Starting a thread for NCAA Tourney Chatter.
We may all be bummed by the NIT game loss but we probably don’t feel as bad as Arizona and Virginia fans…
SMC currently in a 19-16 slugfest w/ VCU with 6mins left in the 1st half. Mahaney yet to score.
GU - GCU tips at 4:35, GU favored by 16.
30 years ago Arizona also went down to a 15 seed 
Nash was giving praise to his fellow 15 seed on instagram.
Don’t know who the female tv analyst is for the SMC - VCU game, but she is really good.
Agree, voice sounds familiar, must have watched games she worked in the past. Been watching off/on and haven’t caught her name but might be Debbie Antonelli.
List of NCAA March Madness commentary crews for CBS/Warner Bros. Discovery - Wikipedia
SMC had two half court violations vs the press. Hello Herb?? Press and play zone sometimes!!
One can dream.
7 seasons in and we’ve played zone about two dozen possessions. And more or less not at all past few years.
And more or less have only pressed in the last few minutes of a game and down by 5+.
Same thing they’re saying about Purdue. “Why didnt they go zone? Answer: Not part of their system and they never practice it.” Matt Painter, another tunnel thinking coach, who can’t think out of the box or on the fly in the heat of the battle. Second guessing on what they should do. Sound familiar???
Bucky you must be in my head. Only reason Purdue lost is because Painter is a stubborn turd who thinks the game is played one way. What a moron. They play zone and they win by 20. Coaches who can’t adjust deserve to be embarrassed by those who can.
Some former WCC player connections in the NCAA tourney:
Former USF guard Souly Boum is on the Xavier squad playing now. Leads them in scoring and assists, shooting 41% from 3. 6th year guy, spent 3 seasons plus a redshirt year at UTEP.
Former USD guard Joey Calcaterra landed at UConn, has been coming off the bench playing ~15mins/game. Avg. 6pts/game and 45% shooting from 3. UConn plays SMC this afternoon.
Former USD guard Finn Sullivan is a starting guard for Vermont, was 2nd leading scorer for them on the season…lost to Marquette Friday.
Former Portland guard Marcus Shaver was the starting point guard for Boise St. - bounced by Northwestern Thursday.
Former Pacific guard Ajare Sanni was in the rotation for the UCSB squad knocked out by Baylor.
And…well known, Oumar Ballo followed Coach Lloyd to Arizona.
There may be others.
Another example of the impact of transfers…lots connections and 2 degrees of separation.
How is it that both SMC and Gonzaga were placed in the Western Region? I thought that normally the committee tries to spread out teams from the same conference into different regions.
SMC always sent across country to play first round - that’s BS
I think no school can play a conf opponent in the first weekend. Other than that it’s fair game.
Agree and for being a 5 seed they have probably one of the smallest alumni reaches in the tourney.
I always wonder how well we would travel if we make a tourney.
Caleb Lohner, BYU ==> Baylor
Austin Sacks, Santa Clara ==> Baylor (Walk-on)
Yep, good pull, i figured there were a few others.
If we’re counting walk-ons, there’s a former GU walk-on at Arizona, Mathew Lang.
Watching the NCAA tourney and seeing what the best coaches do only cements my view that the coaching gap between Sendek and the best in the business is rather wide. The best look at change as a way to gain an advantage. The worst are deathly afraid of it.
Unfortunately Renee will stick with the status quo, the safe bet. 7 years of mediocrity!!! Shaka Smart has turned
Marquette’s program around in 2 years. Jerome Tang has turned Kansas State program around in one year. We’re at 7 years, and no real turnaround to a ncaaa berth, just a mild improvement. Nothing Earth shaking for $1.2+mil a year, nearly $10 million over 7 years.
No risk no reward!!!
Call me crazy but two straight years to the NIT is not what I would call mediocrity. As to Marquette and Kansas State comparisons there really is not one. Both schools routinely go to the NCAA’s and draw thousands to their games. Not so for SCU that hasn’t been to the NCAA’s s since Nash and had an 0-16 league record under the prior coach. While I too would like to see us mix it more on D with occasional use of zone and full court press when necessary, but over all I think the program is headed in the right direction. The loss to Sam Houston was frustrating. And a sad way to close the year. If Podz comes back we should be very good. If he gets drafted that should improve our recruiting efforts as we would have two draftees in back to back years. I do hope that Bronco basketball can return to the glory we had in the 70’s when I was a student. We drew large crowds and had a good team year after year. With the current expanded field we would have had a few more NCAA appearances then. I sense frustration and have it myself when I realize where we could be. Blaming it on Herb is not fair in my opinion. Go Broncos!
Sorry but two one and dones in the NIT is Herb’s fault
For perspective only 4/10ths of the conference has made the tourney in the last 15 years. That’s how hard it is to get the job done.
I don’t get the sendek hate, but oh well