The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

[SGAstumpJ]

Well, no point in mincing words: CBU choked AGAIN. Two losses to Point Loma in the span of a week, and now they may have put the regional in jeopardy.

GNAC (St. Martin's, Lacey, WA)

Thursday:
#4 Saint Martin's 78 vs. #5 Concordia 73
#3 Western Oregon 72 vs. #6 Montana State-Billings 61

Friday:
#4 Saint Martin's 79 vs. #1 Western Washington 91
#3 Western Oregon 91 vs. #2 Alaska Anchorage 84 (3OT)

FINAL:
#3 Western Oregon 69 vs. #1 Western Washington 71
================================================== ===================================

CCAA (first round at higher seed, semis and final at Cal State-San Marcos)

Tuesday:
#8 Humboldt State 72 at #1 UC San Diego 78
#5 Cal State-Dominguez Hills 72 at #4 Chico State 75
#6 Cal Poly Pomona 56 at #3 Sonoma State 63
#7 Cal State Los Angeles 67 at #2 San Francisco State 93

Friday:
#4 Chico State 53 vs. #1 UC San Diego 65
#3 Sonoma State 55 vs. #2 San Francisco State 65

FINAL:
#1 UC San Diego 78 vs. #2 San Francisco State 63
================================================== ===================================

PacWest (Concordia-Irvine)

Thursday:
#6 Point Loma 71 vs. #3 Dixie State 69
#5 Azusa Pacific 65 vs. #4 Chaminade 69

Friday:
#6 Point Loma 72 vs. #2 Cal Baptist 69
#4 Chaminade 90 vs. #1 Hawai'i Pacific 96

FINAL:
#6 Point Loma 73 vs. #1 Hawai'i Pacific 82

[SGAstumpJ]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

While we're at it, here's the women's brackets:

GNAC

Thursday:
#6 Central Washington 58 vs. #3 Simon Fraser 57
#5 Seattle Pacific 71 vs. #4 Northwest Nazarene 60

Friday:
#6 Central Washington 61 vs. #2 Western Washington 73
#5 Seattle Pacific 68 vs. #1 Alaska-Anchorage 76

FINAL:
#2 Western Washington 70 vs. #1 Alaska-Anchorage 79
================================================== =========

CCAA

Tuesday:
#8 Sonoma State 46 at #1 UC San Diego 53
#5 Cal State Los Angeles 56 at #4 Stanislaus State 80
#6 Cal State-San Bernardino 49 at #3 Cal Poly Pomona 54
#7 Chico State 55 at #2 Cal State East Bay 68

Friday:
#4 Stanislaus State 67 vs. #1 UC San Diego 82
#3 Cal Poly Pomona 63 vs. #2 Cal State East Bay 75

FINAL:
#1 UC San Diego 53 vs. #2 Cal State East Bay 62
================================================== ==========

PacWest

Thursday:
#6 Dominican 56 vs. #3 Hawai'i Pacific 74
#5 Azusa Pacific 95 vs. #4 Notre Dame de Namur 60

Friday:
#3 Hawai'i Pacific 77 vs. #2 Point Loma 90
#5 Azusa Pacific 85 vs. #1 Cal Baptist 86

FINAL:
#2 Point Loma 72 vs. #1 Cal Baptist 80

[tsull]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Apparently Concordia is eligible or they wouldn't be in.

[Rob_AK]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Congratulations to Hawaii Pacific, who win the Pac West outright. And how often do we see a CCAA tourney without CSUSB, or a GNAC tourney without Seattle Pacific (never til this year). And as for Concordia, I understand rewarding a team that has succeeded during the year with a chance at the conference tourney title, but they could potentially screw up a second GNAC team in the tourney if they somehow make it to the finals - which considering they have won 4 in a row is possible. But they would have to get through both SMU at home and WWU to get to the finals. This may have been an omission in the conference bylaws instead of a conscious decision.

The UAA women did make it undefeated in D2 for the year(27-0), but it wasn't easy. SFU was up 10 in the third quarter, but UAA upped their defensive intensity and did what it took to get the win.

Here are my dark horse picks. Two aren't very daring - SMU in the GNAC (they are at home) and CPP in the CCAA. In the PacWest I think Chaminade could do it - they are athletic and if they shoot well they could beat anyone. But getting through APU, HPU and CBU (if CBU can beat the Pt. Loma Dixie winner) is a tough route.

[tsull]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

I see WWU winning it, just too much talent. SMU has been a popular pick all year, but I've watched them a few times on the internet and I'm not blown away. I think UAA, WWU, WOU, and Concordia, are much better teams than SMU, though they could prove me wrong.

NNU is the disappointment of the year. They have an extremely talented front line. I'd quit recruiting gunner foreign guards if I was them and find a play-making pass-first point guard.

