WCC Tourney 2018

Sound Voltex wrote:If you thought LMU/Gonzaga was crazy, Pepperdine/SMC was chaos.

When the ball was tied up with 26.5 seconds to play and 4 seconds on the shot clock, we had a good chance. We had momentum. We had swagger. We had the ball, down three points.
Then, it took them FOUR MINUTES AND 40 SECONDS to confirm that there were 26.5 seconds to play and 4 seconds on the shot clock and that it was our ball. Should the shot clock have reset? Probably not, but deciding that can't take four minutes. Whatever momentum and sense of continuity we had on our side was long gone.
It gets worse from there.
When we did finally inbound the ball, the shot clock didn't start.
That's right, folks. Marty Wilson spends ten years at Pepperdine, the players spend a full season preparing for this moment, hours upon hours of practice and film and dedication. Matthew Atewe and Amadi Udenyi have one chance after five years of injury and frustration to be part of something truly memorable.
And it happens. Colbey Ross, who has four seconds to get off a good shot despite starting 65 feet from the basket, plays it perfectly, gets himself a good look from the right wing, and swishes a tying three.
Meanwhile, some random dude at a press table has the monumental task of pushing a single button for two hours. And in the most "YOU HAD ONE JOB" moment of 2018 ... he forgets to. As ESPN announcer Caron Butler succinctly said, "wake up."
It gets worse from there.
The officials then spend two MORE minutes in front of a video screen and huddling, only to, in what I have to assume is the proper interpretation of a mind-numbingly awful rule, declare that the shot doesn't count, but the two seconds that happened before the officials realized it and stopped play DO count, which means the Waves now have only two seconds to get off yet another game-tying attempt.
Colbey Ross AGAIN manages to get a good look, but this one misses.

DoubleDipper wrote:After watching SMC go 29/35 from the foul line against UP, I heard some say there was no way the WCC was going to allow SMC to lose three in a row and miss out on the revenue of the NCAA Tournament.

My initial thought was, "no way," but now, after watching the SMC/PU end-of-game debacle in Las Vegas, I'm a believer!

up7587 wrote:Random things I saw in Vegas:
- Best pep band was probably the GU band; they are large, energetic, do chants, and sing.  One team, LMU, I think, didn't send a band.

PilotDrummer wrote:

up7587 wrote:Random things I saw in Vegas:
- Best pep band was probably the GU band; they are large, energetic, do chants, and sing.  One team, LMU, I think, didn't send a band.

...gonna have to disagree with that. But then again, I'm very biased! I'll keep the Pilots band director's rankings to myself, however...

LMU did not send a band--they used UP's band on Thursday, but the students decided they did not want to play for LMU's men on Saturday. I think Pepperdine brought no band--at least, I never saw one.