but don't play like it. Page redshirted last year, and played on the Gaels' sweet sixteen team from two years ago.

Holt, and Clint Steindl who is starting in his place, will be the spark plug for the Gaels. If Holt is able to play solid defense on the Boilermakers' senior guards, who are much more scoring than passing minded, in his minutes off the bench that will bode very well for the Gaels. Also, if Steindl is able to have a strong offensive game, especially from 3, that will really help open up the inside. Hummel is a very mobile, despite his multiple knee injuries, big man who I expect will be all over the court on defense. Gaels' coach Randy Bennett compares him to San Francisco's Angelo Caloario in his ability to play down low and around the perimeter. If Steindl is able to hit 3s, expect to see a much more open painted area for Rob Jones and Brad Waldow to operate in.

The winner will most likely play the 2 seed Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas' campus is located only 3 hours, 30 minutes by car from Omaha, in Lawerence, Kansas. If Saint Mary's wins the WCC will be 3-1 in the big dance with 2 teams in the round of 32, the other being Gonzaga.

Friday, March 16th, 2012
Approx 4:27pm PDT
Omaha, Nebraska
TV: TruTV
Radio: Nationwide on the Westwood One Radio Network

Thursday, March 15, 2012

3 Marquette Pounds 14 Brigham Young 88-68

The Brigham Young Cougars made their 6th straight NCAA tournament, by winning their first four game over Iona they made their 6th straight field of 64. That's how the positive thinkers will view their postseason. They'll overlook the 20 point loss to 3 seed Marquette today in Louisville, Kentucky. In a personal note this will be the only time I mention that this game was played at the disgustingly named "KFC Yum! Center", naming rights have gone insane.

Marquette lead this one from the get go thanks to a great game from Big East player of the year Jae Crowder. He led the game in points with 25, rebounds with 16, and steals with 5. Brandon Davies had another strong game for the Cougars with a team high 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks. His performances in these past two games have increased exponentially my respect for Brigham Young University's decision to suspend him for last year's big dance. Despite this being a losing effort, Davies has done his best to make up for his missed time. He's going to be a force in the WCC next year, especially with Robert Sacre and Rob Jones having graduated.

For a few minutes early in the second half, down by 13, the Cougars looked capable of making another amazing comeback. The Golden Eagles scored only 1 point over the first 4:15. Brigham Young didn't make the effort that they needed to though, scoring only 5 points within that span to cut the lead to 7 at 43-50. This was a game of droughts for the Cougars. Down by only 11 with 3:13 left to play they would score only one more point, and then were held scoreless for the last 2:51. During those closing minutes Marquette did not let up. The Golden Eagles must have watched the not only the Cougars second half comeback, but also the Western Kentucky closing minutes comeback, in Dayton. Marquette blew the lead up to 20 by the time the final buzzer sounded.

This is the end of the 2011-2012 road for Brigham Young. Noah Hartsock  and Charles Abouo played their last game for the Cougars. While it was a loss, a fate all but 4 teams will suffer (NCAA, NIT, CBI and CIT winners avoid that fate) they leave a legacy of winning. Abouo passed Jimmer Fredette for 1st place on the career wins list with 113 (nobody outside of Provo would think that's possible) on Tuesday and Hartsock moved into 3rd with 108. Abouo played in every single game of his career. Best of luck in life, guys.

I'll be doing a recap of the Cougars' season in a bit. It might take until the madness calms down a bit, but stay tuned.

2011-2012 Brigham Young Cougars: 26-9 (13-5 WCC, 3rd place) 1-1 in NCAA tournament, 2nd round.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

History Has Been Made: 5 WCC Teams at 20 Wins!

Loyola Marymount advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament tonight with an 88-79 win over Cal State Fullerton. This is the Lions first postseason win since the 1989-90 team that threw up over a hundred points a game in the NCAA tournament. More importantly, Loyola Marymount (20-14) joins San Francisco (20-12), Brigham Young (26-8), Gonzaga (25-6), and Saint Mary's (27-5) with 20 or more wins on the season. The WCC has never had 5 teams with 20 wins in a season.

4 teams have finished with 20 wins only once in conference history (1988-89). As recently as 2005-06 Gonzaga was the only WCC team to crack the 20 win threshold when they finished 29-4, San Diego was next best with 18.

