Hey Pac-10 and Big West, what are you doing having your conference tournaments in Los Angeles and Anaheim respectively? Maybe you too could move your tournaments to Las Vegas. Maybe they could erect a court on Fremont Street and have them play.
St. Mary's might have been the biggest winner in Saturday's BracketBuster following a huge 75-64 win over Utah State. The Gaels had been adrift in recent weeks, seemingly rudderless without star Patrick Mills.
But St. Mary's has been solid in recent weeks, fattening up on the weaker teams in the West Coast Conference. Saturday's win over the Aggies was a big exclamation point on the season, letting people know that the Gaels are still in the hunt for an at-large bid.
Not to say that St. Mary's is in right now; the Gaels still have a lot of work to do. But the team is squarely on the bubble right now.
The West Coast Conference had a banner 2008, getting three teams into the NCAA tournament. But any hopes of the WCC being a multiple bid conference this season evaporated as quickly as Portland's halftime lead on Thursday night.
Last year's Cinderella, San Diego, lost at Santa Clara on Thursday night in a battle of the conference's most disappointing underachievers. Let this be a lesson to all of you coaches who achieve success in your first year. Take the money and run. Bill Grier probably wishes that he did.
That left Portland holding the conference's lone hope to challenge Gonzaga. And it happened ... for a half.
Gonzaga had a rather troubling December, were it not for Tennessee. The Bulldogs lost to No. 2 Connecticut, Portland State and Utah in a near two-week stretch before beating the Volunteers for the second time this season. But any stumbling during the silly season is in the past as Gonzaga has once again retaken its throne as unmerciful ruler of the West Coast Conference.
The Bulldogs put any doubt to rest with a dominating performance over Santa Clara on Thursday, winning 95-53. The kind of exclamation to let the rest of the conference know that any momentary lapses were just that. And really, I thought Kerry Keating's club could have been a contender this season. Yeah, not so much.
This win won't do much to help Gonzaga's damaged national reputation they suffered at the end of December. But San Diego and St. Mary's no doubt took notice. Matt Bouldin was awesome, and it seems that Gonzaga is at its best when Jeremy Pargo doesn't have to score a lot and is handing out the ball like he did on Thursday night.
Now for a look at some other mid-major action of note.
Well, it's only the calendar year, mind you. And really, don't you hate running into people on this day who love to say, "See you next year?" And here I am contributing to the problem. But enough about that, UNLV, Utah and Nevada all have an opportunity to make a splash on New Year's Eve with some high-profile games.
The question is, will they be able to take advantage of them? Here's a quick rundown of tonight's games. UNLV at No. 18 Louisville. The Runnin' Rebels had a brief two-game let down earlier this season, but have established an 11-2 mark, including a big win over Arizona. But tonight's contest could be a tough one, as senior star Wink Adams will be a game-time decision. Adams suffered an abdominal injury recently, but a recent MRI revealed that it was only a strain.
Even if Adams is able to play, UNLV will have a tough test. The Rebels haven't been good on the boards and Louisville is a strong rebounding team. Plus Louisville's defense was able to smother the Rebels in the closing ten minutes of last year's game at the Thomas and Mack Center. Still, that game was closer than some thought. So I expect a similar game this year, where UNLV will hang tough for a while, but ultimately fall. Prediction: Louisville wins.Make your own pick.
No. 15 Arizona State got off to an auspicious start on Tuesday night, going down to the wire with San Diego State before prevailing, 59-52. Some of the Sun Devil faithful will likely be gripping over such a close win. You shouldn't be.
Leave the worrying for those following the train wreck in Tucson.
San Diego State is a quality program and has upset ranked opponents in Cox Arena in the recent past. In fact, this was probably a bigger blow to the Aztecs who figure to be in the mix for a tournament bid this season. Although, this isn't Long Beach State, so there will hardly be any celebrating after this "noble loss" to the Sun Devils.
This win should be encouraging for the ASU program.
Those writers and coaches might need a mulligan for picking Nevada as the top team in the WAC. Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox suspended Brandon Fields, London Giles and Ahyaro Phillips after the players were cited for misdemeanor petty larceny.
Fields is the leading returning scorer for the Wolf Pack, so this could be a huge blow to the team. Giles and Phillips are freshmen. Fox is waiting to "gather all of the facts" of the incident to see how long these suspensions last. You would almost guess that Fields will be given more leeway.
