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| Thursday, February 20 For Fresno State, it may be WAC title or 'Bust' By Ed Graney Special to ESPN.com |
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Ray Lopes was speaking via cell phone from a bus Tuesday afternoon, his Fresno State basketball team headed to a WAC game against San Jose State. The Bulldogs were off to another critical conference matchup, another foe blocking the Bulldogs' path towards a potential regular-season championship. Creighton? Bracket Buster Saturday? A Top 25 opponent on national television? Not interested ... just yet.
"We're sitting in a pretty good position in the WAC right now," said Lopes, the first-year head coach who has done a wonderful job positioning the Bulldogs for a postseason berth. "I really feel that if a team in a Top 10 conference wins its regular-season title, it should earn very strong consideration for an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament." The Bulldogs survived San Jose State 74-70 in double overtime, improving their record to 19-5 overall and 12-3 in the WAC. Still, Lopes knows full well the significance of the Creighton game, one of two premier matchups (the other being Tulsa at Gonzaga) in the inaugural Bracket Buster event. Fresno State has an RPI in the 60s, not good enough to guarantee an NCAA at-large berth. But a major concept of Bracket Buster Saturday -- 18 mid-major programs given the opportunity to showcase their postseason worthiness -- could help Fresno State's cause come Selection Sunday. Should the Bulldogs not win their league tournament, a victory against the No. 18 Bluejays might be enough to sway some selection committee members. Well, maybe. "Obviously, it's a wonderful opportunity for us to play a very good basketball team," said Lopes. "We're going to go there, play hard, relish the moment, hopefully play well and see what happens. It's a chance to match ourselves against a great opponent on television." Gonzaga was scheduled to host Tulsa in December, but the teams agreed to change the date to accommodate the Bracket Buster. The Zags have enough to worry about in West Coast Conference play, considering a 72-68 home loss to last-place Portland on Wednesday. Gonzaga has now dropped two of 12 WCC games, falling to sixth-place Loyola Marymount and the lowly Pilots. Suddenly, serious talk has begun of Gonzaga being a definite bubble team should it not win the WCC Tournament. Zags coach Mark Few welcomes the Tulsa matchup, but has long fought the mid-major label assigned his program. Now, he is featured in an event that promotes the concept. "There's not much I can do about that," said Few. "ESPN has been great to our program and if there was any way we could make this work and play the game now, we were going to do it. "We have never played out of league this time of year, but a chance at a nationally televised game against a program like Tulsa are positive things for us." It has worked out for Gonzaga one way and not another. On a positive note, moving the game allowed the Zags a breather during the season's first month, when they endured a brutal stretch of games against quality teams in places like Maui, Atlanta and New Jersey. On the other hand, Few certainly imagined preparing for a better Tulsa team than one that is 15-8 overall and 8-6 in WAC play. Then again, Few likely also imagined beating Portland, which had lost 14 straight to Gonzaga. Could a victory or defeat against Tulsa ultimately affect Gonzaga's NCAA seed? "I don't know about that stuff," said Few, still perplexed at his team's No. 6 NCAA seed last season. "I thought I did last year and wasn't close. I never received an explanation for it and neither did people who actually study those things. It's not up to my feeble mind to understand how those things work." Lopes also avoids any specific talk of NCAA seeds or where his Bulldogs might fall should they emerge one of 65 fortunate teams. "Right now, two games separate us from second and four games from seventh," said Lopes. "That tells me we still have a lot of work to do in our conference."
