Folks, I'm finding it therapeutic to divert my attention away from the Zags specifically to college hoops in general. Where do we fit into the overall picture?

Just went through all the conference standings and I counted 75 teams that could get in, give or take. Obviously we have to finish the year strong to get in. The balance in the NCAA is a double-edged sword: If we do get in and suddenly get hot, who knows. But there are also a lot of teams out there. Look at the Atlantic 10 and Conference USA. How many get in? The Colonial is trouble, especially with the recent heroics of George Mason and VCU. Do the big boys (Big East, ACC, Big12, and Big10) get in if they finish .500 or above in their leagues? Are we better than Kansas State, who is .500 in the Big12? Other teams to worry about are a couple mid-majors who may end up with comparable resumes as ours: Montana, Ohio, Wagner or LI, and Loyola(Md) or Iona, etc. If we keep sputtering, hello to our friends in the Pac10 and Mountain West. Are we better than New Mexico? (copied this from a post I made last night.)

Any thoughts on GU getting in? Obstacles, besides our poor play to us getting in? Is our national popularity and/or respect for our tradition starting to wane?

I'm really interested in what you think about other leagues. I personally think the biggest factor for the selection committee is what they think about the strength of the various leagues. It also affects SOS and RPI. One cannot talk about a team without referencing the league it plays in. For example, is the WCC on the level of the Pac12, or Mountain West? How does the WCC stack up with the Big Sky?- If they get 1 bid, should the WCC get 3? (Wyoming?)

Living East I look at the Atlantic 10. An entire league of traditional basketball programs. We know how tough St Joe's is. One could argue that they should get just one bid and maybe one could say that they should get 4-5 bids. The dominoes fall. Would we want to play Duquesne in Pittsburgh right now? When one is "on-the-bubble", teams all over the country become intertwined. What affects one, may affect all. Did anyone notice that Iona went to Manhattan and beat them by 22 last night? The second place finisher in the MAAC will have a mighty strong resume! Let er' fly! Have fun! Fore!

I don't know what else to say other than they blew tonight. This team is by FAR the most talented team in the WCC and yet, they don't seem to care about what is on the line. We are content for the first time in my lifetime, to let SMC and the rest of the WCC trash us. We 'tip-toe into a bar fight' time and time again. Everyone is gunning for us, and we give them the bullets. The effort and discipline is PATHETIC of late. I think Few had the right game plan, but it won't work when Sacre decides to be a sissy, and the rest of the team decides to play PC by giving the other team the ball at every turn, missing open looks, and bricking bunnies. They preferred to not offend anyone, let alone defend anyone. This season this team looked to be my favorite, maybe, ever (regardless of wins), because they seemed to be tough and never quit.

Well....they quit.

They keep quitting. Now, I feel like quitting. It wasn't the loss. It was they way we lost. 3-19 from 3, 19 turnovers. We sucked. There wasn't a turn around.

As a warrior, I am humiliated by our effort tonight. We smelled blood and it was our own. Seems to be the only thing they are hungry for. We can only hope for LMU to save us now. Seems hopeless.

It's cannibalism time.

Poll

Rest of the season is...

• Hopeless
• Historic (i.e. a team that actually cares about winning bails us out and somehow we find the will/fire to run the table for the remainder of conference play)

  174 votes | Results

Some time ago I mentioned why SMC was going to be good this year. I was thoroughly bashed and ridiculed. I was respectful, and mindful this is a Gonzaga blog. I still read all of the articles, and rec some from time to time. I thought that now with the season really getting heated up I would try once again to say a few things, all in good sportsmanship though.

1. Like I said before, we have been built to beat Gonzaga. Our team, and recruiting has been molded by recruiting players that can help us finally win the WCC, by beating you!

2. Our 3 point shooters can light it up. We know you are vulnerable to this, although Few has finally decided to address it and it becomes less of an advantage for us.

3. We have brought in and developed some beef to help us with your interior bigs, that are indeed a handful. But, we smoked em in Moraga and Waldo made his grand appearance to your chagrin.

4. We finally have depth that can match yours. No longer an issue or an advantage for you.

5. One of the reasons I was scoffed at was because you thought we would suffer from losing McConnell, and I disagreed. Looks like I was er, on point? Delle has done everything he did, and more. He will win WCC POY, you just watch!

This is an exciting time of year. SMC has one HELL of a team and it is YOU who are chasing us for once. Well, there was last year but I like to forget that.

Please, know your enemie. Take a look at our schedule, who we have played, beaten, and by how much. Look at our record. You must be getting a little nervous? Some of you were hanging on the hope we would falter during what you considered the tough part of our schedule. Didn't happen. If anything, we are getting even better. Waldo has emerged as a force, he is no longer an unknown freshman. Our defense is the best we have ever had. Our team stats tell a story too. Take a peek. How do you match up with us?

