BYU is One-and-Done in the Big Dance

Yeah, this pretty much sums up the game...
From www.deseretnews.com

Well, pretty much as expected, BYU was one-and-done in the NCAA Tourney. I'm still a little confused by those who say that outcome was a million times better than the chance of winning the NIT. Yes, I know the NIT is far from a prestigious tournament, but I still hate it when the season ends earlier than I feel like it should have. I just wish basketball was a year-round sport . . . #MarchSadness.

The NCAA selection committee was super generous in giving BYU a 10-seed. I thought they had a shot at beating Oregon, but it was a very, very tiny shot. I did choose them to win that one game in my bracket, hoping for good karma, but no such luck. If we hadn't lost Collinsworth to a torn ACL in the Gonzaga game, I think we would have had a much bigger chance. It's another one of those "what could have been?" years, like 2011 when we lost Brandon Davies with just a few games left in the regular season. I hate that feeling of wondering what might have happened, but I guess now it's time to move on.

The only thing that makes me happy right now is that we're not losing anyone from this team permanently. Eric Mika is heading to Rome on his mission soon, but he'll be back in 2016. It's possible that Kyle Collinsworth will miss part of next season (or maybe even all of it, if he decides to red shirt, although that's not the plan right now) while recovering from surgery. But he'll be back. And apparently he'll be back better than ever . . .

Haha. At least he has a good attitude about it. The timing of his injury certainly sucked, but right now, the Cougars just have to make the best of it.

Down side is that next year, there will be bunches of seniors-- Anson Winder, Nate Austin, Skyler Halford, Josh Sharp, Matt Carlino, and of course Tyler Haws. I'm already sad about losing some of these guys. But I guess for now, we'll just hope for a productive off-season and rebuilding next year. We need to get deeper in the post, especially-- that was the Cougars' major achilles heel this year. Well, that and free throws, but I'm not gonna talk about that . . .

Let's just focus on the video of their reaction to receiving an at-large bid. I think I've watched it at least a dozen times, and it always makes me smile. 

Can't wait til next season! Is it October yet? :(

2014 WCC Tourney: Time for BYU to Dethrone the Zags!

Anson lays it up and in against the Zags in Provo

March Madness has begun! We're down to the final 4 teams in the WCC Tournament: Gonzaga, St. Mary's, San Francisco, and BYU. The semi-finals are tomorrow evening, followed by the championship on Tuesday. I'm getting new cable installed at my apartment on Tuesday morning... everyone pray for me that it goes off without a hitch because I CANNOT miss that game! I have a cautiously good feeling about BYU's chances of winning this...

Santa Clara came super close to beating Gonzaga last night. I watched about the last 10 minutes or so, and I was vacillating back and forth the whole time about who I actually wanted to win. The game was tied with 9 seconds left, and David Stockton managed to take it all the way across the court to sink a layup with 1 second left. With all their timeouts gone, Santa Clara just had to throw up a half-court prayer that didn't go down (I had brief flashes of the Dellavedagger... which would have been kind of sweet, I must admit, but it didn't happen). The Zags won by 2.

Of course, if BYU doesn't win the tournament, we need Gonzaga to win it, so another team doesn't steal an auto-bid to the NCAA and risk knocking BYU out of an at-large. I kind of wanted Santa Clara to win last night, just because it would increase BYU's chances of winning the tourney. But since the Zags did win, I hope they beat St. Mary's tomorrow because I'd rather have BYU play against Gonzaga than St. Mary's in the championship, if, of course, the Cougs can make it past San Francisco first.

Quadruple team on Tyler? No prob.

The Cougars were ahead of LMU almost the whole game yesterday, but it still wasn't very pretty, and I didn't breathe easy until the clock was almost gone. They didn't make a single 3-pointer, which was really aggravating. Their rebounding wasn't as good as it should have been, either. Kyle Collinsworth had a great game, though, easily nailing a double-double. Anson Winder added 16 points, and Tyler Haws scored a quiet 22. I'm amazed at how he is able to do that game after game. I'm hoping the guys can shake it off and step it up because playing San Fran definitely isn't going to be a cakewalk-- they will need to play much better than they did yesterday to beat the Dons for a 3rd time this year.

I definitely like the new starting lineup with Anson and Luke Worthington. It has prevented them from falling behind too early and keeping Eric Mika out of foul trouble. He has been struggling a little bit off the bench, though-- he needs to work on playing aggressively without committing stupid fouls (I did a figurative facepalm on his behalf a few too many times yesterday...)

