A Grip on Sports: The WCC does everything it can to inoculate its tournament against March Madness’ most-costly disease – upsets – but the bug struck the men anyway
A GRIP ON SPORTS • If March is supposed to be mad, as in King George not George Kirby, then someone forgot to tell the West Coast Conference. At least north of the beaches of Malibu.
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• The WCC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are finally in full swing, at least as much as they can be with all the byes built in.
Monday’s four semifinal games feature seven of the conference’s top eight seeds. Only the fourth-seeded Santa Clara’s men failed to make the semi party. The Broncos became ninth-seeded Pepperdine’s third victim in three nights on Sunday, falling 78-76 to the tsunami that is Moe Odum and the Waves this week.
Which is precisely the point.
The conference gives its top two seeds on both sides of the gender line byes into the semifinals because it doesn’t want bid stealers. Mainly because most years any regular season champion not named “Gonzaga” has little chance to earn an at-large bid.
That might still be true this season.
It’s a given for the women. The WCC is a one-bid league in 2025. There is no chance Portland or Gonzaga – co-champions of the regular season – will make the NCAA tourney as an at-large team. Their record and metrics aren’t good enough. Whatever team emerges Tuesday from the final four – the two Pac-12 imports, Washington State and Oregon State fill out the semifinal group – will carry the WCC’s banner alone.
The men?
What if Pepperdine continues its hot streak and sends champion Saint Mary’s home tonight? Would the 26-4 Gaels be in any danger after what would be a Quad 4 loss?
Sorry for those of you who love chaos – and hate Matthew Dellavedova’s alma mater – but nope. They could drop a seed or two, making it harder to advance, but they’ll still be dancing. Their NET ranking is high enough (19), their overall record in tough games good enough (10-4 in Quad 1 and 2 contests). The Gaels are in.
Gonzaga? What if USF, without all-conference guard Marcus Williams, do to them what it did to Washington State last night, find a way to wrestle away a win?
Other than giving the Zags’ faithful heartburn, and their 23-8 team a third Quad 2 defeat, Gonzaga will still show up somewhere on Selection Sunday. And not just on the list of notable schools left out.
A season of only close losses allows GU to debut in the conference tournament with unassailable metrics. And helps ensure the WCC will have at least two men’s teams playing for a share of the NCAA Tournament’s all-important financial windfall.
• If there is an epitaph written for the Cougar men’s basketball season, all it has to be is two words: If only.
If only they had stayed healthy. If only they had handled the ball better. If only they had rebounded better. If only …
OK, sure. Many 19-14 college teams throughout history could say the same thing. But the Cougars spent nearly half-a-year building an unassailable case for being considered this close to an NCAA squad.
And that showed a few times Sunday night as they pulled this close to third-seeded USF in the second half. And never got over the hump.
Funny, all of their if onlys came into play.
Starting forward Dane Erikstrup was injured in the first half, taking a big body off the court on a night when Washington State needed it most. The Cougars just couldn’t keep San Francisco off the offensive glass, with the Dons parlaying their 21 offensive rebounds – yes, 21 – into 21 second-chance points.
And the season’s biggest flaw, valuing the basketball, showed up once more. Thirteen turnovers. Eighteen USF points from them.
Add it all up and it was the Dons that moved on to face Gonzaga tonight (8:30, ESPN2) after their 86-75 victory.
And David Riley’s first WSU squad once again had to face a handful of if onlys.
