WCC in the Postseason

NCAA:
Gonzaga vs. Seton Hall in Denver, Thursday at 6:57 (GU favored by 1.5)

NIT:
New Mexico St. at St. Mary's, Tuesday at 8:00 (SMC favored by 12)
UAB at BYU, Wednesday at 7:00 (BYU favored by 9.5)

CBI:
Pepperdine at Eastern Washington, Wednesday at 6:05 (this game is rated even)

TV Schedule in the Portland area:

3/15 NM St. at SMC on ESPN2 at 8.
3/16 UAB at BYU on ESPNU at 7
3/17 GU vs. Seton Hall on TrueTV (751 in Portland) at 6:55

SMC won by two points at home over New Mexico St., but it was ugly as they committed multiple turnovers in the last two minutes.  If anything had dropped for the Aggies down the stretch they would have won after a great comeback.

As it was, with the game tied at 56 with 2 seconds left and the Gaels in their own backcourt, an Aggie player inadvertently, but obviously, fouled Joe Rahon who is about a 50% free-throw shooter, and he sank both ends of the bonus.

(Rahon's missed free-throws late against Cal in the preseason may have cost SMC a NCAA bid).

- A relatively disappointing season for the Pepperdine Waves came to an end this evening in Cheney, losing to the Eagles, 79-72.  Only 8 points for Stacy Davis who really faded toward the end of the season, but 24 for Lamont Murray, Jr.

- BYU smothered UAB in Provo tonight, 97-79.  The Cougars led by 21 at the half, but UAB brought it back to a 4 point deficit in the second half before BYU simply ran away from the Bruins.

BYU next takes on Virginia Tech (winner over Princeton) on Friday night in Provo at 6:30.

Gonzaga held off Seton Hall tonight. SH had quick hands and knocked a lot of balls loose from the Zag players, but had some dry spells where they couldn't score. GU plays Utah next, in Denver.

A dry spell? The Zags made Isaiah Whitehead shoot from outside and he went 4-24 and scored 10 points. A miserable night for their go to guy.

Still 3 WCC men's teams in the postseason:

Virginia Tech at BYU at 6:30 on Friday (NIT)
#11 GU vs. #3 Utah in Denver at 5:40 on Saturday
Georgia at SMC at 4:30 on Sunday (NIT)

BYU won their second home game in the NIT tourney, beating Va. Tech 80-77.

Yup, BYU advances to a Tuesday home game against Wagner or Creighton after just getting by Virginia Tech in Provo.  

Wake Forest transfer Chase Fischer had 24 on the night, including the decisive baskets down the stretch.

Not sure why Coach Rose did not get a technical foul after charging all the way down the court to where the Virginia Tech team was huddled to berate the refs, but his assistants apparently pulled him back before he could say or do even more.

The reason he was irate was legitimate, but certainly not his actions.....

With 9.2 seconds left in the game and the Virginia Tech offense stalled in the front court, VT Coach Buzz Williams called a timeout from the sideline, and it was given!  The refs finally decided to call it an "inadvertent whistle," but they still allowed a full timeout.  Weird.

DoubleDipper wrote:Yup, BYU

With 9.2 seconds left in the game and the Virginia Tech offense stalled in the front court, VT Coach Buzz Williams called a timeout from the sideline, and it was given!  The refs finally decided to call it an "inadvertent whistle," but they still allowed a full timeout.  Weird.

That happened in the Child's center at least 3 time this year. They need to change the rule. If you call a timeout from the sidelines during play, it should be a technical and the other team gets the ball.

GU beat Utah 82-59. In other news, Karnowski trimmed his awesome beard.

up7587 wrote:GU beat Utah 82-59.  In other news, Karnowski trimmed his awesome beard.

And in even more awesome news for GU, Karnowski confirmed he plans to return for one more year at GU.

Some have speculated that Sabonis will also return.....although "smart" money (KKeating, really?) says he will go pro.

