Selection Sunday Thoughts

For the second straight year and fourth over the past six the West Coast Conference will be sending multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will be dancing for the WCC this March. For Gonzaga today was another program first that once again had to do with the number 1. The Zags received a number one seed in the West Region, the Zags' previous best was a two seed in the 2004 tournament. Saint Mary's also set a program first, making back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time.

Gonzaga, ranked #1 in the polls and owner of an automatic bid to the dance, had to worry only about seeding and opponent today. It was expected by many they would earn a top seed but it was, of course, not guaranteed.

Saint Mary's had to worry about even making the tournament, a familiar position for the program. The Gaels made it, albeit barely. The Gaels, with 27 wins, would have tied the record for most wins by a team left out of the NCAA Tournament had they not received an at large bid this afternoon. They were sent to Dayton to play in the "First Four" against Middle Tennessee. Their opponent would have set the record for most wins by a team left out of the NCAA Tournament had they not received an at large bid this afternoon. It's only fitting then that these two squads make the field but end up in a play in game.



#11 Saint Mary's Gaels vs. #11 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013.
University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio.

Middle Tennessee hails from the Sun Belt and went 15-1 in conference play. The Blue Raiders posted a 28-5 record overall. They lost twice to Sun Belt teams, once in conference to Arkansas State and once in the conference tournament semis to Florida International. Their other losses are much more forgivable as Florida, Akron and Belmont are all NCAA Tournament teams (those losses came on the road too).

The Blue Raiders RPI, 28th, is two places better than the Gaels'.

However, their best win, Mississippi, has lost a lot of luster. Ole Miss fell out of tournament consideration before beating Florida in the SEC Championship Game earlier today. Other than that their only decent wins come against Central Florida and a sub-.500 Vanderbilt team.

The Blue Raiders had a season a lot like The Gaels'. A lot of wins but against a lot of bad teams.

Middle Tennessee plays a lot of guys. Eleven players average over 10 minutes per game. On top of that their guys are experienced, all eleven are upperclassmen and six of them are seniors. This group has gone from 16 wins in 2010-11, 27 last season to 28 this season.

Unlike the Zags, which use depth to keep the points pouring in, the Raiders use depth to keep the defense stout. They hold teams to 0.86 points per possession.


#1 Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. #12 Southern Jaguars

Thursday, March 21st, 2013.
EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Southern hails from the SWAC and went 15-3 in conference. The Jaguars posted a 23-9 record overall, however three of those wins came against non-D1 teams. They rank 182nd in the RPI (Gonzaga is 7th) which puts them in the bottom half of the rankings.

Best Win: At Texas A&M 53-51 on December 22nd. A&M finished 11th in the 14 team SEC. Essentially, Southern has nothing resembling a "good win".

Gonzaga and Southern played recently, the first game of the 2010-11 season, and the Zags won 117-72 in Spokane. Sam Dower had 19 points and Kelly Olynyk, back before he was a post player, led the way in rebounds with eight. Mike Hart had two points, a total he'll likely match this time.

Robert Sacre's father, Greg LaFleur, was the Athletic Director at Southern from 2005-2011. He was fired, and is suing for wrongful termination, so don't expect Robert Sacre to get confused about who to root for again.

There is a statue of John Stockton outside of the EnergySolutions Arena. Pretty cool for father and son.