I've been saying the WCC is truly a conference on the rise all season long in my posts... and for a few years before I started this blog thanks to the Gaels ascent to perennial bubble team. This year though the WCC added Brigham Young, who are competing in their 6th straight NCAA tournament. It is worth noting though that even without the Cougars there are 4 teams in the conference with 20 wins, and that had only happened once before as I stated above. It's also worth noting that the worst team in the league this season, 0-17 in WCC play Santa Clara, won last year the very same CIT post season tournament that LMU is competing in this year. The Broncos would have been a much better team had Evan Roquemore not gone down with an season ending knee injury in the preseason and Kevin Foster not been involved in a DUI case. While this season is still active I can't help imagine how great the next few will be in the West Coast Conference.

Loyola Marymount advances to the second round of the CIT and will host Weber State (25-6, 2nd Big Sky) on Sunday at 3pm PDT.

7 Gonzaga at (whoops, vs) 10 West Virginia

Gonzaga once again gets a bad deal from the selection committee. A few years ago they played Davidson (in a 7-10 match up no less) only a couple hours from Davidson's campus. This year they get West Virginia in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Mountaineers make a 75 mile road trip from Morgantown while the Zags have to travel 2,299 road miles from Spokane to Pittsburgh.  While there is nothing to be done about that, the Zags can do something when it comes to this game.

The Mountaineers have an extremely solid frontcourt with center Deniz Kilicli and forward Kevin Jones. They play a much more physical style than the Zags have gotten used to from playing in the WCC these past couple months. Kevin Jones averages a double double a game with 20.1ppg and 11.1rpg. They have a "volume shooter" in Truck Bryant at guard, but he's no "volume shooter" a la Kevin Foster of Santa Clara, he's just a guy who shoots 36% from the field, but shoots so many times he averages about 18ppg. Not exactly senior leadership at the guard spot. West Virginia has 9 freshmen on the roster including team assists leader Jabarie Hinds.

The Zags escape with a win if two things can go their way. 1) Kevin Pangos shows up on the road. He hits 50% of his 3s in Spokane but falls off dramatically on the road and 2) Sacre and Harris can control Kevin Jones down low. Jones very well could have won Big East player of the year if the Mountaineers had finished with a record better than the 9-9 record in conference play that they hold.

Expect to see a lot of physical play in the paint. Double teaming of Jones is almost a knock out blow for West Virginia. If Jones can't score, there's almost nobody else on the team that can. Truck Bryant will try, but he misses far more than he makes. So doubling and boxing out of Jones to prevent him from scoring or rebounding will allow Gonzaga to win this game.

Let me stress the word "allow". You can be allowed to do something yet not do it. Firstly Gonzaga has to deal with Jones to allow themselves to win this game. Then they need Kevin Pangos to play, despite being in what should be a very, very pro West Virginia atmosphere. If Pangos and Bell are able to keep the offense humming Gonzaga will win the talent aspect of this game easily.

Guy Landry Edi could well be the difference maker for the Zags in this one. His defensive prowess and size will allow him to be an effective help defender on Kevin Jones. He also provides a nice mismatch with the Mountaineers' inexperienced guards. If Edi comes to play with the intensity he's shown in some of the games down the stretch the Mountaineers will have to rethink their assumption of the toughness level of their conference vs. ours. Center Deniz Kilicli said of the match up "I think they're physical in their conference, but we play in the Big East"... they play in the Big East, but have lost 8 of their last 12.

West Virginia Mountaineers: 19-12 (9-9 Big East, 8th place)
Gonzaga Bulldogs 25-6 (12-3 WCC, 2nd place)
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
4:20pm PDT
TV: TNT
Radio: 101.1 FM in the Inland Northwest (and streaming online at www.oldies1011.com).

