Tag Archives: Gonzaga

Conferences that need a strong NCAA Tournament

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Those players walk over the logo the same way the NCAA walks over the conference.

Those players walk over the logo the same way the NCAA walks over the conference.

For some leagues, the NCAA Tournament is the only chance it has to build a reputation. That means the pressure is on these mid-major conferences.

5. Missouri Valley
Northern Iowa is a Final Four sleeper and Wichita State is also getting plenty of love in bracket pools. But what if they falter? Wyoming has potential to beat Northern Iowa in a classic 12/5 upset. Wichita State has traditional powers in Indiana and Kansas in the first weekend. Indiana is a top 10 3-point shooting team and can beat anyone because of that. Playing Kansas in the round of 32 is a dream for Shockers fans but with that dream comes pressure. This is a huge week for the Missouri Valley.

4. West Coast Conference
With BYU going out to Ole Miss in the first four it’s down to Gonzaga to carry the league, but the Bulldogs are use to that. The program has been criticized for not having the deep tourney runs to mirror its regular season success. The road is not easy with Davidson and Iowa State lurking, but this might be the best team Mark Few has had. It’s put up or shut up time for Gonzaga and the WCC.

3. Atlantic 10

Next from Atlantic 10 on Vimeo.

Dayton was a lightning rod for criticism for hosting a First Four game against Boise State. The fact that the committee felt the Flyers were the last team in the field screams disrespect. Especially with Davidson and VCU listed as 10 and 7 seeds.
The Atlantic 10’s “Who Wants Next Campaign” is in its second year and hopes to improve the perception of the league. The public relations firm in charge, 160over90, created the video above.

“Telling the story of the grittiness and uncompromising work ethic of the A-10, we’ve taken the ‘Next’ brand narrative to another level,” said Brendan Quinn, Creative Director at 160over90. “Highlighting the conference’s relentless commitment to advancing, this spot puts the spotlight directly on the hard work of the players. The hard work that starts in driveways, playgrounds, and gyms, and pays off in late March. The A-10 teams in the tournament are ready to make some noise. They know Next is now.”

Next may also be next year instead. VCU and Davidson will have a tough time getting to the Sweet 16 with Arizona and Gonzaga in the way. Dayton, the team who carried the A-10 in the tourney last year, may be the league’s best bet for a deep run yet again.

2. Mountain West
The Mountain West was trashed in an article on Grantland as a league to avoid in making picks.

“Until they can prove there’s any substance behind the hype, avoid MWC teams. This year, that means San Diego State (again), Boise State (somehow playing on the road against Dayton in the First Four), and Wyoming (playing a superior version of itself in Northern Iowa).”

That’s harsh, and it’s also all the ammunition the MWC needs to know this is a big tournament for its reputation. With Boise State losing to Dayton, the pressure is even higher on the remaining teams.

1. American Athletic Conference
The AAC had two bubble teams miss the field in Temple and Tulsa with the conference champion listed at a 6 seed. This is after the year UConn won the title. Damage control falls to Cincinnati and SMU in the tournament. Both teams are in tough positions for a round of 32 matchup in Kentucky and Iowa State. While proving the committee wrong is important, I doubt the AAC will be able to make much noise this time around.

Listening to Larry Brown and his disappointment about Temple and Tulsa shows just how real the situation is for the AAC.

My 2015 March Madness Picks

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Last year’s bracket did fine considering it was a crazy year. Picking Mercer to beat Duke was enough credibility for me to roll my bracket on the internet again.

I have Kentucky winning it all and that sounds boring I know. The Wildcats are just that good. Sure, Kentucky will be tested (I have them playing Wisconsin in the semifinals and Virginia in the title game), but they should pass those tests. This Kentucky team is obviously superior to the team that scrapped past Wisconsin a year ago and came up short in the title game with UConn.

Virginia was the team I struggled with the most as I don’t know how healthy it will be. I just think the Cavaliers have gone too far to have another season end before the Final Four, though Michigan State and even Belmont could give them problems.

To the picks.

Midwest

My Midwest is crazy outside of Kentucky rolling through. Valpo is a solid team as I have it moving on to the Sweet 16. The Crusaders can defend and shoot 3s and that is a lethal combo. Texas is another surprise team here as the Longhorns are among the leaders in blocks in rebounds. When you look at their losses you see that most came to good Big 12 teams on the road and at Kentucky. Wichita State is the next hidden gem in the region as the Shockers have been waiting for a shot at Kansas for a long time. No way they let this slip.

In contrast the West is more predictable.

West

The East is about Virginia staying healthy. I added some upsets from the winner of Boise State/Dayton and Louisville having another deep run.

East

The South can be anyone but I like Utah as it is one of the few squads who can defend and score. This is also Gonzaga’s best chance at a deep tournament run. For a good upset, I’m going with Eastern Washington to shoot the 3 over a bigger Georgetown team.

South

Arithmetic and Talent Shows

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It was the first weekend of the year where college basketball had a complete monopoly on the sports world. Let’s take a look at some of the hilarious posts athletic departments did to grab publicity. Both good and bad. Sensor Scans

Gonzaga’s math problem

Gonzaga had a huge West Coast Conference win against BYU late Saturday night to give it the driver seat in the conference race. The game also featured this adventure in arithmetic from the school’s Twitter account.