We've got a lot of momentum right now-- beating the Zags at home was awesome! It was definitely the game with the most energy from the crowd this season. It was also nice to easily beat Portland in the last home game of the season-- Matty's 3-point spectacle was the perfect revenge for Bobby Sharp's hot shooting in the 3OT game earlier this year.

Tyler Haws was interviewed on BYU Sports Nation on Thursday, and he agreed to moonwalk on the Orleans Arena court if they win the tourney on Tuesday. That would be hilarious-- I want them to win even more now!

That episode of BYU Sports Nation was also quite the embarrassing moment for me... Spencer Linton & Jarom Jordan apparently think I have a "huge crush" on Tyler Haws, which I will neither confirm nor deny. Here's the video and the audio-- they talk about me at about 26:10 and 40:00 on the video or 23:45 and 35:30 on the audio-only version. I must admit it's pretty funny, as mortified as I am by the whole thing. I may as well milk it, right? At least I got a "favorited" Tweet out of Tyler from it.... haha.

I did have contact with Jimmer the night before his 52-point thrashing of New Mexico in 2011, so maybe I'm good luck? I do hope Tyler has an equally awesome performance on Tuesday night. The Zags have been at the top of the conference for far too long, and BYU hasn't won their conference tourney in 13 years-- it's time! But of course, we've gotta get past San Francisco first. Come on, boys, let's win this thing!!!

A Bittersweet End to the BYU Basketball Season

I'm calling it right now.
Two years from now, Tyler Haws
will be BYU's #1 all-time scorer.

As difficult as it is to come so close and fall short, I'm generally happy with the way the 2012-2013 BYU basketball season ended. To go from a first-round exit in the WCC Tourney against a team that we were supposed to beat easily to turning things around and making it all the way to the NIT Final Four is definitely something to be proud of. We were one of the last 8 teams in the country to still be playing basketball in April-- awesome! Despite all the heartbreaks that happened in the last few months, the Cougs' post-season NIT run really saved the whole season.

The 2012-2013 season certainly wasn't without highlights. I still get all tingly inside when I watch Craig Cusick's putback against USU, and I loved the show the boys put on against LMU on my birthday. We ALMOST beat the #1 team in the country (it obviously would have been much sweeter if we had actually pulled it off, but it was sweet nonetheless), and we did beat a really, really good team on the road like it was child's play. Tyler Haws started smashing records, Brandon Davies made his way into the top-10 Cougars of all-time in several different categories, Brock Zylstra finally came out of the woodwork to end his career on a great note, and Matt Carlino, despite his frantic play and inconsistency, saved the day more than once. There were a lot of great moments and some great successes this season. But that definitely doesn't mean there's not room for improvement. 

Nate Austin showed a glimmer of hope toward the end of the season, but he has a long way to go before being able to carry the team in the post. We also have 2 incoming freshmen to help in that area (Eric Mika & Luke Worthington), but it's yet to be seen how their games will transition to the college level. I think that's gonna be the most difficult task in the off-season-- figuring out how to make up for losing Brandon.

The #2 task is going to be putting a leash on Carlino, but I actually don't think that's going to be super hard because there's an easy solution-- put Kyle Collinsworth at the 1-guard position and move Carlino to the 2. BAM! Problem solved. Carlino is soooo much better at the 2 because it allows him to get better looks at the basket without having to concentrate on running the show, but we just haven't had anyone else at the 1 to replace him. But with Collinsworth coming back from his mission, that's definitely the logical thing to do. He can run point and let Carlino take a backseat, where he's more productive and less frantic. Hopefully Dave Rose thinks so, too. It would also help to get Anson Winder fully healthy again so he can make up some slack defensively that we will get with losing Cusick.

I'm really looking forward to next season. I think we'll have a better, more mature guard line and hopefully can get Brandon's replacements in the post up to snuff before conference play.

So, now I enter my 7-month period of mourning where there is no BYU basketball to be seen . . .  :( I'll try to wipe my tears now and look forward to another great year. Go Cougs!

We're Heading to NYC for the NIT FINAL FOUR, BABY!!!

Wish I was headed to New York again next week!

I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the BYU basketball team played against Southern Miss last night. Brock, Matt, Brandon, and, of course, Tyler were all knocking down shots fairly consistently. They were playing smart defense for the most part and kept their heads in the game, which has been a rarity this season. Brandon and Brock both got double-doubles, with Matty finishing just one assist shy of that mark.

Matt Carlino said, "I think we're playing our best basketball of the season right now." I think he's right.