Greatest Comeback in NCAA Tournament History


   4:34 1st Half: Brigham Young 31, Iona 55
          Halftime: Brigham Young 40, Iona 55
10:00 2nd Half: Brigham Young 57, Iona 62
  4:00 2nd Half: Brigham Young 66, Iona 70
  2:28 2nd Half: Brigham Young 71, Iona 70
                Final: Brigham Young 78, Iona 72

14 seed Brigham Young was down 24 points to 14 seed Iona with 4:34 to play in the first half of a First Four match up of the NCAA Tournament in Dayton. The Cougars never lead the game until the 2:28 mark in the second half. They led from then on and that is what matters. Until this game the largest comeback in NCAA tournament history was Duke's comeback from 22 points down to Maryland in the 2001 national semifinals. Now the Cougars of BYU own the record, 25 points over Iona in the first four play in game in 2012. While the record is 25 points, the game ended as a 30 point turnaround as the Cougars poured in 5 extra points to solidify their lead.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

CS Fullerton @ Loyola Marymount: CIT First Round

This isn't exactly the kind of spring break trip that most postseason schools get. The 21-9 Titans of Cal State Fullerton get a 40 minute bus ride across town to Loyola Marymount. Fullerton has been overlooked in the rising Big West thanks to Zag defector Dan Monson's Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara duking it out for the league's auto bid the past few years. This year though the Titans managed a 2nd place finish, with a league mark of 12-4. Loyola Marymount finished 11-5 in the WCC, good for 4th place. However the Big West comes in at 21st in ESPN's conference rankings, a full ten places behind the WCC. That difference in conference strength is evidenced in the RPI. LMU comes in at 117, Fullerton at 155.

Brigham Young vs Iona

I'm not a fan of NCAA tournament expansion or of the first round being now called the second round, but this new First Four (the new "first round") in Dayton is pretty nice. Unlike the old play-in game that pitted the two worst automatic qualifiers against each other for the right to get destroyed by the number one overall seed was never worth watching. Now though there are eight teams vying for four spots, at large teams as well as AQs. Brigham Young (25-8) and Iona (25-7), both at large 14 seeds, will fight for their season's lives today in Dayton, Ohio. This game will most certainly be worth watching.

The Iona Gaels are this year's VCU. I am not predicting a final four run from them, but like the Rams last year they came out of left field on Selection Sunday and landed a First Four spot. While they have been the team getting picked on for stealing a bid, they are pretty darned impressive. To be honest, I have them picked to beat BYU in my bracket. While the age of metrics has made the basic stats less important, one can't help but be amazed when noticing that Iona leads the nation in points and assists per game. They aren't just chucking up shots though, they're second in the nation in field goal percentage at 50.4%. BYU isn't far behind, they're 13th in points, 6th in assists and hit 46.8% of their shots. Those numbers don't have the pop that the Gaels' do though.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Washington State @ San Francisco, CBI First Round

Tomorrow at 7pm the Cougars of Washington State (15-16) will try and prove that a sub .500 Pac-12 team does in fact deserve to have a post season. San Francisco (20-13) will look improve upon their first 20 win season since 1981-82. The Dons have been battle tested down the stretch, particularly at home on the hilltop. Their last three regular season games were against BYU, a one point loss at the buzzer; Gonzaga, a one point win at the buzzer; and Saint Mary's, a back and forth game until the last minutes when the Gaels pulled ahead for a seven point win. They then ran thru the WCC tournament beating Portland by 21, Loyola Marymount by 7 before losing to Saint Mary's by five despite leading for the majority of the game.

The Cougars haven't won a game against a team with a better record since California went to Pullman back on January 21st. Since that game they have only won 4 times. They are a decent home team but only 4-8 on the road including a 1-5 mark in California. Their only win in the state came against the worst team in the Pac-12, USC. They put up only 43 points in that win, which was enough as USC only managed 38.

For the Dons to win this game they will need to slow down Brock Motum, the Cougars best player, a 6'10'', 260lbs junior forward averaging 18.1ppg.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Preview The Madness

Gonzaga and Brigham Young both received at large bids to the big dance. Along with Saint Mary's automatic bid there are 3 WCC teams dancing this year. This is the second year that has happened, 2008 was the last when the Zags, Gaels and San Diego Toreros made it. San Francisco and Loyola Marymount also will dance, though in smaller dance halls. San Francisco is in the College Basketball Invitational and Loyola Marymount in the Collegeinsider.com Tournament.

Gonzaga and Saint Mary's received 7 seeds. They sit at 27 and 26 respectively on the selection committee's "S-curve". Brigham Young snuck in at 49 on the S-curve only two at large teams got in after them. You can take a look at the complete S-curve here.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Selection Sunday Eve

There are only two potential bid thieves remaining as of now. UC Santa Barbara and St. Bonaventure. BYU fans should be rooting against those two. Apparently the selection committee has already selected their 37 at large bids. They also said that if one of their choices becomes an automatic qualifier (which Xavier and LBSU could be if they beat St. Bonaventure or USCB respectively) another spot opens up for their first team out (which could be BYU if BYU isn't one of the already selected at large teams).

