GNAC tournament

[Goods]

Who do y'all got? Honestly, I think the winner of the potential second round matchup between Billings and host CWU (I know they have to get by SPU first) is the tournament winner. CWU is very difficult at home this year. Wildcats are 13-1 on the season in Ellensburg, the lone loss coming from Billings in early January after the Christmas/New Year break. I think the smart money is on the Yellowjackets, but I'm pulling for my Wildcats.

Thursday - #6 UAA vs. #3 St. Martins; #5 SPU vs. #4 CWU
Friday - UAA/SMU vs. #2 NNU; SPU/CWU vs. #1 MSUB
Sat - Championship round

For the women, I don't see anyone getting by MSUB, except maybe WWU who seems to be in the national playoff mix ever since I was a student at CWU in the mid 90s. I'm picking CWU women over Simon Fraser but see them getting knocked off by Billings in the second round. Anchorage over SPU on Thursday as well. Both UAA (to WWU) and CWU (to MSUB) losing out. Then I'll take WWU over MSUB in the final.

Thursday - #6 SPU vs. #3 UAA; #5 SFU vs. #4 CWU
Friday - SPU/UAA vs. #2 WWU; SFU/CWU vs. #1 MSUB
Sat - Championship round

[northernGNAChoopfan]

I think it's reasonable to guess that UAA may beat SMU on Thur. While SMU has the talent to beat UAA, UAA gets up to play when they need to, while SMU has not been able to figure out this piece of their frustrating puzzle thus far. I would agree that the MSUB semi-final game against CWU or SPU will be interesting, in seeing how they bounce back from losing to Anchorage, and if they can get their turnovers under control, and potentially deal with CWU on their home floor.

It will also be interesting to see who the coaches vote as POTY, as well as the other awards.

[Anchorage]

UAA pretty much snuck in to the tournament on a free role here with that come from behind victory on Saturday over Billings. So they pretty much don’t have much to lose at this point.

That said…I don’t know if you’ve paid attention to this but it is historically hard to beat a team 3 straight times. Assuming those teams are near the same level of ability. I would imagine that SMU is chomping at the bit for this game to start.

UAA has tried to offset the size advantage by starting both of their 6’7 guys of late, the downside to that is having a 30% 3 point shooter and a guy who doesn’t shoot on the floor together. Along with leaving the bench even smaller. But at least the rebounding has been a bit better. SMU though has waves of 6’6 through 6’9 guys.

UAA definitely isn’t going to catch them sleeping for this game which can happen in these opening round conference matchups. I suspect that this will be a game where SMUs size and athleticism really become a problem for UAA. The key here will be turnovers, if SMU keeps those low and prevents UAA from getting some easy buckets then the game becomes a lot more difficult for the Seawolves. Something Billings failed to do late Saturday that lead to the UAA comeback.

Ultimately I think UAA will keep it close but this is a game where their overall lack of size and lack of team shooting will really hurt them. If I was to bet, I’d say St Martins wins like 67 to 59.

As far as who wins overall? Give me Seattle Pacific. Number 1 team in FG% and FG% defense and second in 3pt % and first in makes. Rebounding and turnover margin has been an issue but anytime I can get long shot odds on the most efficient offensive team in the conference? I’m taking it. Not to mention they are coming in hot on a 4 game win streak. Obviously the home tourney team is less than ideal right off the bat but this is where a guy like Shaw Anderson leaves his mark. He is averaging 29 a game against CWU this season.

[tsull]

I remember the good ol' days when my alma mater went to the GNAC tourney, even won a couple in the last 10 years. Now we're in the cellar and our women's program is forfeiting games. It's amazing how quickly things change, though our women have struggled for 20 years if not more. Curious as to why no one at the school is held accountable for these failings.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Yikes, SMU loses 5 of their last 6 games, losing again to UAA. We will see if that knocks them out of the regional top 8. Meanwhile, nice win for CWU as both their teams next face MSU Billings

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Yikes, SMU loses 5 of their last 6 games, losing again to UAA. We will see if that knocks them out of the regional top 8. Meanwhile, nice win for CWU as both their teams next face MSU Billings

Yeah, I think the Saint's were ranked 6th in the region this week, so their odds of getting into the regionals dropped drastically tonight. Although, I realize it is hard for a team to sweep another 3 times in a season, I am not surprised as the Saint's have been on this downhill slide for a loooong time now and while Anchorage has not been consistent, they had won 4 of their last 5 going into today... I'm really interested to see how the CWU / MSUB game goes tomorrow as that *could* be more exciting than the championship game!

[Goods]

I'm thinking SMU is out. Regional #10 Cal State East Bay beat regional #5 Chico State last night. So Chico will fall as well, but might land on top of St. Martin's. If NNU and Academy of Art win tonight, it's over for St. Martin's.

[Goods]

Great wins for CWU women and men. Tall tasks ahead of them tonight.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

After briefly reviewing the box scores for both MSUB / CWU games from earlier in this season:

• In Billings last month, CWU kept it close, but lost; the standout statistic is "points off turnovers", where MSUB got a lot of points on them in that category, everything else was tight
• In Ellensburg in January, the game was not as close, but the Wildcats did not shoot well on their home floor

Not sure what that tells us, other than the fact that they'll need to be tight or better than Yellowjackets in most statistical areas to win tonight. Not sure who I'm rooting for, but if CWU wins, the GNAC may get 2 teams into regionals, because I also think the Saint's season is likely over, so I guess I'm for CWU, as the crowd will be better for Saturday night if the Wildcats are still in it.

[Goods]

You're not considering NNU? Of course in order for CWU to get in they need to beat NNU...........after beating MSUB. And based on what we've seen, not much success over MSUB this year.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

You're not considering NNU? Of course in order for CWU to get in they need to beat NNU...........after beating MSUB. And based on what we've seen, not much success over MSUB this year.

And you're not considering the Seawolves? Ha! What a game; the Seawolves nearly gave it away 3 different times down the stretch but just barely hang on. I rarely cheer for them, but they were playing really hard in this game, so it's great to see them playing their best ball when it matters the most.

[CWU Wildcat Nation]

Anchorage in the title game! Come on Central, I took the day off work tomorrow so I can go to Ellensburg! Don't let me down!

[Anchorage]

UAA finds a way.

guess my long shot pick of SPU didn’t pan out.

[Inkblot]

I just took a look at UAA's profile... I think they're legitimately the second-strongest at-large contender in the GNAC right now, even though they haven't been in any of the regional rankings.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Wow, what a finish to the MSUB and CWU game. The fans in Ellensburg had fun tonight! Wow. I've got no dog in the fight, but that was a fun night of watching basketball. Congrats Central and Anchorage. I will look forward to seeing if Anchorage can keep step with Central tomorrow night.