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WSU: Not only did Greg Woods stay up late writing a game story about the USF loss, he also put together a look ahead, peering into a crystal ball about Washington State’s future. … Dave Boling watched up close and has his thoughts about the defeat and how the Cougars somehow found a way to stay close. … Tyler Tjomsland was on the Orleans Arena sidelines and has this photo gallery. … The third-seeded women moved into today’s showdown with Portland on the strength of Astera Tuhina’s 18-point, six-assist performance in their 73-62 win over Pacific. Greg Lee was there and has this game story. Tyler returns with another photo gallery. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner picks every game in this week’s Big 12 men’s tournament. His runner-up is interesting, though he has Houston winning. … The Cougars will be a top seed too, joining Auburn, Duke and who knows. The overall No. 1 is still debated as well. … Wayne Tinkle will be back as Oregon State’s coach. John Canzano asked athletic director Scott Barnes point blank and got a definitive answer. … Washington’s season is over. The Huskies lost to Oregon in overtime yesterday and did not make the Big Ten tournament. The Ducks will face Indiana. … Utah plays in an iconic building. And one in need of a remodel. … Despite the record, USC’s season, Eric Musselman’s first, was a success. … Colorado faces one of the few teams it defeated in Big 12 opener. … San Diego State’s win over Nevada was important. … Among the women, UCLA finally figured out USC, winning the Big Ten tournament title Sunday and earning a No. 1 seed into the NCAAs. Where will the Trojans be seeded? … Is Arizona’s Adia Barnes’ salary what it should be? … Who will Arizona State hire to lead its program? … In football news, Oregon is about to begin spring practice. We can pass along position previews covering quarterback and running back. … Arizona State’s athletic department received more than $50 million from the school to balance its books during the final Pac-12 season.
Gonzaga: Now that the Zags know who they will be playing tonight – USF – nothing has changed. The song remains the same. Win another WCC tournament title and earn a higher seed come Sunday. Theo Lawson spells it out in this game preview. … Greg Lee returns with a preview of the women’s semifinal. They’ll be facing Oregon State, a 61-59 last-second winner over USF and holder of an overtime victory against the Zags early in the conference season. The GU win in Corvallis also went overtime, so there is little to believe today’s matchup (noon, ESPN+) won’t be close. … We have a couple more stories about the Beavers’ Sunday win to pass along and we do it here. One of them is a Canzano column. We linked his one on Wayne Tinkle above.
Idaho: Both Idaho teams play today, with the women facing Montana at 1:30 p.m. and the men Portland State at 7:30. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the top seeds all won yesterday, with Montana’s men handling Northern Arizona 74-65, Northern Colorado topping Weber State 76-52 and the Montana State women breezing past Northern Colorado 92-60. … The Northern Arizona women barely edged eighth-seed Sacramento State 69-65.
Seahawks: It was tempting to spend this morning’s column space on DK Metcalf’s trade to Pittsburgh. The Hawks received a second-round pick in this year’s draft and swapped a sixth for the Steelers’ seventh. Seattle now has five of the first 92 picks of this year’s draft and 10 overall. But they also do not have a quarterback – there are reports of their interest in free agent Sam Darnold and that they are going to kick the tires on Aaron Rodgers to see if there is any tread left – and no longer have Metcalf or Tyler Lockett (cut for cap space) to catch passes from whomever they hire at QB. … They do have a bunch of cap space and used some of it yesterday to re-sign linebacker Ernest Jones IV and defensive tackle Jarren Reed to three-year deals. If you didn’t know Mike Macdonald is a defensive-oriented coach, you sure do now. … By the way, where will they spend their money in free agency, besides a quarterback? … Are they tanking? Probably not but who knows for sure? … All we know is Metcalf is the Steelers’ $150-million problem now. And their savior. In whatever order you deem appropriate. I listed them the way I did deliberately.
Kraken: The Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin is already the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history, even if he is still eight behind Wayne Gretzky in all-time goals. It’s a lot harder to score now then it was in Gretzky’s days. Ovechkin inched closer Sunday in the Caps’ 4-2 home victory over Seattle. … We wrote this yesterday. “Seattle has a little while yet. But the hockey team better be better, and more relevant, before the NBA decides to put an expansion franchise in the same arena.” The Matt Calkins’ column ran in the S-R today.
Mariners: Three home runs against the Rockies? That’s never happened before, has it? Anyhow, the M’s hit them and won yesterday. … The youngsters Colt Emerson and Harry Ford have been displaying big pop in their bats. It’s something Seattle expects to see for a while.
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• Like you (probably), I’m not sure where the Seahawks are headed. All I know is they will have a new quarterback, a new-look receiving corps and many of the same faces on defense. They also better have an improved offensive line or none of the other stuff will matter. The stretch between now and April 26, when the draft concludes, should be interesting, to say the least. Or future-of-the-franchise-shaping to say the most. Until later …