Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Tuesday:

UAF @ UAA - UAA needs to win this one, I believe, to stay in contention... Because WWU or SFU are going to win tonight when they match up and that winner will put some distance in this 4 way battle for 5th/6th in the GNAC.

WWU @ SFU - Can SFU keep the home court advantage that helped them beat Saint Martin's & NNU at home this year going and knock off the Vikings? The Vikings shipped out of Alaska early on Saturday afternoon after beating UAF, and SFU had to stay later Saturday for an evening game with the Seawolves, and then even later when UAA demanded it would take OT for the winner... So the question is, can SFU keep their legs fresh after that long game, later trip getting back home and 3 games this week?

Thursday:

CU-P @ SFU - Be a good chance for SFU to win another and earn some more breathing space to get into the GNAC tourney, or a chance for the Cavelier's to mess up well laid plans.

Western Oregon @ WWU - Huge one for both schools. WWU needs it more and wants revenge, but WOU really probably needs it to get into the regional picture (can't remember where they were ranked last week for regional rankings?)

Saint Martin's @ NNU - Ummm. Huge. If SMU drops this one, and SPU beats CWU, we're going to have a 3 way bottleneck to win the league...

Seattle Pacific @ CWU

MSUB @ UAA - Both teams need it pretty desperately. We'll know how desperate the Seawolves are after tonight, but if they lose tonight, this one might not matter, but it will still matter for MSUB, I think...

Saturday: These games are all relevant for playoffs too, as to which ones and for what reasons, we'll have to wait until Thursday night has been put to bed...

MSUB @ UAF

CU-P @ WWU

SPU @ NNU

WOU @ SFU

SMU @ CWU

[tsull]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Saturday's SPU @ NNU is also fairly huge.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

NNU playing both of the other top teams. Surely an exciting week! Perhaps CWU can get some upset wins that impact the seedings too

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Okay, got the rest of the games on that original thread... OMG, for being a fan of the last place team in the GNAC, one would not imagine how excited I am for the games this week... I guess that makes me a diehard Nook fan, but a pretty damn loyal GNAC fan too. PacWesters and CCAAers; are you guys having this much final week drama too?

Hoping the games are great this week and that the teams that deserve to win them find a way to get it done!

[tsull]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Okay, got the rest of the games on that original thread... OMG, for being a fan of the last place team in the GNAC, one would not imagine how excited I am for the games this week... I guess that makes me a diehard Nook fan, but a pretty damn loyal GNAC fan too. PacWesters and CCAAers; are you guys having this much final week drama too?

Hoping the games are great this week and that the teams that deserve to win them find a way to get it done!

Northern, I admire your loyalty to your team. We need more D2 basketball fans like you. It's a great sport, lots of fun.

[Billybronco01]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

I'm actually nervous down in the CCAA. Nerve-wracking pair of games for my broncos, one vs Dominguez Hills (a very hot team who beat CPP round 1) and rival san Bernardino to end year (who beat us as well). This is the midst of a 5 game stretch of "payback" games for the broncos (CPP won the first three games of this leg to teams that have previously beat them). Be fun if CPP and East Bay win Thurs at it was set up a possible three way tie scenario for Sat. East Bay plays at UCSD last game of the regular season. Gonna be wild!

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

First game for the GNAC this week in the books at SFU defends their home court and beats WWU by 3, taking over sole possession of 5th place in the GNAC leaving UAA, WWU, and MSUB tied for at least 30 more minutes for 6th. Nooks are playing the Seawolves well (43-42 @ half), but the question is can they put together a complete game and give themselves a chance at only their 3rd win of the season, but a sweep of the Seawolves? We shall see shortly.

[SGAstumpJ]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Well, here's the PacWest slate for the next couple days, along with any playoff implications.

Thursday:

Notre Dame de Namur vs. #5 Chaminade -- Silverswords will get the #3 seed if they win out (tiebreaker with APU would be who's higher in the regional rankings. Chaminade's 5; APU is not in the top 10)

Academy of Art at Azusa Pacific -- on the women's side, APU wins the PacWest title outright with a win (something they didn't do either year they hosted regionals.)

Dominican at Biola -- again, on the women's side, a Domincan win clinches a first-round bye in the PacWest tournament, which the Penguins are hosting.

Saturday:

#9 Concordia-Irvine at #2 Point Loma -- winner will be the top seed at the PacWest tournament on the men's side (a CUI win results in a tie, but the Eagles would have a season sweep.) For the women, Concordia needs a win or an NDNU loss to clinch the last spot in the tournament.

NDNU at Hawai'i Pacific

Holy Names at Fresno Pacific

Dominican at Azusa Pacific

Academy of Art at Biola -- Academy of Art can clinch the #6 seed with a win in either of their last two games, otherwise...

