Jan 26th, 2010
Today is Rhetorical Tuesday, where we ask five rhetorical questions involving West Coast college basketball. And away we go, knowing no answer is required or requested:
Cornell trailed Syracuse by just five points in the second half at the Carrier Dome -- Photo by the Post Standard
How have we reached the point where the Ivy League might get more teams in the NCAA Tournament than the Pac-10?
Bashing the Pac-10 is getting old, but the fact is, the Pac-10 tournament champion might be the only conference team to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Pac-10 has to hope someone other Cal wins the Pac-10 tournament, because, at the moment, the Bears are the only Pac-10 team with a chance to earn an at-large berth. The Ivy League has two teams that have a chance of earning an at-large berth. Cornell is 16-3 with an RPI ranking of 40, with road wins against Alabama and St. John’s, and its only losses came against Seton Hall, Syracuse and Kansas, the latter on the road by just five points. But the Big Red may have trouble winning the Ivy League title over Harvard, which is 13-3 with wins over William & Mary and Boston College and losses to Army, Georgetown and Connecticut, all on the road and the latter by six points.
Why does St. Mary’s have to beat Gonzaga to get into the NCAA Tournament?
Two years ago, the Gaels went 25-6 in the regular season and lost in the semifinals of the WCC tournament, but got an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Gaels were 26-6 in the regular season and got to the finals of the WCC tournament, but did not get in. The difference was that St. Mary’s beat Gonzaga once in 2008 but lost all three meetings with the Bulldogs last season. This season, the Gaels have a 17-3 record and an RPI ranking of 37, which looks good enough at the moment to get an at-large NCAA bid. However, the Gaels have no good wins to impress the selection committee. A road victory over Portland next month would help, but if the Gaels get hammered by Gonzaga in Spokane and again in Las Vegas in the WCC tournament, it could get tense.
Why is BYU ranked only No. 14?
The Cougars are 20-1, including a 30-point win over Arizona at McKale Center and a road victory over San Diego State on Saturday. The road loss to Utah State looks bad, but if the Cougars beat New Mexico in Albuquerque on Wednesday, that will suggest they are the best team in the West, whatever that’s worth. The Cougars are hitting 50.7 percent of their shots overall (fourth-best in the country), 41.6 percent of their three-pointers (sixth in the country) and 77.6 percent of their foul shots (first). But nobody east of the Rockies will care if they lose to New Mexico.
How can an unknown like UCLA’s Mustafa Abdul-Hamid be responsible for saving a season?
Abdul-Hamid had never heard of Ben Howland before tagging along with a buddy to attend a UCLA summer camp before his senior year of high school in St. Louis, but ended up turning down offers from Harvard and the University of Chicago to walk-on at UCLA. He played only garbage-time minutes his first two seasons, then earned a scholarship, but missed virtually all of last season with a wrist injury. He had played in only one of the five Pac-10 games before last Thursday’s game against Washington, and played against the Huskies only because Jerime Anderson was injured. And he was in the game in the final eight seconds only because Howland did not want slow-footer Nikola Dragovic playing defense with the Bruins holding a one-point lead, so he replaced Dragovic with Abdul-Hamid, who had not attempted a shot since the first half. Abdul-Hamid promptly let Venoy Overton blow by him for the go-ahead score, then was an emergency outlet for Michael Roll on the inbounds pass. Because he recalled an interview with Kobe Bryant, who always pump-faked before taking a last-second shot, Abdul-Hamid pump-faked before taking his game-winning 18-footer. That made UCLA 3-3 in the Pac-10 instead of 2-4 after its embarrassing, lopsided loss to USC. Then on Saturday, the Bruins, seemingly buoyed by the win over Washington, beat Washington State, with Abdul-Hamid playing 18 minutes and scoring nine points. Now the Bruins are 4-3, a game out of first place, and Abdul-Hamid is part of the rotation.
How can a freshman from Germany be the best player in the West Coast Conference?
Until recently, it was assumed the WCC player-of-the-year honor was a duel between Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin and St. Mary’s Omar Samhan, but Gonzaga freshman Elias Harris is catching up in a hurry. Harris is clearly the best pro prospect of the bunch, and he might be a first-round draft pick if he enters the NBA Draft this spring. No one could have predicted that when he arrived from his native Germany this season as a freshman, but his combination of skill, speed and strength have made him an unexpected impact player. In WCC action only, he ranks second in the conference in scoring at 22.0 points, first in rebounding with 10.0 boards and second in field-goal percentage at 62.9 percent. The 6-7 Harris (who pronounces his first name EL-e-as) was the deciding factor in the Bulldogs’ most important victory of the season, a road win over St. Mary’s two weeks ago, collecting 31 points and 13 rebounds. (There may be some questions about Harris’ eligibility based on his activity in German leagues. The NCAA has cleared him to play so Gonzaga seems to be doing things by the book, but Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News brings up some points worth investigationg. See story here.)
2 Comments
TrackBacks / PingBacks
-
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jake Curtis, Matt Smith. Matt Smith said: GO CATS! Why not have rhetorical questions about West Coast basketball …: Sports Websites. ESPN · Jake's Stanfor… http://bit.ly/91FoRf [...]
[...] posted here: Why not have rhetorical questions about West Coast basketball … Share [...]