Also I somehow missed this, as did most people. Before the WCC Championship game a Saint Mary's assistant coach, Rick Croy, threw a basketball at the face of a Gonzaga pep band member, breaking her nose. Then refused to issue an apology. Saint Mary's refuses to comment. On a positive note for the (almost) always classy Gaels staff their athletic director was one of the first over to the injured band member to assist her. I am a Zag fan, as I often state, so this is a little rage inducing. However as a WCC fan, thus a SMC fan, this is extremely rage inducing. I want the rivalry between the Zags and Gaels to become one of the best in the game. That is up to the student sections, fans and the players intensity level. The coaching staff NEEDS to remain as impartial to the rivalry, other than trying to win the game, as possible. Without the Gaels' success this wouldn't have been the great year in the WCC that it has been. Coach Croy's actions tarnish this. A full, formal apology would go a long way to buff out the damage he has done to the season. Coaches help young people grow and this man has proven he still has growing to do. This sort of behavior is NOT ACCEPTABLE from coaches in this fine league.

For more on the nose breaking: Gonzaga Bulletin article.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Bids, The Bubble, and BYU

It's been March for about a week now. There have already been about a dozen tickets punched to the big dance. Today though is the first day of March that seems like March Madness. Every conference tournament has gotten underway. So it's do or die for mid level teams from the big 6 conferences. An exit in the first round of the conference tournament means a popped bubble.

BYU has 25 wins and is number 47 in the RPI. However they play in the WCC and because of that could be overlooked for an at large bid. I find it disgusting that weak teams like Northwestern, Washington and Illinois stayed on the bubble until the 3 days before Selection Sunday just because they play in "big 6" conferences. Fortunately those 3 teams have played their way off the bubble with losses today. This is great news for Brigham Young.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Where are We Going?

The WCC season is over. Saint Mary's has won both the regular season and tournament championships. The Gaels and Zags will both be big dancing. Brigham Young might, or they might go to the NIT. Loyola Marymount and San Francisco both have post-season hopes, but who knows where they'll be playing, the NIT, CIT or CBI are all in the fray (they're the only ones besides the NCAA by the way).

Monday, March 5, 2012

Saint Mary's Wins

The Gaels snatched the regular season title streak from the Zags a week ago, now they get the Tournament Championship. Gaels win in overtime. This game was insane, I need to calm down before I write anything more.

WCC Championship: Gonzaga vs Saint Mary's

If you're a fan of either program, or any program in the WCC you know how big this game is. For everybody else it just got a little bigger. Saint Mary's sits at #18 in the coaches poll and Gonzaga moved back in at #25. Considering this is ESPN's prime time match up (6pm Pacific-9pm Eastern) people in the know were aware of how big a game this would be. This is the fourth straight meeting between the schools in the conference title game, with Gonzaga winning the 1st and 3rd. More impressive than those four straight is this number, 15 straight. Gonzaga has set an NCAA record with 15 consecutive conference title game appearances. That's right, the streak that fell when Saint Mary's won the regular season outright hasn't been going on as long as this one.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

It's Gonzaga vs Saint Mary's... Again

WCC Tournament bracket, click for full size view.


For the 4th straight year Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will face off for the West Coast Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This is also Gonzaga's 15th straight trip to the WCC championship game. Last year Saint Mary's was snubbed on selection Sunday following their loss to Gonzaga. This year it seems certain that both teams will get in even if one wins by 100 points. So how did these two teams get to the title game? Well since the WCC offers double-byes to the top two seeds they won one game each. Last night Gonzaga stomped BYU in their 4th meeting in less than a year and Saint Mary's outlasted San Francisco.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Updated Bracket

WCC Tournament bracket, click for full size.

WCC Tourament Semifinals

Tonight there's the North Carolina at Duke game, but I don't much care about that. San Francisco vs Saint Mary's at 8 and Gonzaga vs Brigham Young at 10 will both be awesome.

