Let the Madness Begin
Las Vegas has its very own championship week with two conference hosting their postseason basketball tournaments in town for the second straight year.
The West Coast Conference kicks things off with first round play on both the men’s and women’s sides today at the Orleans Arena.
The WCC rewards regular season success more than most leagues, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the semifinals. The third and fourth-seeded teams have byes into the second round, leaving just the bottom four teams in the standings on each side in action today.
Tonight’s action on the men’s side begins with No. 5 Loyola Marymount taking on last-place Pepperdine. No. 6 San Diego takes on seventh-seeded Santa Clara in the nightcap.
Loyola Marymount is the best team in action tonight, finishing four games ahead of a three-way tie for last place between the other three teams playing on the first day.
It is a good way to start four days of action at the Orleans that leads almost directly into next week’s Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Next year, it becomes three tournaments when the Western Athletic Conference brings its championships here to the Orleans.
Can the Big West and Pac 10 really be far behind?
Gonzaga Invitational
Everyone with even a passing interest in college basketball knows how dominant the Gonzaga men’s team has been in the West Coast Conference.
This year saw the Bulldogs lose a pair of games, but they are still a heavy favorite to win this event.
The women’s team may be an even bigger lock.
The Lady Bulldogs cruised through the league with a 14-0 mark and boast both the player of the year Courtney Vandersloot, but also the newcomer of the year in Katelan Redmon.
The women lead the conference in both points per game and fewest points allowed per game.
Keep it down, fellas
College basketball fans are notorious for being loud and somewhat mean-spirited in their chants and taunts during games.
But players typically don’t hear much of what is being said in loud arenas.
At the two women’s games this afternoon, the sparse crowd enabled the players to hear just about everything, and most of it was not very nice.
Several lines drew chuckles from players on the court and hearty laughs from the other 200 or so people in attendance.
It really doesn’t seem necessary when the women are playing and the arena is quiet, but I guess that’s equality.
Early excitement
Santa Clara upset San Diego in the first women’s game of the day, getting a basket in the closing seconds to pull out a 68-67 victory.
It was just the third victory of the year for the Broncos.
Lena Gipson had 21 points in the win.
The same two teams meet on the men’s side of the bracket tonight.
