The West Coast Conference women’s tournament begins at noon Thursday at Orleans Arena, with top-seeded Gonzaga beginning its run with a quarterfinal game Friday.
#VegasMadness
Handicapper Doug Fitz said he thinks the defeat to BYU will benefit Gonzaga, which is a minus-400 favorite at the Westgate to win the West Coast Conference tournament.
A look at the schedule and top matchups each day in early March when seven conference basketball tournaments are played at Orleans Arena, Thomas & Mack Center and T-Mobile Arena.
Gonzaga (29-1) was No. 1 in the nation prior to losing its first game of the season, an 79-71 upset by BYU on Saturday. The Bulldogs, who had been No. 1 for the last four polls, received two first-place votes.
How each of the seven conferences with tournaments in March are looking a month and a half before the action tips off in the city.
Forward Cameron Oliver’s decision to return after considering the NBA Draft was a big boost for UNR. The Wolf Pack were picked by the media to finish second in the Mountain West.
Fresno State finished second in the Mountain West last season and then won the conference tournament championship. Now the Bulldogs return three starters, but they lost their top two scorers.
The NCAA granted guard Gian Clavell an extra season of eligibility, giving Colorado State a key player heading into the basketball season. The Rams were picked by the media to finish seventh in the Mountain West.
As coach Dave Wojcik enters this season, his expectations are considerably higher than that of the media, which picked the Spartans to finish last in the Mountain West.
Consider: Since the 2012 season, Mountain West teams are a combined 304-330. But the telling part, the absolutely eye-opening and ridiculous part, comes against Power 5 schools, in which the conference is 17-81 over that time.
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said the league would be careful about expanding, disputing a Salt Lake Tribune report last week that the conference might add teams even if it doesn’t lose any to the Big 12.
College coaches are more likely to describe the increasingly popular 7-on-7 events as football’s version of the travel basketball circuit. A competitive, yet unregulated, environment that mostly serves to quench fans’ thirst for offseason recruiting news.
The Mountain West should play a 16-game conference schedule instead of 18 so as to allow for more nonleague opportunities against top 50 and top 100 teams. Teams need more chances to schedule the sort of meaningful games league play doesn’t allow.
Now, San Diego State will be relegated to watching on TV when the NCAA Tournament brackets are announced Sunday. Steve Fisher, the venerable Aztecs coach, didn’t sound too optimistic the Selection Show would end well for his guys. The team definitely is on the bubble.
Senior guard Marvelle Harris scored 18 points to help second-seeded Fresno State beat top-seeded San Diego State 68-63 in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.