In Gonzaga’s defense it can be hard to subtract 49 from 54 to get five when you’re live blogging in press row. I guess.

For future reference, schools should try to give only one stat per tweet as you can’t put a box score in 140 characters.

Fairfield’s talent show

MEAC member Fairfield had a very unique event involving all of its athletic teams. The school had its fourth annual student-athlete talent show Saturday night with the proceeds helping out a local family in need.

The result was a series of funny skits from all of the sports teams the Stags have to offer. Each show was judged off of its performance as the softball team made a solid try imitating Despicable Me. Here are the photos from the school’s Facebook page.

Fair softball

Have no idea what the Soccer team was doing here.

Fairfield soccer

But the winner went to the Men’s Cross Country team as it poked fun of the Winter Olympics. Here they are as the Jamaican bobsled team. I wonder what they did for Nancy Kerrigan?

Cross country fairfield

Nice job Fairfield, this would be a great story for the NCAA to make a commercial about. Because we all know the NCAA is there for student-athletes. Man, that last sentence was hard to type.

Morehead State gets fired up over a hard screen.

The level of passion for college basketball in Kentucky is beyond extraordinary. This counts for mid-major Morehead State in the Ohio Valley Conference. A player was hit on a screen against Tennessee State Saturday and caused this slice of awesomeness.

While most athletic departments just use social media for scores, stats and events; it is cool to see some emotion from one. Where else do you see “clobbered” and the sense of righteous fury in a basketball tweet? Keep up the good work Eagles.

Morehead State won the game in overtime 80-74 to improve to 14-8. With no quality wins out of conference, the Eagles will probably have to win the OVC tournament to get into the big dance but that’s a feasible goal for this team.

Texas Tech’s missing wallet

Women’s basketball teams sometimes have to do some zany things to attract fans but this has to be just plain nuts.

A wallet?

How vague is that? Here let me steal my roommate’s wallet and see if I can get some free books.

Product placement and elation at Hawaii

The Hawaii football team had a dismal 1-11 season but the basketball team is having a nice run in the Big West conference. With the game on the line at UC-Irvine, Hawaii needed a miracle three-pointer to force overtime.

That’s right, SHAM-WOW. It works because of Hawaii guard Keith Shamburger. The junior out of Lakewood, California had 11 assists and was nine out of 10 from the free-throw line. The Warriors needed each of those free-throws just as much as the desperation three to escape UC-Irvine 90-86 in overtime. Hawaii is 14-5 with quality wins over Oregon State and St. Mary’s. Expect to hear more out of this team as we approach March.

Western Kentucky speaks for all obsessed college football fans

The snow and the polar vortex didn’t stop Western Kentucky football from demonstrating its impatience.

And I thought I was reaching for content creation.

The Obscurity Report Debut

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Time to preview some of the sporting events this weekend that will struggle to get attention but will have a big impact in a few months. Even better, we have our first ever men’s volleyball shout out of the year. Welcome to the Obscurity Report.

BYU at Gonzaga, Saturday, 10 p.m. ESTObscurity Report new

The West Coast Conference has been having another great year with over half the league in the RPI top 120. Gonzaga (No. 23) and BYU (No. 40) are the two leaders and they meet at Gonzaga Saturday night on ESPN2. It will be an opportunity to show off the league as nine of the 10 teams are above .500. Santa Clara is 10-11 and that’s nothing to be upset about.

Gonzaga has non-conference wins over RPI top-100 teams in West Virginia, Arkansas, and New Mexico State thanks to its efficient offense. The Bulldogs are No. 2 in the nation in field goal percentage hitting over half their shots. They simply never miss as they scored over 70 points in 16 of its 19 games. Gonzaga comes in with a superior 17-3 record compared with BYU’s 13-8.

BYU’s offense has been even more explosive scoring over 80 points 16 of its 19 games. A tougher schedule has given BYU more losses but wins over Texas and Stanford have made up for it in the RPI.

I give the edge to Gonzaga at home but be sure to stay up late to watch this one. One, maybe both, will end up in the sweet sixteen.

St. Francis Brooklyn at Bryant, Saturday. 1:00 p.m. EST

With 12-8 records these two have the best seasons in the Northeast Conference. Unless 10-10 Robert Morris comes along, one of these two schools with get the automatic bid. Round one of this battle for a tourney spot is Saturday at Bryant.

St. Francis did score an upset at Miami to start the season so it does have a win against a top 100 team. Bryant’s best win came against average Vermont but it does play at home Saturday. Look for St. Francis to play hard and get the win after losing Thursday night to Fairleigh Dickinson.

Men’s Volleyball: No. 1 Pepperdine at No. 5 Long Beach State, Friday 10 p.m. EST

The men’s volleyball season is still warming up but we have a top-five match-up tonight when Pepperdine travels to Long Beach State. Pepperdine is a surprising No. 1 since it went 14-12 a year ago. The Waves went 4-10 on the road too and I seriously doubt those road woes can be fixed in one season. I expect Long Beach State to convert on this upset attempt at home.