Saint Mary's hasn't played for a week, San Francisco will be playing their third game in as many days. If the Dons legs can hold up this should be an extremely interesting game. Saint Mary's will most likely be without sophomore guard Stephen Holt who sprained his knee in the Gaels' loss to Loyola Marymount on February 15th. From what I've heard Holt is healing up nicely but will be needed much more in the finals against Gonzaga or Brigham Young. First though, the Gaels have to get there.

Gonzaga also hasn't played for a while. The Zags' last game was Monday night against Longwood, which they easily won and used as a bit of a tune up game for the bench. Brigham Young snuck past San Diego last night in their first game of the tournament. The injured senior leader Noah Hartsock didn't start for the Cougars but had 19 points in 27 minutes off the bench. Hartsock was 3rd on the team in minutes played last night despite not starting which shows just how important the big man is for the Cougars. Both of these semis come down to key knees.

I've created a twitter because the WCC Tournament produces so many interesting tibits that are too small to post on the main blog here. As a consequence I have been posting a little less on here. You can see my 2 most recent tweets on the left side of the page under the standings or follow my twitter @willswccblog.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Update: More Fun in Vegas

WCC Tournament quarterfinal #1 San Francisco 67, Loyola Marymount 60. The Dons won the matchup of 19 win teams tonight. For the first time since 1989 and the second time ever, the West Coast Conference has produced 4 20 win teams. I believe LMU will be invited to a postseason tournament, though they may have just played their way out of the NIT. 1 win in the CIT or CBI and for the first time EVER the WCC will have 5 20 win teams.

Not to get ahead of myself I will keep this update brief. The Dons move on to play hobbled league leader Saint Mary's tomorrow at 6pm Pacific. Loyola Marymount will have a good while to rest up Anthony Ireland's leg, which he injured late in the second half. Ireland stayed in the game but wasn't able to carry the load (which was extremely heavy as the rest of his team underperformed offensively) on just one leg.
Saint Mary's knows who they'll play in the semis. Gonzaga awaits the winner of the San Diego vs Brigham Young game that should be tipping off any time now on ESPNU.

Thorough analysis to come tomorrow. Also, I need to apologize for an error in my tournament bracket. I have the quarterfinals listed as being on ESPN2, they are in fact on ESPNU. My bad. The semis are for sure on ESPN2 and the finals on ESPN.

Fun in Las Vegas

The WCC Tournament quarterfinals begin tonight at 6pm. Last night #5 San Francisco easily handled #8 Portland 87-66. The Dons never trailed and led by as many as 29 behind 19 point efforts from Rashad Green and Angelo Caloario. Portland's disappointing season ends with a 7-24 record. San Francisco will now face #4 Loyola Marymount at 6pm, the game is on ESPN2. The Lions have swept the Dons this year, but needed overtime in the first game and escaped with only a two point win the second time. San Francisco has come on strong at the end of the season and did so against the top three teams in the league so expect them to put up a good fight against the Lions.

The other game tonight is #6 San Diego vs #3 Brigham Young. The gap between the five and six seed is extreme. San Francisco can keep up with anybody in the conference and have 19 wins, San Diego only has 12 and a 7-9 conference record. Last night the Toreros sent Pepperdine packing with a 76-54 victory. The Waves' season ends at 10-19. While it might not be as close as the first game of the night, this game will be extremely interesting. Gonzaga has always enjoyed a cozy atmosphere in the Orleans Arena as Zag faithful are good travelers. However BYU is located only 385 miles from Las Vegas. Expect the Orleans Arena to be packed with Cougar fans for every game they play.

Here's the bracket as it stands as of now, click it for a full size view.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Best Month of The Year!

It's March everybody and the first day of the month of madness brings two WCC Tournament games to the table. #8 Portland will face #5 San Francisco at 6 PM. Then at 8 #6 San Diego and #7 Pepperdine will go at it. Both games are streaming online at ESPN3.com. They can also be heard on the radio, check the team pages for radio information.

While this is the best month of the college hoops season it is also the worst for about half of the teams in division 1. Santa Clara was eliminated last night due to their 70-74 loss to Portland, the Broncos won't be invited to any post season tournaments with their 0-17 record in WCC play. Tonight's games will eliminate 2 more teams from the tournament most likely ending their seasons. San Francisco is the only team playing tonight that has the potential to be invited to the CBI or CIT post season tournaments even with a loss.

Here's a look at the bracket as it stands right now, click it for full size.