Count down to women’s NCAA show
Time will drag for most of the day, awaiting the Selection Show for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at 4 p.m. on ESPN.
There are two items of local interest because Spokane is the first city the NCAA ever award first weekend games (at McCarthey Athletic Center Saturday-Monday) and a regional (at the Arena the next Saturday-Monday).
I'll tweet the information as fast as my hands can type at twitter.com/SRtrim.
Gonzaga is in the field and at home, but who is filling out the pod? Gonzaga being in the field doesn't mean being slotted into the Spokane Regional, so how does it shape up?
We have some thoughts, read on.
1, Where will Gonzaga be seeded? Just guesstimating, of course but probably a 10, maybe a 7; but a 6-11 is possible. The only differences between a 10/11 or 6/7 are bragging rights and quality of first round opponent. After that the Zags have to face a 2 or 3 seed. Some of those are hosting, so that limits the pool. I see the highest seed coming as UCLA as a 2, maybe a 3. I think Gonzaga is deserving of a 7 (like last year) but either way expect them to play a middle of a BCS league, Big East, SEC, Big 12.
2, Who would be the fourth team: Geography and seeding, it would be a 14 or 15 seed, which could mean Montana or UC Davis. The Griz hav a following plus Katie Baker (Lake City), UC Davis has Heidi Heintz (Central Valley).
3, What are the odds of Gonzaga's pod being in the Spokane Regional? Not sure, but less if UCLA comes here as a 2. You can bet the house Stanford is the No. 1 seed in the Spokane regional. Don't forget, no matter where Gonzaga is seeded it's going to take at least one on-paper upset if not 2, to make the Sweet 16
4, What will the rest of the Spokane Regional look like? That's anybody's guess and we could break it down but it would take just one surprise from the NCAA to throw all that work out the window. I'll go with the ESPN bracketology for one reason ... the No. 2 seed is Xavier and No. 4 is Green Bay, that's two mid-majors and they always make for good copy. We've seen X the last two tournaments and they are legit big-time. Green Bay has an assistant coach by the name of Mike Divilbiss, former Idaho coach and father of NIC player. ... There's another story.
5, Any other story lines of interest? After Fresno State upset La Tech, which is hosting, the WAC should get two teams in, which is good for Idaho. The Pac 10 is the weakest of the six BCS leagues and will be get lucky to get three in but could get four since the two Arizona schools are sort of equal.
Just repeating a couple of links in case you missed them on stories from the best week on Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga's record breaking point guard; Angie Bjorklund, the local player whose dreams were exceeded at Tennessee; and Yinka Olorunnife, Idaho's record-breaking rebound who made the all-WAC tournament team.