Petty larceny means that the alleged stolen items were valued at $250 or below. And the incident is believed to have taken place at the newly opened Scheels at the Legends of Sparks Marina.
If the charges hold up, you really have to question the intelligence of these players. Like, doesn't Nevada have boosters who could buy these young men some shoes so they don't have to steal them? If anything, I place the blame on the Wolf Pack boosters for not doing a better job of handing out the dough. Though, you could blame the sluggish economy for that, too. One of the presidential candidates looking to win the swing vote in Nevada should run on a platform of tax cuts for boosters so schools can avoid incidents such as this. He'd be an easy winner.
The state of Nevada rules the college basketball world. Or at least the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences. UNLV was selected by as the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West. Nevada was tabbed to win the WAC. That should make the inter-state rivalry even more intense this year.
The Runnin' Rebels will have five seniors this season and will finally start seeing the fruits of Lon Kruger's recruiting labors. Guard Wink Adams was selected as the preseason co-player of the year, while Tre'Von Willis was selected as the preseason pick as top newcomer.
BYU's Lee Cummard was the other selection for Mountain West preseason co-player of the year. No word on if his wife started a riot when she learned that Lee was not the sole winner. BYU was picked to finish second in conference.
San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade, Wyoming's Brandon Ewing and Utah center Luke Nevill round out the preseason first team for the Mountain West.
The Bracket Busters is a series that began in 2003 and was designed to pit mid-majors in inter-conference battles late in the regular season. With ESPN tied in, it brings national TV audiences to places they may normally not go.
It helps these teams immensely by getting them exposure, pumping up their RPI numbers and answers some of those questions about the strength of these mid-major conferences.
102 teams were named to be in this year's event ... which will take place on February 20-21.
The marquee name will be Davidson College, home of Stephen Curry and a Wildcats team that were a shot away from getting to the Final Four.
Other big time mid-majors include Butler, Drake, San Diego, Nevada, St. Mary's, Bucknell and George Mason.
Matchups will be set on February 9th. After the jump are the teams that are participating.
NCAA Basketball nevada Wolf Pack 
The Western Athletic Conference could move its tournament to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas in 2011, joining the West Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference which also host tournaments in Sin City. 
St. Mary's might have been the biggest winner in Saturday's BracketBuster following a huge 75-64 win over Utah State. The Gaels had been adrift in recent weeks, seemingly rudderless without star Patrick Mills. 
Cal State Fullerton will play host to Long Beach State on tonight. There was a time in recent memory when this was the preeminent college basketball rivalry in Southern California. Or at least the most blood thirsty among the fans, once even resulting in a brawl among the fans with 27 fans going to jail like it was an Eagles game or something.
The West Coast Conference had a banner 2008, getting three teams into the NCAA tournament. But any hopes of the WCC being a multiple bid conference this season evaporated as quickly as Portland's halftime lead on Thursday night.
Gonzaga had a rather troubling December, were it not for Tennessee. The Bulldogs lost to No. 2 Connecticut, Portland State and Utah in a near two-week stretch before beating the Volunteers for the second time this season. But any stumbling during the silly season is in the past as Gonzaga has once again retaken its throne as unmerciful ruler of the West Coast Conference.
Well, it's only the calendar year, mind you. And really, don't you hate running into people on this day who love to say, "See you next year?" And here I am contributing to the problem. But enough about that, UNLV, Utah and Nevada all have an opportunity to make a splash on New Year's Eve with some high-profile games.
No. 15 Arizona State got off to an auspicious start on Tuesday night, going down to the wire with San Diego State before prevailing, 59-52. Some of the Sun Devil faithful will likely be gripping over such a close win. You shouldn't be.
Those writers and coaches might need a mulligan for picking Nevada as the top team in the WAC. Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox suspended Brandon Fields, London Giles and Ahyaro Phillips after the players were cited for misdemeanor petty larceny.
The state of Nevada rules the college basketball world. Or at least the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences. UNLV was selected by as the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West. Nevada was tabbed to win the WAC. That should make the inter-state rivalry even more intense this year.
Update 2/2/09: The 2009 BracketBusters matchups have been announced.