[ctrabs74]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Apparently Concordia is eligible or they wouldn't be in.

Whether or not a team is eligible for a conference tournament, regardless of the status of their NCAA transition, is at the discretion of each conference. The GNAC appears to have taken the position that transitioning members can be eligible for conference postseason play, even if they're not eligible for NCAA postseason competition. That seems like a reasonable approach to me, though it does get a little dicey if a team like Concordia-Portland wins the GNAC title. I would think the runner-up would claim the automatic bid, if I'm not mistaken (but that too would probably depend on the conference as well).

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

I see WWU winning it, just too much talent. SMU has been a popular pick all year, but I've watched them a few times on the internet and I'm not blown away. I think UAA, WWU, WOU, and Concordia, are much better teams than SMU, though they could prove me wrong.

NNU is the disappointment of the year. They have an extremely talented front line. I'd quit recruiting gunner foreign guards if I was them and find a play-making pass-first point guard.

I don't know that SMU has been a "popular" pick all year... I think a few of us have noticed that their new coach is doing good things, they have depth and a lot of pretty decent players. Ironically, I find them similar to a lot of WOU's players that graduated last year (Wiley, Alexander types). They play team basketball, they execute pretty well and if they are lacking in something it's that they do not have an Agvi (or was it Avgi) or an Omlid. No superstars, but a lot of good shooters and passers, but not "high flyers" as you like to call them. Their PG, Preston leads the GNAC in assists and it isn't close between him and the next guy. Yes, they don't usually blow anybody away (accept for MSUB by like 48), but I think they've earned some respect conference-wide that SMU did not have for a number of years prior. Statistically they shoot the ball second best in the league, from the field and from 3, they've got the 3rd best scoring defense... They deserve their spot. Being at home could prove to be helpful. They swept Concordia this year, but Concordia's came on strong as of late, and I'd guess that's going to be a good game.

I also would argue that NNU has not been a disappointment. They were right in the middle of the logjam in the GNAC, and for them, that's a huge step forward too. They took a nice shot at the buzzer last night that bounced around on the rim forever before falling out and that was the difference between them going to Lacey this week and not... Or at least it was the difference for them getting into OT with Fairbanks. They looked really solid and talented. Their big guys got shut down up here on their last night, but that is historically what Durham's teams are really good at... No matter how little the Nooks are, they play really good defense in the post and they produce a lot of points in the paint themselves. Now we just need to be able to score the ball elsewhere too (a few shooters would be good!). NNU has nothing to hang their heads about. Last nights game was not beautiful for either team, but tactically the Nooks got them in the paint. And I just saw on VC that NNU has offered a local Boise kid... So perhaps they would really like to build on this with some Idaho players (I'm sure they'd love to, but it's a matter of winning the hearts and minds of locals as a place to go to school and play, which is inherently a complex task).

Okay. Just wanted to play Devil's Advocate for a moment...

[tsull]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

I don't know that SMU has been a "popular" pick all year...

I also would argue that NNU has not been a disappointment.

Lv2hoop picked SMU to win the regular season title as did others, most of last summer a few people picked them to with the tourney. Right after last season many picked them to win both the tourney and the regular season. They're a solid team, but I wouldn't have picked them to win either the tourney or the regular season title. Just recently they were picked to win the tourney. A very popular pick.

NNU was clearly a disappiontment. I watched them a few times this year, they often led games and they find ways to lose. The state of Idaho doesn't have enough prep talent -- it's actually not every good -- to help them. The coach got a late start two years ago and mentioned in the Nampa paper that he has a lot of foreign connections so he went that route. He hopes to balance it out more in the next few years. I agree with him and I think he knows what he's doing.

But NNU has some excellent front-court talent. Since I've been watching them they've had very selfish guards, who have no sense of the shot clock let alone how much time is left in the game, when to take the 3 and when not to. They'll knock a three down and think they should keep jacking them all game (like a lot of WOU's new guards this year). They need to go out and get a guy like WOU's Nichols last year, a JC guard with modest JC stats because he was a pass-first point guard. These foreign jack-a-3 guards aren't working for them.

[Rob_AK]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Don't remember anyone picking SMU to win the conference. In the one post I could find lv2hoop stated that the coaches (who picked them no.8) had them far too low. CWU fanatic picked them 7. I put them possibly in the conf tourney but as a lower seed. But the archives only go back to the beginning of this season.

I did find where you picked CWU to win the conference, lol. Don't feel too bad, I had them 2nd. All in all, this was a hard year to predict - I mean Concordia went from 10th to 5th in the conference standings in two weeks. I really don't see MSUB or CU winning the tourney, but think all the other teams have the horses to do so (watch MSUB or CU make a liar of me).

