Current Standings

[SGAstumpJ]

We've reached February, so for the first time in two years, it's time for me to remind everyone where we stand in the "conference tournament brackets if the season ended today" department. Remember, this year, the CCAA is doing a six-team tournament, while the PacWest is doing eight teams.

CCAA (at Humboldt State/Cal Poly Humboldt/Arcata, CA/for the love of God, don't inhale!)

BYEs: #1 CSU San Bernardino (16-1, 10-1), #2 CSU San Marcos (14-2, 10-2)

Quarterfinals: #3 Chico State (13-2, 9-2) vs. #6 San Francisco State (8-11, 5-7)
#4 CSU Monterey Bay (9-5, 8-3) vs. #5 CSU Dominguez Hills (9-8, 6-5)

GNAC (at St. Martin's, Lacey, WA)
BYEs: #1 St. Martin's (14-4, 7-2), #2 Western Washington (11-6, 4-3)

Quarterfinals: #3 Simon Fraser (9-6, 4-3) vs. #6 Seattle Pacific (12-8, 5-4)
#4 Montana St.-Billings (8-9, 4-3) vs. #5 Central Washington (11-5, 5-4)

Yeah, I have no idea what the tiebreaker situation is up there, I'm just listing the teams in the order they appear on the conference's standings page. If you know better, please let me know.

PacWest (at Fresno Pacific)

Quarterfinals:
#1 Azusa Pacific (10-6, 7-2) vs. #8 Chaminade (8-12, 6-8)
#2 Biola (16-4, 10-3) vs. #7 Academy of Art (10-10, 6-6)
#3 Fresno Pacific (13-4, 7-3) vs. #6 Hawai'i Hilo (10-8, 6-5)
#4 Point Loma (12-8, 8-4) vs. #5 Concordia (10-8, 7-5)

All standings subject to change, what with most of these teams still having half their conference schedules to play.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

GNAC tourney is all 10 teams now. It'll be chaos. https://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketba...championships/

[SGAstumpJ]

Brings back memories of watching the early rounds of the Big East tournament at the Garden from the early 90s. I remember being thrilled as a kid to get to see the first round/quarterfinals on local TV in south Jersey and wondering if Villanova could make a run (this was the Steve Lappas years, so there was almost no chance).

[tsull]

GNAC tourney is all 10 teams now. It'll be chaos. https://www.gnacsports.com/mbasketba...championships/

Totally against this idea. Don't reward bad teams. My WOU Wolves don't deserve any preseason after allowing most teams to win by 20 over them. Worst team in decades in Monmouth, I'm very disappointed after waiting a year for this. I've watched them online, bad effort, they refuse to play defense, prima donnas to the max, not sure how you get that attitude at D2, I thought they'd be humble. I like coach Pifer, but not sure what happened this year, what a disaster. After the last regular season game they should go home, regroup and plan for next year ... hopefully with a much different roster.

Really pulling for coach Pifer, good guy. I want good guys to win.

[Goods]

After a nailbiter in Bellingham just a short time ago where WWU beat CWU on a shot with less than a second to play, it wasn't even close in last night's rematch in Ellensburg. WWU had a double-digit lead for most of the game with short bursts by CWU to cut it to 7-9 points. Disappointed in the crowd. Where has this rivalry gone? Upper deck was opened and it was needed, but maybe 50 people up there. I know both of these teams are middle of the road GNAC teams. WWU is nothing like it's natty team a decade ago, same with CWU's 2011 team where if you didn't get there early you didn't get a seat. Happy to report that CWU Wildcat Nation was there. Real fans make the trip.

Interested to see how CWU vs UAF will play out in Ellensburg on Thursday. First time Coleman Sparling is back in a different uniform. And Fairbanks is hot right now.

[tsull]

After a nailbiter in Bellingham just a short time ago where WWU beat CWU on a shot with less than a second to play, it wasn't even close in last night's rematch in Ellensburg. WWU had a double-digit lead for most of the game with short bursts by CWU to cut it to 7-9 points. Disappointed in the crowd. Where has this rivalry gone? Upper deck was opened and it was needed, but maybe 50 people up there. I know both of these teams are middle of the road GNAC teams. WWU is nothing like it's natty team a decade ago, same with CWU's 2011 team where if you didn't get there early you didn't get a seat. Happy to report that CWU Wildcat Nation was there. Real fans make the trip.

Interested to see how CWU vs UAF will play out in Ellensburg on Thursday. First time Coleman Sparling is back in a different uniform. And Fairbanks is hot right now.

Covid has sucked the life out of college sports in the West. WSU is expecting 5K for No. 5 Arizona tomorrow, in the past that's a 10K game.

WWU-CWU rivalry isn't what it was in hoops, it sounds like. Hopefully that can be revived.

The GNAC just isn't good this year. I'd like to say parity but no, the teams just aren't that good. I can recall the superstars of the past -- Hommes, Omlid, Downs, Trevante Williams, Arms, Alley, Howard of MSU-B, Luke Chavez of St. Martin's ... I'm missing many more on other teams. I don't see anyone in the conference who resembles those guys. The league is in need of a serious talent influx.

[Anchorage]

[tsull]

Wonders never cease ... WOU won at WWU last night.

[Anchorage]

This discord between the GNAC seeding system and the ncaa seeding system is killing me. UAA currently 2nd in the GNAC seeding, with a very good shot at 1st if they can beat St Martins at home Saturday. But 17th in the west region and 6th of the GNAC teams in the RPI rankings.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

This discord between the GNAC seeding system and the ncaa seeding system is killing me. UAA currently 2nd in the GNAC seeding, with a very good shot at 1st if they can beat St Martins at home Saturday. But 17th in the west region and 6th of the GNAC teams in the RPI rankings.

GNAC tourney is based on league records/performance. NCAA rankings are based on an array of things, but notably where Anchorage doesn't do as well is in-region games in the preseason. SPU regularly plays the toughest teams in the region and sometimes, like this year, out of region too and they usually do it on the road. That means a lot of SOS points. Anchorage never does that; they prefer to play at home in preseason and attract fans to the AAC. Good for building fan base and community, but not good for regional SOS. It's always been that way. A while back, Fairbanks was doing great during the season and were very close to an at-large bid, but lost the tournament championship to WOU (2016, I think). I was livid, but it seemed to come down to the fact that Fairbanks didn't play anyone of significance in the preseason and they hosted the Alaska-Hawaii tourney that year, so they got less points for beating the Hawaii teams, because they did so at home. The system is far from perfect or good, but it is consistent (and SPU works it to a T).

UAA has as good of team as any other GNAC team this year; although I suspect the GNAC will not do great at regionals. It will be interesting to see what teams can play consistently to close the season and secure a spot at regionals.

[Anchorage]

Cameron Cranston owns UAA

[tsull]

Cameron Cranston owns UAA

That's bizarre to me, WOU has six wins this season, two against a solid UAA team and WOU rarely wins in Anchorage. Starting to wonder if the Wolves just underachieved most of the season.

[Anchorage]

That's bizarre to me, WOU has six wins this season, two against a solid UAA team and WOU rarely wins in Anchorage. Starting to wonder if the Wolves just underachieved most of the season.