WCC Tournament Central

I figure it is about time to start this thread, as details are coming into focus.

What we know so far:
-The Pilots will be the "9th runner up" and will play in the 8pm game on Friday.  Our opponent is still to be determined.  The winner will face #2 seed SMC on Saturday at 9pm.
-All opening round games will be televised by BYUtv and streamed on TheW.tv.  
-The UP pre-game socials will be held on the upper (main) concourse level, 90 minutes prior to each tip-off... so Friday will start at 6:30pm.  If this is similar to previous years, this is a fun event with good swag, food & beverage... There have been known to be cameos by a member of the coaching staff as well.
-GU is the #1 seed, SMC is the #2 seed.
-Blacksheep will be spending a lot of time in the new bar.  I bet he will not be the only one.

PilotNut wrote:I figure it is about time to start this thread, as details are coming into focus.

What we know so far:
-The Pilots will be the "9th runner up" and will play in the 8pm game on Friday.  Our opponent is still to be determined.  The winner will face #1 Seed Gonzaga on Saturday at 7pm.

Actually, the #7/#10 winner plays the #2 seed, which is SMC, at 9pm Saturday.
Here is the tournament bracket by seeds: bracket
- Both Saturday evening games will be broadcast on ESPN2.
- Monday semi-finals will be on one of the ESPN channels, and the Tuesday championship will be on ESPN.
- all women's games will be on BYUtv until the final, which is on ESPNU.

Something "official" will come out later today, but all Pilots' pregame socials will be at the end of the Orleans Arena concourse on the left side, and will begin 90 minutes prior to scheduled tip-off.

Pilots' Pregame Social Schedule:
Friday: 6:30
Saturday: 7:30
Monday: TBD
Tuesday: 4:30

Ok, you've talked me into it.

I'm in...that late start on Saturday night is really going to cut into my Pai Gow playing.

For those still looking for tickets, the WCC now has a site for fans to sell/buy tickets:
https://wccfanexchange.com/

Hmm, clearly that makes more sense but I swear I read it the other way... that's what I get for posting while "listening" to a conference call... I have corrected the first post.

Friday, March 3
No. 8 Pepperdine vs. No. 9 Pacific, 6:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv, Twitter)
No. 7 San Diego vs. No. 10 Portland, 8:00 p.m. (BYUtv, TheW.tv, Twitter)

Saturday, March 4 
No. 3 BYU vs. No 6 Loyola Marymount, 1:00 p.m. (Spectrum SportsNet, CSN Bay Area, ROOT Rocky Mountain, BYUtv, TheW.tv, Twitter)
No. 4 Santa Clara vs. No. 5 San Francisco, 3:00 p.m. (Spectrum SportsNet, CSN Bay Area, ROOT Rocky Mountain, BYUtv, TheW.tv, Twitter)
No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 8/9, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)
No. 2 Saint Mary’s vs. 7/10, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)

Monday, March 6
Men's Semifinal No. 1, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)
Men's Semifinal No. 2, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2, WatchESPN)

Tuesday, March 7 
Men's Championship Game, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN, WatchESPN)

PilotNut wrote:

What we know so far:
-The Pilots will be the "9th runner up".

What a relief.

I thought we'd drop to 10th place.

Jazz and Alec selected for 2016-17 WCC Men’s Basketball Honorable Mention.

Player of the Year: Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga
Coach of the Year: Mark Few, Gonzaga
Defensive Player of the Year: Joe Rahon, Saint Mary’s
Newcomer of the Year: Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga 

2016-17 All-WCC Men’s Basketball First Team
Jared Brownridge Sr. G Santa Clara
TJ Haws Fr. G BYU
Calvin Hermanson Jr. F Saint Mary’s
Przemek Karnowski Sr. C Gonzaga
Jock Landale Jr. C Saint Mary’s
Eric Mika So. C BYU
Lamond Murray Jr. Sr. G Pepperdine
Joe Rahon Sr. G Saint Mary’s
Johnathan Williams Jr. F Gonzaga
Nigel Williams-Goss Jr. G Gonzaga

2016-17 All-WCC Men’s Basketball Second Team
Brett Bailey Sr. F San Diego
Ronnie Boyce III Sr. G San Francisco
Brandon Brown Sr. G Loyola Marymount
Zach Collins Fr. C Gonzaga
KJ Feagin So. G Santa Clara

2016-17 All-WCC Men’s Basketball Freshman Team
Yoeli Childs F BYU
Zach Collins C Gonzaga
TJ Haws G BYU
Charles Minlend G San Francisco
Jordan Ratinho G San Francisco

2016-17 WCC Men’s Basketball Honorable Mention Selections
Olin Carter III, San Diego; Jazz Johnson, Portland; Nate Kratch, Santa Clara; Jordan Mathews, Gonzaga; Emmett Naar, Saint Mary’s; Josh Perkins, Gonzaga; Chris Reyes, Pepperdine; Buay Tuach, Loyola Marymount; T.J. Wallace, Pacific; Alec Wintering, Portland

This is interesting...this handicapping site has the low seeds advancing to Saturday.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/conference-tournaments/west-coast-bracket/

Woodless 2.0 wrote:This is interesting...this handicapping site has the low seeds advancing to Saturday.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/conference-tournaments/west-coast-bracket/

I think they're including pre-injury results in their model.

