Many teams we played have made their conference tourneys - Utah st, wash st, Oregon , duscayne , New Mexico and Yale . Good scheduling this year
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If you want a surrogate team, the Colorado Buffaloes feature two SCU player’s siblings:
Cody Williams, Jalen’s brother
Julian Hammond, Christian’s brother
And you can spy assistant coach Bill Grier, former coach of USD, on the sideline.
Should be in, but a win tonight removes all doubt.
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" Good scheduling this year" … meh
SCU’s SOS was rated #133 by RPI. Not that their metrics are the be all end all, but that just suggests mediocre scheduling. Also, that’s with 5 games against Gonzaga/SMC. Strip those from the schedule and it would likely be in the #200’s
You’re correct in the bump that Smc and gonz effectively provide in our SOS.
But our non conf SOS was rated #63 overall. These are the games we actually control getting scheduled, not elite, but definitely not terrible.
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For the record, all teams in the Pac-12, Mountain West and A-10 make their conference tourney. I believe the Ivy limits to the top 4.
In the 15 team A-10, Duquesne finished 6th. They upset Dayton in the quarterfinal round and the #1 and 2 seeds also lost in the quarterfinal clearing the path for Duquesne. They play VCU in the tourney final tomorrow.
In the Mountain West, Utah St. lost in the semis to SDSU but should be safely in the NCAA’s. New Mexico was supposedly on the bubble but just beat SDSU in their final to lock in their bid. SJSU tanked…won only 2 games after beating us, finished last in the MWC and got bounced in the first round…same old SJSU.
Pac-12 tourney…Cal lost to Stanford in the 1st round, Stanford then lost to WSU in quarterfinals and Haase was promptly fired. WSU lost in the semis to Colorado. Oregon upset Arizona in the other semi and plays Colo tonight in the final. Some are showing Oregon on the bubble so they may need to win to be safely in the NCAA’s.
Yale advances to the finals and lucked out when Brown upset top seed Princeton on the other side of the bracket. Yale now has a great chance for a NCAA birth.
None of the other really bad teams on the non-con made any noise in their league or tournaments (Utah Tech, St. Francis, Miss Valley State, SE Louisiana).
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The schedule was not the problem this year. We picked up three, maybe four wins over NCAA tourney teams. Oregon, Wazzu, Gonzaga and maybe Duquesne. Should have had Utah St & Yale.
The schedule was what it needed to be.
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Yep. 9 Q1 opportunities. 6 more in Q2. That’s a good schedule. If the WCC had been closer to par at the bottom, away games at the likes of LMU or USD might have been Q2 wins.
What SCU controlled scheduling-wise was excellent. The play didn’t match what was needed.
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The schedule was fine. I would drop Mississippi Valley State who is consistently the worse team in NCAA basketball. Three years running or more. The losses to SJS and two point loss to Utah State and one point loss to USF hurt as did the losses to USD, Portland and Cal. Cal did improve as the year went on. I hope the players return for next year and we get a point guard so Bal can be the shooting guard. Need to work on limiting turnovers, handling the press, developing a press, and getting more physical so SMC does not push us around.
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One way or another, eight of the Bronco opponents made the NCAA Tournament. Basically, every decent team that SCU played in the OOC found its way in, including Oregon, New Mexico, Yale, and Duquesne.
Unsurprisingly, both the Zags and SMC made it. But both as 5 seeds is quite a shock.
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Since they are seeded so high - you’d think that would’ve made a difference in Broncos own ranking.
#11 Duquesne over #6 BYU.
Am I a bad person for enjoying seeing BYU get bounced in the first round???
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No it does not make you a bad person, just a normal WCC fan. I can hear the crying from Provo from here. They never won the WCC but felt they were too good for the rest of us.
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Sweet to see BYU lose 2 on the day. One to a team we beat earlier in the year, and the second at the hands of the Broncos in Leavey. I might just enjoy an adult beverage in celebration tonight!
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Teams the Broncos beat had a good first day in the tournament. WSU, GU, OR and the Dukes all winners. If they all advance to the Sweet 16, it will be truly unprecedented.
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Pretty much all of SCU’s opponents are having success, including a huge upset by Yale over 4-seeded Auburn. Well, all except SMC who is getting worked and looks like a completely different team.
Gaels are in big, big trouble.
Mahaney Slumping.
Well, the Grand Canyon shareholders must be pleased. I wish them good dividends…er…“grades” this quarter.
Probably the worst game SMC has played since December, though GC may have had a lot to do with that. It seems like the Gaels struggle in the tournament to a much greater degree than the Zags. Both plow through the league and the WCC tournament year after year, yet SMC frequently takes a quick exit while the Zags almost never lose in the first round.
Ever notice how SMC frequently has an unimpressive preconference performance, only to cruise through the WCC, then bow out early in the tourney?
Maybe Bennett out-coaches the teams he’s familiar with but struggles with good teams he doesn’t know well.
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GCU was stronger and faster at every position. Their defense got through most all the SMC usually solid ball screens. Their 6’7 bigs played like 6’10 rim protectors. Amazing talent.
GCU is well funded, has invested in top level facilities, has plenty of NIL money and can get any player 2.0 or better.
Don’t think they’re going away soon, in fact in two years maybe to the WCC…
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To make a long story short, SMC teams are usually the epitome of “hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard”. The second they run into a more talented team that isn’t affected by their physicality, they’re screwed. Gonzaga on the other hand doesn’t have that problem since they recruit better.
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