Sunday, September 30, 2012

Countdown 9/30

39 days remain.

Here's some promotional video for Portland Pilots basketball from before last season. Basketball the way it was meant to be played, except they didn't win enough last season.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Countdown 9/29

Click for full size.
40 days remain.

Today is my first day living in a new apartment. In the spirit of new homes today's countdown focuses on the Pacific Tigers. In approximately one year and 40 days the Tigers will be playing their first game as a WCC team. They've been a decent mid-major over the past decade but are currently in the midst of a downward trend that should follow them into their new WCC home.

Also, if you didn't know, Pacific was a founding member of the WCC back in 1952 before moving to the conference now known as the Big West in 1971 so this is more of a homecoming than a new home.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Countdown 9/28

41 days remain.
Click for full size.

I'm moving to a new apartment today, so in the spirit of change comes today's countdown. In 2014 the WCC Tournament bracket will be different thanks to the addition of Pacific. Below is the bracket from last season's tournament. It will look the same, though the teams and scores will be different, next season.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Countdown 9/27


42 days remain.

Gonzaga Guards Kevin Pangos, Kyle Dranginis, Drew Barham and Rem Bakamus along with PGA tour golfer Kyle Stanley show off some pretty impressive trick shots.

Here's a bonus: Former Zag Kelly Bowen's kickball/basketball hybrid.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Countdown 9/26

43 days remain.

Highlights from LMU's win over Valpo in Bracket Busters last season. I'm hoping the Lions actually bust some brackets this year.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Countdown 9/25

43 days remain.
The WCC's officials are no NFL replacement refs. Take a look at this video from a joint referee training session held by the Big West, Pac 12 and WCC.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Countdown 9/24

44 days remain.

9 seed Gonzaga's double overtime loss to 1 seed Arizona in the 2003 NCAA Tournament second round. Youtube has the game from approx 10 minutes remaining in regulation thru the end of the game.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Countdown 9/23

45 days remain.

Slideshow of photos from BYU's NCAA Tournament record setting 25 point comeback against Iona in the "First Four" of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.


Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Problem With Poor Scheduling

I often complain about the Gaels aversion to setting up a quality non-conference schedule. Those complaints, normally a sentence or two in length, are followed by something along the lines of "...but I won't get into that now".

I have been working, for a while, on a team-by-team analysis of the Gaels' non-conference schedule as I did for BYU and Gonzaga. I became more and more frustrated the further I went with the analysis. So, now, I am writing this because, for one, I need a break but also because I need to finally explain myself for all those times I've said "I won't get into that now".

Do you remember January 21st, 2012?

Countdown 9/22

46 days remain.


Short documentary on the golden days of the University of San Francisco Dons and Bill Russell. Back to back national championships in 1955 and 1956. Gonzaga fans worry when the Zags play at San Francisco these days but they should be thankful that Gonzaga wasn't in the WCC back in those days.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Countdown: 9/21

47 days remain.


#10 Saint Mary's vs. #2 Villanova Highlight Reel, 3/20/2010.

Can the Gaels do this again this year? Better question, can they even get to the NCAA tournament? Stay tuned.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Countdown #4

48 days remain.

Steve Nash: Santa Clara Broncos '96. He's back in California this season, alongside Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Countdown #3

49 days remain.
 

149 points for 49 days.
3/18/1990 #11 LMU 149, #3 Michigan 115.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Golden Anniversary Inverted and in Days

50 days remain.

I won't normally post two items about the same school in a row during the countdown but I had to today. Adam Morrison signed a one year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers yesterday. He's back in the NBA and he's back on a team from the Northwest. He did pretty well last time he played for a team from that part of the country.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Return/Countdown

The Mid-Majority has been doing this all summer and I should have stolen the idea from them sooner. Every weekday they have posted "One college basketball thing to read, see, remember, or do". With 51 days until the WCC season tips off with San Francisco vs. Stanford on November 7th I figure there is enough interesting WCC hoops related material floating around the internet to post one a day until then.

I'm still working on my analysis of Saint Mary's non-conference schedule (it shouldn't take so long, I know, because they are very weak teams) because I've been on something of an end of summer vacation for the past two weeks. Now I'm back and getting excited for the season to start. Along with the Gaels' preview I will be picking up the rate at which I write articles. Those won't count as part of this one a day series. So when I post an article you'll also get a low quality youtube video, old picture, or whatever I can find.

The idea for this came from seeing the video that I will post at the end of this text. It is, like I said above, a low quality youtube video. However, it's a great fit to kick off the countdown. It's not the season yet so we need to get a warmed up a bit before we go into full countdown mode. On that note, behold Gonzaga's pregame warm-up at their home game against then #13 Saint Mary's on February 9th.

 
Kudos to Scotthen49 over at The Slipper Still Fits for finding and sharing this video, and kudos to The Mid-Majority for the item-a-day idea and for being awesome in general.