Always the optimist...

up7587 wrote:

Woodless 2.0 wrote:This is interesting...this handicapping site has the low seeds advancing to Saturday.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncb/conference-tournaments/west-coast-bracket/

I think they're including pre-injury results in their model.

Pomeroy on the WCC tournament - http://kenpom.com/blog/2017-wcc-tournament-forecast/#more-1584

Probably a little more realistic. Gives the Pilots a 44.9% chance of reaching the quarters, 1.6% chance of reaching the semis, 0.2% chance of reaching the finals, and 0.003% chance of winning the damn thing.

Hallinan back should help a bit, and I wouldn't mind seeing Hartwich get off the bench for at least a few minutes to see if he can cause any disruption on defence. He's rode the pine for all 80 minutes against USD this year, let's get him out there and see what he can do against them.

Both Andre and Xavier have to take the pressure off Jazz for UP to have a chance......as long as Jazz is NOT playing point guard, his outside shots and dribble-drives will in turn take the pressure off the other potential scorers.

KenPom has USD by 1 point and the current line in Las Vegas has the Toreros by 2.5.  (Remember, if you want to place a bet on any WCC games, you can't do it at the Orleans).

PilotNut wrote:
-Blacksheep will be spending a lot of time in the new bar.  I bet he will not be the only one.

I was hoping to get lunch at Bailiwick, but they didn't open until 4:00.

I'm here now and it's fantastic!

DoubleDipper wrote:.....the current line in Las Vegas has the Toreros by 2.5.  (Remember, if you want to place a bet on any WCC games, you can't do it at the Orleans).

Closing line in Las Vegass is USD by 5 with an o/u of 131.

9 min in the under looks strong.

60-55 PILOTS THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER BOYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Holy ****!! So happy for these guys, well done Pilots!

SoundVoltex wrote:60-55 PILOTS THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER BOYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Bailiwick is so much more fun after a victory!

A four game winning streak starts with the first one!

Dean Murdoch wrote:Hallinan back should help a bit, and I wouldn't mind seeing Hartwich get off the bench for at least a few minutes to see if he can cause any disruption on defence. He's rode the pine for all 80 minutes against USD this year, let's get him out there and see what he can do against them.

Hallinan was the key. They played a box and one defense with X shadowing Carter for 40 minutes. Carter only got 5 shots off. And Phillipp played 24 minutes. His line doesn't look exceptional, but there were several times a Torero had the ball deep in the paint, and Phil's D forced a pass back out.

Kudos to the coaches as well. When Neubauer and Bailey got in foul trouble, we called a time out, and they ran several plays for Gabe and Jarrell to try to foul them out. It eventually worked on Neubauer, even though he got an NBA-like six fouls.

This makes me very happy not just because it's a W, but it will give the guys one more chance to play together. Life experience beats traditional practice.

Also, I think that in several of our games this season we saw that winning was possible albeit elusive. I'm glad we finally saw the hard work pay off.

What a commitment to winning can do to propel a team, so say the Pilots. A great and surprising result.

Xavier Hallinan, thank you for your perseverance. Walking on, then sitting and sitting some more and then an opportunity. Wow.

Go Pilots.

Post game press conference:
https://campusinsiders.com/live/wcc-first-round-710-post-game-press-conference-2/

up7587 wrote:Hallinan was the key.  They played a box and one defense with X shadowing Carter for 40 minutes.  Carter only got 5 shots off.  And Phillipp played 24 minutes.  His line doesn't look exceptional, but there were several times a Torero had the ball deep in the paint, and Phil's D forced a pass back out. Kudos to the coaches as well.....

Best overall team and coaching effort of the season....everyone contributed, but I don't think we should overlook the very good inside play of the only senior on the floor, Jarrel Marshall, as he continually interrupted USD shooters while scoring 8 and blocking 3 shots.

Good strategy to keep working the ball inside in the second half (no 3-pointers attempted), as Gabe started to get going even though he had difficulty finishing and shot only 4/8 from the line.

Coach Porter awarded the game ball to Rashad, X, and Jazz for their smothering defense of Carter, but it really should go to X ("up from the minors, the scout team" according to the BYU announcers) for his 40 minute performance that included 3 steals and 11 points while committing only 3 turnovers.