Gonzaga is having the best week ever, going to the East Coast and smaking around St. Joseph's and Conneticut, this coming off the heels of playing in the Great Alaska Shootout. Punching those East Coast teams in the mouth is always a good thing. Not a bad thing, but a good thing. Everybody on the West Coast gets how good Gonzaga is, but it always seems that the East Coast needs a little reminder. And Gonzaga is always up for the challenge.Now let's take a look at the biggest winners and losers in this week's edition of the WCMMPM.
Winners
- Austin Daye. The freshman out of Woodbridge (Irvine) High was having a day that he would probably like to forget. But then he had some really big free throws down the stretch that helped Gonzaga secure the win over U Conn. Seriously, this guy is going to be so good for Gonzaga this year. He will have his tough game, but this guy is silky smooth at the free throw line, something that will come in handy in close games. Like Saturday. Really love the poise on this kid.
- Australia. The soldout McKeon Pavilion has an Australian flag hanging in honor of three members from down under, led by point guard Patrick Mills. Don't look now Seton Hall, but a dingo just ate your baby. That's right, the (bad) Australian jokes are going to come all season. But like Daye, Mills is a tough competitor and his composure already has made a difference.
- Tortilla sales in Santa Barbara. The Gauchos are back baby. A win over UNLV has the fans motivated. The Gauchos have won five consecutive games after knocking of Loyola Marymount on Saturday night. The men's soccer team lost to Ohio State in the Sweet 16 on Sunday, meaning more time for the fans to devote to basketball. Ole.
- Utah State. Don't look now, but the Aggies are starting to put it together and are playing better than anybody in the WAC.
- Nevada. The Wolf Pack looked decent earlier in their rebuiding year, but have now dropped three consecutive games. The team has a week off before playing Montana State, and while it's too early to panic, they really need to start putting it together.
- New Mexico State. Give the assists to the NCAA and its nonsense with Jahmar Young and Herb Pope. But this team needs to put the excuses aside and start winning some games. Hopefully a resolution one way or the other will be handed down this week, regarding their talented players. Hopefully that will allow the team to start building something because all of the momentum from last year's run is gone. But like Nevada, you can't panic especially in college hoops where there are conference tournaments, but you can't use that as a crutch. Still, as reader Alex noted in the comments earlier, blowing a 21-point lead to North Texas is a killer.
- Air Force. You can't allow Jeff Bzdelik to return to Clune Arena with a very average Colorado team and win. That was inexcusable.
- Cal Poly. A double-whammy for the Mustangs. They blow. And arch-rival Santa Barbara is pretty good.
- UC Davis Lost to those smarty pants at Brown. Who knew that UPS even had a team?
- Snoop Dogg. This has been a tough college basketball season for Long Beach State. Things have become so bad for the fans, they want to brag about their moral victories. Here's a the scoop, Long Beach. Nobody is scared of you. Yet. Dan Monson might be building something down there, but it isn't happening this year. Just be glad that UC Davis isn't eligible for the Big West tournament yet, or else you would be sitting out the postseason.