A little conf. tourney history for you. UAA and WWU are the only teams that have made the tourney every year (7 times) since inception. And WWU or UAA have made the championship game in 5 of those years between them (WWU 3, UAA 2), but have never won it. WOU and SPU have made it 6 times each, with SPU winning the tourney championship 3 times in 3 chances and WOU winning once in its only opportunity.

[tsull]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Don't remember anyone picking SMU to win the conference. In the one post I could find lv2hoop stated that the coaches (who picked them no.8) had them far too low. CWU fanatic picked them 7. I put them possibly in the conf tourney but as a lower seed. But the archives only go back to the beginning of this season.

I did find where you picked CWU to win the conference, lol. Don't feel too bad, I had them 2nd. All in all, this was a hard year to predict - I mean Concordia went from 10th to 5th in the conference standings in two weeks. I really don't see MSUB or CU winning the tourney, but think all the other teams have the horses to do so (watch MSUB or CU make a liar of me).

A little conf. tourney history for you. UAA and WWU are the only teams that have made the tourney every year (7 times) since inception. And WWU or UAA have made the championship game in 5 of those years between them (WWU 3, UAA 2), but have never won it. WOU and SPU have made it 6 times each, with SPU winning the tourney championship 3 times in 3 chances and WOU winning once in its only opportunity.

I picked UAA to win it before the season and foolishly picked CWU after a couple early games. I should've stuck with UAA, especially after watching CWU's selfish guards shoot and brick 30-footers all night vs. WOU in Ellensburg ... and then quit playing defense entirely. But the crowd sure liked those dunks when they were down by 20. That team was painful to watch ... as you can tell, I'm not into selfish basketball.

SMU has had a nice year; I don't see them winning the conference tourney. While I'm not a WWU fan (obviously), what I saw at NNU was a lot of WWU talent and a team that plays well together. Their point guard is unreal. I could see UAA toppling them in the right scenario, i.e., Wiggs gets hot, Svejcar plays well, etc.

[Rob_AK]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Odds are certainly in WWU's favor. CU might actually match up against them better than SMU from what I can remember about those two teams. I also think UAA matches up pretty well with them. UAA's defensive scheme against them in Anchorage was pretty effective. They chased the WWU guards off the three point line and let Devine and Hammell defend the lane when they tried to go inside. UAA's issue is offense on the road - they generally have not shot well as a team other than at the Alaska Airlines Center this year. Their defense (and rebounding) has kept them in games this last half of the year (with the exception of the WOU game). If Wiggs, Svejcar and Mitchell shoot their average for the season in these games, then UAA will have the opportunity to win (and if they can stay out of foul trouble - an issue for Devine and occasionally Svejcar). Given that it just takes a team getting hot from 3 to get the upset, I do not think I would say any team has a greater than 50/50 chance to win this thing. That is the great thing about college basketball.

[lv2hoop]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Yes I was high on St. Martin's. I thought they returned the most talent but they were out recruited by WWU in the off-season and then UAA got Devine as a transfer. I think Baerlocher getting hurt also hurt them during the middle part of the year.....he's a big part of their rotation.

They're a much better team in 2 seasons since they changed coaches though. But overall they went 16-12 and 10-10 in the GNAC, so they only under performed by a bit off what I thought they might do.

[CCAA_Fanatic]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

CCAA opening round games tonight! Always an exciting day. Last year, #1 Chico lost to #8 LA. No games can be taken for granted.

#8 Humboldt State at #1 UC San Diego - San Diego won both during the year (by 6 & 14). My money is on them making it three with an easy win, 85-71.

#5 Cal State-Dominguez Hills at #4 Chico State - Chico won only meeting 77-70 at home. DH playing well. They feel similar to the LA team that beat Chico last year, but Clink won't let that happen again. I have Chico in a close one, 67-61.

#6 Cal Poly Pomona at #3 Sonoma State - These two split their meetings, both winning close games at home. Pomona won just last Saturday. Sonoma has been struggling against athletic teams lately. I'm going to go with Pomona in a nail-biter, 56-54.

#7 Cal State Los Angeles at #2 San Francisco State - SF won both match-ups easily this year (by 19 & 20). LA can really fill it up sometimes, though. I'll take the Gators by a moderate 88-79.

Fun day in the CCAA at the home venues. It will make tsull happy that each game will probably have a great crowd!

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

Will Chico be streaming their home game for free as per usual in the regular season for them? How bout UCSD, SSU, or SFSU streams?

[Rob_AK]

Re: The Unofficial Official West Region Conference Tourney Thread

If the line on the CSULA - SF State is 167 points, I'll take the under. Haven't paid that much attention this year but that would be a lot of points for the CCAA.