2022-23 Around the NCAA

St. Mary's is #11 in the net rankings. The WCC has 5 teams in the top 100 and 3 below 150. Only Pacific is below 200. Portland sits at 170 and in my opinion is underperforming for the year to date after performing over my expectations last year. Overall I think this year's team is still better than last year's, but it seems they've lost the crisp passing from earlier in the year even prior to the multiple new injuries. Prior to the season I was thinking low 100s would be reasonable and they were there for a short while moving up and down with Santa Clara often a spot it two away. Now Santa Clara is 76 and the pilots have moved the opposite direction.
Hopefully when everybody is back they can return to form

dholcombe wrote:St. Mary's is #11 in the net rankings.  

Just in time to face Portland tomorrow, the Gaels have picked up Aussie star, Rory Hawke.  Is that a great name, or what?  Sounds like a superhero, let's just hope he doesn't use his powers against UP.

https://smcgaels.com/news/2023/1/3/mens-basketball-mbb-hawke-joins-gaels-for-remainder-of-season.aspx

Looks like there is some differing opinions but it seems like the plan is for Rory Hawke to redshirt this year, then step into a big role for SMC starting next season.

Dean Murdoch wrote:Looks like there is some differing opinions but it seems like the plan is for Rory Hawke to redshirt this year, then step into a big role for SMC starting next season.

With half the season gone, it would make sense to redshirt Rory.

During the Porter era, there was talk of bringing in a couple of Aussies at the end of their school year Down Under (December) but it never materialized, and they went elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio:

https://apnews.com/article/sports-massachusetts-georgia-college-2469e6b77addc708f81cb5303c192c94

The committee recommended allowing 25% of teams in sports sponsored by at least 200 schools to compete in annual championship events. That opens the door to possible expansion of the popular March Madness basketball tournaments from 68 to as many as 90 teams each.

The board also approved the creation of a second, 32-team postseason tournament in Division I women’s basketball. The tournament would be similar to men’s NIT, which is owned and operated by the NCAA.

The tournament was part of the recommendations from an independent gender equity review and is intended to provide an equal number of NCAA-funded postseason opportunities in men’s and women’s basketball.

DoubleDipper wrote:The board also approved the creation of a second, 32-team postseason tournament in Division I women’s basketball. The tournament would be similar to men’s NIT, which is owned and operated by the NCAA.

Forgive my stupidity, but isn't the WNIT already a thing?

Dean Murdoch wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:The board also approved the creation of a second, 32-team postseason tournament in Division I women’s basketball. The tournament would be similar to men’s NIT, which is owned and operated by the NCAA.

Forgive my stupidity, but isn't the WNIT already a thing?

I've been doing this for 12 years every Thursday and Saturday night

Dean Murdoch wrote:Forgive my stupidity, but isn't the WNIT already a thing?

Forgiven!!  

I too questioned the "new" WNIT proposed by the NCAA before I learned the current WNIT, unlike the NIT, is not run by the NCAA, but is an independent national championship.

There is a bit of history, but the current WNIT is run by Triple Crown Sports out of Fort Collins, Colorado...hmm, maybe it was no coincidence the Pilots played Colorado St. (and won) in the first round of the WNIT last season.

The benefit of the current, independently run WNIT, is it is made up of 64 teams, while the NCAA proposal is for just 32 teams.

Zags go down at home against LMU. What a key program win for Coach Stan.

Dean Murdoch wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:The board also approved the creation of a second, 32-team postseason tournament in Division I women’s basketball. The tournament would be similar to men’s NIT, which is owned and operated by the NCAA.

Forgive my stupidity, but isn't the WNIT already a thing?

Not really. It’s a for-profit tournament where teams bid to host. Hosting goes to high bid.
Money is more important than talent.

Sound Voltex wrote:Zags go down at home against LMU. What a key program win for Coach Stan.

GU's Malachi Smith, who scored 27 with 7-10 3P shooting against Pilots, scores 4 points. Pilots bring out the best in other team's 3P shooting. Overall, GU was 17-38 on 3's against UP, and 4-14 against LMU.

Sound Voltex wrote:Zags go down at home against LMU. What a key program win for Coach Stan.

GU's loss snaps a 75 home winning streak, and it was the first loss against LMU since 2010 and GU's first loss to LMU in Spokane since 1991.

Finally had a chance to watch the game...LMU just out hustled and out muscled GU in their 1 point win.

LMU is the Zags' first loss outside of the NET Quadrant 1, ever!! LMU is currently a Q3 team.

The announcers mentioned that GU's last loss to a WCC team other than SMC or BYU was February 22, 2014 at USD, and their last loss to a WCC team other than SMC or BYU in Spokane was February 12, 2007 vs. SCU.

SCU beat Big 12 bound BYU tonight in California and SMC clobbered PU by 29 points, solidifying the Gaels position above GU in the NET and KenPom rankings.

Seems BYU can't wait to get away from the competition in the WCC...

Kenpom's projected WCC wins after last night.

Code:

SMC    6-0    14.04
GONZ   5-1    12.65
SCU    4-2     9.58
LMU    4-3     8.86
BYU    4-3     8.53
USF    2-5     6.27
PORT   2-4     5.78
PAC    3-3     5.70
USD    2-5     4.65
PEPP   0-6     3.94

I enjoy BYU losing as much as the next guy but I don't think a USF win here is going to be great for the Pilots.

In Stockton, the Tigers played GU close all evening and were still within 5 points at the 4-minute mark, but then the Bulldogs upped their game a little for the 99-90 win.

St. Mary's, currently the best team in the WCC, beat a very good SCU by 19 points in Moraga.

A sad day for college hoops.

The make-up-the-bracket-as-you-go-along The Basketball Classic (formerly known as the CIT) will no longer be played.

Rest easy, CIT/TBC and thanks for all the memories.

Dean Murdoch wrote:A sad day for college hoops.

The make-up-the-bracket-as-you-go-along The Basketball Classic (formerly known as the CIT) will no longer be played.

Rest easy, CIT/TBC and thanks for all the memories.

Just one year too late for Chris Austin...

Pacific won at Santa Clara today, putting them both in a 3-way tie for 4th place at 4-4, 1.5 games ahead of the Pilots.

SMC scored a bucket with 0.4 seconds remaining to beat BYU 57-56, dropping BYU to 4-5, 1 game ahead of Pilots.  BYU has games against LMU and GU remaining; UP doesn't.  The Pilots 6 conference losses have come against: #1 SMC there, #2 GU (2x), #3 LMU (2x), and #6T BYU there.  Probably toughest schedule of any team so far. All the losses are to the top 4 Kenpom WCC teams

USF won at USD, dropping them to a 3-6 tie with Pilots.
LMU beat PU, making them the scariest 0-9 ever.

up7587 wrote:SMC scored a bucket with .04 seconds remaining to beat BYU 57-56...

SMC's Aiden Mahaney, a freshman who grew up just a couple of miles from the SMC campus, drilled his turnaround fade away game winning jumper just 10 years after Matthew Dellavedova did the same thing in Provo. Delightful.

Not sure how Randy Bennett keeps from getting a T the way he carries on with the refs each game...the WCC does not give the UP the same latitude.

EDIT: Added video...
https://twitter.com/i/status/1619568541111562241

USD beat LMU tonight, putting them into a 3-way tie with USF and Pilots for 7th place.
UOP lost at BYU, but remain 1.5 games ahead of Pilots due to the events of this evening.
SCU won at USF.

Congrats to canadagael mexicogael, that is a hell of a win for SMC. Unbelievable what they're doing in Moraga.

Cam Shelton can play some ball.