A Dons Surprise? "San Francisco is a lot like Michigan," said Few. "They started out slow, but have really come on lately. They have great talent, are playing very hard and are shooting the daylights out of the ball." The Dons -- 11-12 overall, 6-4 in conference and alone in third -- have won four of their past five entering a home game against Santa Clara on Friday. USF played the Zags tough in Spokane last week before falling 82-71. This, a Dons team that opened the season 1-6. But the December arrival of transfers Alvin Broussard and James Bayless, and the return of senior Darrell Tucker from a thumb injury, has positioned USF for a strong finish. Head coach Phil Matthews is in his eighth season and offers a balanced, athletic team that has shot nearly 48 percent on 3s its last 11 games. Broussard is a junior forward who arrived from New Mexico. He's averaging 9.5 points and 4.7 rebounds. Bayless is a junior forward from Nevada who's averaging 10.6 points, 5.7 boards and is shooting 56 percent. Tucker, the team's best player, has been named the league's player of the week twice since returning Jan. 31, during which time the forward is averaging 24 points and nine rebounds. "We have our full team now," said Matthews. "We could be dangerous." This week will go a long ways in shaping the WCC tournament. The top two teams in regular-season play receive byes into the semifinals. Odds still favor Gonzaga as the No. 1 seed, but San Diego, USF and St. Mary's all have a legitimate shot at second. USD -- playing one of its most important conference road swings in the nine-year tenure of coach Brad Holland -- visits St. Mary's on Friday and USF on Saturday. The conference tournament is in San Diego. "(Getting a bye into the semifinals) for two teams is a step in the right direction," said Few. "Finally, we are rewarding the top two for being the best over a long period of time, for taking everyone's best shot and still being able to win enough games."
Around the West Diogu is the Pac-10 player of the week after becoming ASU's first freshman to post consecutive games of 25 points or more. He averaged 26 points and six rebounds in a sweep of USC and UCLA, and is averaging 18.8 points and 7.1 rebounds on the season. "There have been no discussions of (Diogu leaving early) and I don't fear it because I fear nothing," said ASU coach Rob Evans. "Listen, whenever a decision like that is made, it will come from input by Ike's parents and myself and no one else. I have too much to worry about with my team than what others say. I have not talked (to Bibby)." Bibby, meanwhile, was not made available on a Pac-10 weekly conference call.
Oregon's offense has been sizzling of late, thanks in large part to the junior Ridnour. The point guard is averaging 19.2 points and 6.5 assists. He has also made 51 straight free throws, both school and conference records. In the team's last four games, Ridnour has averaged 22.3 points. "He has been playing very well," said Ducks coach Ernie Kent, whose team is alone in fifth at 17-6 overall and 7-5 in conference. "A lot of it has had to do with Luke Jackson still only being about 70 percent." The junior forward Jackson had stitches removed from his right index finger last week. "He has pretty much been playing as a one-handed man," said Kent. "He's just now getting comfortable out there again." Over its last five games, Oregon is shooting 92 percent from the line; over its last eight, it's shooting 89 percent.
Senior forward Antonio Meeking, among the leading candidates for WAC player of the year, is averaging 22.1 points his last 12 games. The Bulldogs host Northern Iowa in Bracket Buster Saturday. "Our guard play has improved so much," said Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard, whose team has improved to 12-9 overall and 9-5 in the WAC. "We've really been able to make some shots and take some of the pressure off players like (Meeking)." And the Bracket Buster matchup? "To be honest, I haven't even thought about Northern Iowa," said Richard. "I don't even know their record. I don't know much about them at all. We've got to worry about Rice (on Thursday night) first. That's a very important game for us."
Who's Hot UC Santa Barbara: The team that gave Arizona a first-round NCAA Tournament scare last year has caught fire. UCSB, after beginning the season 6-9, has won seven of its last eight. The Gauchos are alone in first atop the Big West at 10-3.
Who's Not Washington State: Talk about a forgettable streak. The Cougars have lost 20 straight Pac-10 games. The league record is 30 straight defeats by UCLA in 1937-40 during the days of the Pacific Coast Conference.
Quotes to Note
"I'm not sure John is an expert on our team. We didn't have Luke Walton when we played there. It was a road game right before Christmas with SEC
officials. But John was the opponent, so maybe he knows our team better than we know ourselves." Ed Graney of the San Diego Union-Tribune is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ed.graney@uniontrib.com. |
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