I think it is good for the WCC to have competition like this, and the added dimension of BYU is also a good thing. I wish you guys luck on the rest of the season but I think you are in a bit of trouble. You are looking at quite a lot of away games and you have BYU twice, us once, LMU coming in and a Bay Area road trip looming. Can you do it? It looks like an uphill climb for you from here on out, while we are rolling down hill. Our schedule gets real cosy. Sure, you might be able to get one back on us at your place but, will it be enough? I doubt it.

Good luck! Here's to an exciting finish. May the BEST team win!

*I am a zag fan too. But they are second on my list

I've been waiting all week for this game, and a chance to get to watch BYU for the first time this season. So far, one thing is very apparent, Gonzaga's bigs are gonna have to bring their A-game. BYU's ability to rebound, finish at the rim, and hit the 10-15' jumper has been pretty impressive. Even though their outside shooting has been ice cold, they're still hanging in there with second chance opportunities.

I don't even want to get into St. Mary's... Still sore from that loss.

If you want to see more scoring from the bigs, especially Sacre, don't bounce pass to them. It's too low, and it puts the ball in the place that favors the defense. Pass high, sacre is taller than anyone, and then he can continue up and complete the shot.

David Stockton does this a lot. It works in high school....not so much in the NCAA. This explains why Sacre is not scoring 20+ points a night.

Appears no one affilliated with Gonzaga basketball was prepared for Portland, including us. Kids sure aren't ready. Loss to Portland, combined with St Mary's beating LMU pretty much makes us have to run the table to have any chance at winning the conference. Pathetic first half. What have they been doing all week? They are playing with no focus, no fire. Just about the time I think I can get a feel for this team they do something like this. Better see a much more focused and aggressive team in the 2nd half or I'm going to be concerned about this road trip, let alone the rest of the season. Come on Zags!!!!!!

If you get a chance go visit BYU's version of The Slipper Still Fits. It is called Vanquish the foe. They have really good writers that post something new every day about the WCC. I really like the the posts from the road when BYU plays WCC teams on the road. They are there and tell fans about the other fans and gyms. I like the fact that they did not much care for some of the places they had to visit in the MWC. And maybe some day we will have a link to their page since they are in the WCC now. IMO it is one of the best sites in the NCAA. You dont have to wait 6 days for the next post.

1/26 SMC @ LMU

1/28 SMC @ BYU

2/2 GU @ BYU

Would these three games have as much or perhaps more importance to the regular season championship and subsequent seeding for the WCC Tournament as the 2/9 match up of Saint Mary’s @ Gonzaga.

I can see SMC losing one or both of these two. The LMU game could be a trap for SMC, similar to the unexpected gift Bill Grier’s Toreros gave us last year. LMU has won some decent games and were uncomfortably close to a win over GU recently.

BYU has their back against the wall as far as making a statement in their first year in the WCC, and will want one back against the Gaels badly. This hunger will also be a factor in our game there four days later, but I think that GU will be better able to handle the atmosphere at the Marriott Center given Saint Mary's lack of tough road wins.

I think SMC splits their two and Zags win in Provo which will make the game in the Kennel on the 9th essentially a winner take all.

Thoughts?

Tonight the Zags are taking on the Toreros at home. This is not a clash of titans but is an important opportunity for Gonzaga to get its swag back after being thumped by St. Mary's. For the past couple games, the Zags have been terribly inconsistent if not downright lethargic. Based on team stats the Zags should have this game as they have the absolute advantage in rebounding, scoring and shooting percentage not to mention talent. Most likely tonight will not present a problem for the Zags, but sleepy play could give USD the opportunity to make this a game.

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Watching college hoops across the country this season, I have started using home court advantage as my reference point for everything that is happening. In close match-ups, I would argue that home teams have been overwhelmingly dominant. In fact, some games this year that traditionally have been close finishes have actually resulted in blowouts: UNC at Fla St, GU at St. Mary's, etc. Therefore, I put even more importance on strong road performances. By this standard, I think Cincinnati is playing some of the best basketball in the nation right now: they have beaten Gtown and UConn at their places, with another road test at WVU today.

Following this theme, I think GU's signature win this year is Xavier. (I think they were still in a post-fight funk, but we went over there and got it done.) IMO, that's pretty much it, although if we can avoid road hiccups to the second tier WCC competitors, that will be significant. Obviously the next big date is Feb 2 at BYU. I think we will enter that game tied for first and we will get our 2nd big road win that night. BYU has Virginia Tech away next week before their meeting with St. Mary's next Sat at home. I think BYU will hold serve at home versus SMU, but will be drained win or lose for another critical game with us the following week. St. Mary's has 4 of their next 5 games on the road, including the Feb 9 date with GU. There are a couple trap games in there for them besides BYU and us.

I think the schedule is set up for us, as it has been all year. Obvious pluses to this: best record ever at this point and a serious opportunity to still get the top seed in our tournament. Negatives: are we being challenged to play great basketball?, are we going to peak at the right time?

What do you think about these possible trends? My theory for the reason why is that college hoops gets more and more balanced every year and road teams are not good enough to overcome the home court momentum.