Geezaldinho wrote:That happened in the Chiles Center at least 3 time this year. They need to change the rule. If you call a timeout from the sidelines during play, it should be a technical and the other team gets the ball.

I think the rule will be changed back to allowing the coach to call time out.  It is just too difficult for the refs to know who made the call when they hear, "time-out, time-out, time-out" from somewhere on the court.

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:GU beat Utah 82-59.  In other news, Karnowski trimmed his awesome beard.

And in even more awesome news for GU, Karnowski confirmed he plans to return for one more year at GU.

Some have speculated that Sabonis will also return.....although "smart" money (KKeating, really?) says he will go pro.

Karnowski did not actually confirm he was coming back. He did tweet this:

@PKarnowski: Beardless 👶🏻 don't worry @KarnowskisBeard I will be back 😂😂

But later clarified:

@PKarnowski: @BBallplayaz what I meant is that the beard will be back

He may be back but don't think he's made a final decision.

DoubleDipper wrote:
I think the rule will be changed back to allowing the coach to call time out.  It is just too difficult for the refs to know who made the call when they hear, "time-out, time-out, time-out" from somewhere on the court.

I think they know exactly who's calling the timeout. Have you ever seen a ref signal a timeout when a fan yells it?

They just have decided to defer to coaches despite the rule.

Geezaldinho wrote:I think they know exactly who's calling the timeout. Have you ever seen a ref signal a timeout when a fan yells it?

Um, yeah, that's why I specified,

DoubleDipper wrote: "time-out, time-out, time-out" from somewhere on the court

But I get your point.  I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.  IMO, the rule is just too difficult to enforce in a noisy arena.....maybe not so much in the Chiles Center.  

SMC (29-5) simply overpowered and outplayed SEC member Georgia down the stretch in Moraga this evening, winning 77-65.  I believe St. Mary's is statistically one of the best shooting teams in the country, and they proved that again tonight, shooting 50% for the game.

With little rest and a long plane ride ahead, the Gaels now go against #1 seed Valparaiso in Indiana in the quarterfinals. The game is set for 4 pm Tuesday and will be on ESPN.

DoubleDipper wrote:Yup, BYU advances to a Tuesday home game against Wagner or Creighton after just getting by Virginia Tech in Provo.  

Update: BYU will play Creighton on Tuesday at 6 pm in Provo....the game will be on ESPN.

up7587 wrote:GU beat Utah 82-59.  In other news, Karnowski trimmed his awesome beard.

Update: #11 GU will play #10 Syracuse on Friday evening in Chicago at 6:40 pm....the game will be televised on CBS. I haven't seen any further updates on the beard...

DoubleDipper wrote:SMC (29-5) simply overpowered and outplayed SEC member Georgia down the stretch in Moraga this evening, winning 77-65.  I believe St. Mary's is statistically one of the best shooting teams in the country, and they proved that again tonight, shooting 50% for the game.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

An ESPN writer reseeded the Sweet Sixteen teams. Not really much change, except, he moved GU, the lowest remaining seed, to a #2 seed. Two dominating wins shutting down offensive stars will make an impression.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/15028662/north-carolina-tar-heels-overtake-kansas-jayhawks-reseeding-ncaa-tournament-sweet-16-field

Valparaiso favored by 3 tonight at home to SMC.  O/U is a paltry 133.

In the game predicted to be more exciting, BYU is favored by 4.5 at home with Creighton.  O/U is 166.6

Reminder, both games on ESPN back-to-back beginning at 4PM PDT.

#2 St. Mary's lost at #1 Valparaiso 60-44.  They went ahead 31-24 with 2:44 left in the first half.  They didn't score again for about 10 minutes, at 13:37 in the 2nd half, when they were behind 40-31.  They only scored 13 points in the 2nd half.  Talk about running out of gas. The over was never in danger.

#2 seed BYU played #4 seed Creighton, and won 88-82. Collingsworth had the flu and didn't start, but K. Davis started instead and got 18.  They had 5 players in double figures.  They go the MSG for the semi-finals.