Gonzaga rejoins AP Top 25
A smattering of women's basketball news today, starting with Gonzaga's return to the Top 25 and Bulldog star Courtney Vandersloot taking another step among the nation's elite, making the midseason Naismith cut (as did Tennessee senior Angie Bjorklund from U-Hi) and winning the local SWABS honor for female athletes.
For the rest, read on.
Charlie Creme's bracketology is updated on ESPN.com. As usual, there are three things we want to know in Spokane.
Who is projected to come to Spokane for the first two rounds at McCarthey Athletic Center? Gonzaga is projected as a No. 11 seed and to reach the Sweet 16 would have to be No. 6 Marquette and the winner of No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 14 Montana State.
What follows that? The winner would go to the Philadelphia Regional, where the could meet No. 1 seed UConn if they get past No. 2 Duke.
Who would be expected for the Spokane Regional at the Arena? Of course Stanford is going to be the No. 1. Two is a familiar one, Xavier, which has played Gonzaga in the last two NCAA Tournaments. No. 3 is Miami, this week's hottest team after beating North Carolina and Maryland last weekend. No. 4 is Georgetown. No other real intriguing teams in the 16 seeds, but hope LSU, listed at No. 9, doesn't get through. I've two two extremely ugly LSU games on TV this year, off-setting their nice win over UCLA,when they brought their offense to the west coast ... and apparently left it there.
That said, most of this is meaningless. In four bracket projects, Gonzaga has now been slotted into the Dallas regional twice, Dayton and Philadelphia but never Spokane. That's fine, but they were never slotted into Seattle last year. So take it all for what it is ... just like the polls, a talking point.
Don't look now but UConn is destroying another high-ranking hopeful, while Maya Moore set the Big East scoring record. That's on ESPN.com which has done a remarkable job with February Frenzy, which is centered a great cause, The Pink Zone. However, you've got to wonder how come there is no involvement of anybody in the West?
Can't blame ESPN's coverage, no West teams participated. Is that the league's or television? Does someone not think the exposure is worth it?
Update on Angie Bjorklund (U-Hi): don't know if she'll play in Tennessee's next game but she got the walking boot off her injured foot today.