Chaminade at UH-Hilo -- Hilo can grab the last ticket to the dance with a win and some help in SoCal.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

UAA won, putting themselves in a better position to be watching from on Saturday night too, so long as the win on Thursday as well. There still seem to be infinite options for the last two spots in the GNAC tourney... I look forward to following the GNAC tourney closely next week. I think it's real tight at the top (I could see any of the top 4 teams winning it) and should make for a suspenseful handful of days.

[Rob_AK]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Right now SFU is in the driver's seat - they split with UAA, WWU and MSUB, but have more .750 and better wins, therefore they have the tie breaker. Basically, even if SFU splits the final two they are in. Of all the teams, SFU, UAA and MSUB all split their season series, as did SFU and UAA with WWU, so they would go to the next tiebreaker, but if MSUB ties WWU then MSUB gets the tiebreak because they have beaten WWU twice head to head.

UAA cannot tie MSUB. Tonight's game likely decides UAA's postseason. If UAA wins they are at least tied for 6th, and get to the tiebreak. If UAA wins and finishes 10-10, and WWU wins out and finishes the same they go to the third tiebreaker - which is records against GNAC teams with .500 or better conference records. This would go to WWU because it would have beaten WOU twice while UAA split with WOU. In that scenario, UAA would only finish in 6th if SFU loses both its final two games at home (not likely).

If MSUB wins tonight, then UAA will finish 9-11 and can at best get a 3 way tie for 5th with SFU and MSUB, but the tie breaks would go to MSUB and SFU, so tonight really is a must win for them. Then they have to sit around and hope WWU splits the final two or SFU collapses. The last two home losses hurt, especially the overtime against SFU.

Looks like I am a WOU fan this week, lol.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

Right now SFU is in the driver's seat - they split with UAA, WWU and MSUB, but have more .750 and better wins, therefore they have the tie breaker. Basically, even if SFU splits the final two they are in. Of all the teams, SFU, UAA and MSUB all split their season series, as did SFU and UAA with WWU, so they would go to the next tiebreaker, but if MSUB ties WWU then MSUB gets the tiebreak because they have beaten WWU twice head to head.

UAA cannot tie MSUB. Tonight's game likely decides UAA's postseason. If UAA wins they are at least tied for 6th, and get to the tiebreak. If UAA wins and finishes 10-10, and WWU wins out and finishes the same they go to the third tiebreaker - which is records against GNAC teams with .500 or better conference records. This would go to WWU because it would have beaten WOU twice while UAA split with WOU. In that scenario, UAA would only finish in 6th if SFU loses both its final two games at home (not likely).

If MSUB wins tonight, then UAA will finish 9-11 and can at best get a 3 way tie for 5th with SFU and MSUB, but the tie breaks would go to MSUB and SFU, so tonight really is a must win for them. Then they have to sit around and hope WWU splits the final two or SFU collapses. The last two home losses hurt, especially the overtime against SFU.

Looks like I am a WOU fan this week, lol.

I think you're missing one crucial piece of info Rob... If UAA wins, you are correct in that it looks like the worst case scenario is that they are tied for 5th or 6th, but they will lose a tiebreaker with WWU or SFU, because both WWU & SFU have beaten teams with 0.750 league records and UAA has not (SFU has beaten SMU & NNU, WWU has beaten SMU). Even if SMU loses both this week, they are still at .750, which would give the tiebreaker to WWU or SFU over UAA... You are cheering for any team based out of Oregon this week. Channel your inner Wolf or Cavelier!

If UAA loses, they are done, I think. The worst SFU could finish would be tied with UAA at that point, and SFU wins the tiebreaker. The worst MSUB could finish is also tied with UAA and they would also have the tiebreaker, so it wouldn't even matter what WWU does. You need your boys to win tonight, for sure... If MSUB loses tonight, they are done as well, because there would be not way past SFU (they lose a tiebreaker to SFU as well, if SFU dropped both the last two, or UAA at that point, so their game in Fairbanks would be just for pride). Gosh. So excited to watch this game. You guys know I love Durham, but I'll say... Mick, you can run from Fairbanks, but you cannot escape the late season showdowns with Rusty, can you?

[SGAstumpJ]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

East Bay blew one at San Marcos tonight. Pomona now controls their own destiny. If they beat San Bernardino Saturday, they win the conference.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: Last Week of GNAC games - HUGE consequences, lots of games

If all my reasoning with UAA & MSUB tonight was correct, then the Seawolves just went down hard at home on senior night to Mick and the Yellowjackets who sneak back into a tie with WWU and SFU for 5th & 6th. The UAA announcers seem to think there is a chance UAA could still go, but I don't see it, even if SFU, WWU & MSUB all lost on Saturday. They are done.

Western Washington will be rooting for Fairbanks hard on Saturday and having to win their own game against spoiler, Concordia. Because if both MSUB and WWU win, MSUB has the tie breaker, so WWU appears to be needing some help to get into the tourney they are hosting. I know Fairbanks will give it their best on Saturday, but I don't see it...