The most impressive things about this win are that it wasn't a home game, it was a super fast turnaround, and they had to travel 1,700 miles to get to Hattiesburg. They must have been super worn-out and exhausted, both physically and mentally. But somehow the Cougars put that all behind them and managed to snap Southern Miss' 30-game non-conference home win streak and make it look like a piece of cake. They are FINALLY coming into the potential they had all along and proving the nay-sayers wrong. I don't freaking care if it's the NIT-- we're in the FINAL FOUR! And that beats losing in the first round of the NCAA tourney any. day. of. the. year. BYU proved they CAN win outside the Marriott Center, they CAN beat good teams, and they CAN do it with style.

Even if BYU had lost last night, I would have been satisfied. But now all my wildest expectations have been fulfilled, and it can only get better from here, right?

Matty sinks a long 3 against
Baylor in Provo on 12-17-11

Next up, we're heading to the Big Apple to play Baylor. It seems like everyone is saying it's not a good matchup and it's a shame we have to play someone we already played this year (and lost to). But here's how I see it-- it's a huge opportunity to show that BYU has improved. It's definitely not the same team that lost to Baylor back in December. They have a new drive, a new force behind their play that, at least so far in the NIT, can't be reckoned with. I'm actually glad we're playing Baylor. I watched part of the Robert Morris / Providence game, and honestly, Providence scared the crap out of me. They looked really good, and like the sort of team that could potentially ground the Cougars into dust. I think we've got a better chance against Baylor anyway. It's time to get some revenge! We already beat the Mercer Bears, so I don't know why we can't beat the Baylor Bears, too! :)

A few more reasons I think we'll do well against Baylor:

• In December against Baylor, Brandon Davies scored 26 points and had 17 rebounds. If he can stay out of foul trouble, I think the Bears will have a really hard time stopping him.
• Tyler Haws only (yes, only) had 13 points in his last meeting with Baylor. He has only scored less than 13 two times since then. I think Tyler could definitely come out and score at least twice that, making BYU an even harder team to get past. 
• Matt Carlino is eating his Wheaties. He's still making some dumb turnovers and is a little overly cocky, but it has at least died down a little bit in the post-season. And let's not forget that Matty's very first game as a Cougar was against Baylor, and he lit up 18 points, tying Brandon for the game's leading Cougar scorer. And that was when Baylor had Perry Jones III on their side and was ranked #6 in the country. They're not nearly as good this year.

Will we beat Baylor? I don't know. I sure hope so, and especially after last night's game, I think we've got a pretty dang good shot. But I said it last time, and I'll say it again, even if BYU loses, it's been a great ending to a mediocre season. Way to go, Cougars!

BYU Beats Mercer & Moves on to Play Southern Miss

Tyler, Brock, Matt, Nate, & Cosmo getting ready to take on Mercer

Monday night's game against Mercer was really solid. For the first few minutes, I couldn't help but think, "Who is wearing jersey #10, and what has he done with the real Matt Carlino?!?" Whoever it was was calm, collected, and was sinking treys like nobody's business . . . and then he got a turnover, so I knew it was really Matty. :) Despite his 3 total turnovers (which I still think is borderline unacceptable, but it's an improvement for him, at least), I think it was one of the best and most complete games Matt has played since he came to BYU. Keep it up, Matt! You still need a haircut, though . . .

Triple team? No problem for Brandon.

As usual, Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws were also amazing. One of my favorite moments was when Brandon threw down a sick dunk and in mid-air gave one of the Mercer players this glaring look that said, "Yeah, I'm Brandon Davies, and that's what I do." BTW, that's another great reason to not be in the student section-- from where I was sitting, I could actually see the players' faces and hear what they were saying to each other. It makes for such a different experience. Anyways, Tyler was just his usual self, scoring a mere 24 points. That puts him only 4 points away from breaking Danny Ainge's record of having 1,130 points by the end of his sophomore season. Just to put that in perspective, Jimmer only had 780 points at the end of his sophomore season. Wowzers, Tyler is good.

I also heard Bill Walton was an awesome commentator. Since I was at the game, I didn't get to hear him, but I've got the game on my TiVo so I will probably re-watch it sometime in the next few days so I can hear his commentary. I'm sure it will be thoroughly entertaining. 

Craig may be married, but Tyler's not . . . hmmmm . . .  :)

My only real disappointment from last night was that while seniors Brandon & Brock both made good contributions on the scoreboard, Craig Cusick never got the ball in the hoop. My friend Kailee wisely put it in real perspective, though: "Craig is hot. He didn't score anything, but he's still hot, so it's ok." Yes, Kailee, it is ok. hahaha. Yeah, we'll just pretend he's not married. :)

Anyhoo, next up tomorrow night, we've got Southern Miss (27-9 overall this season) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If we can make it past the Eagles, we'll earn a trip to the NIT final 4 in New York, which would be soooo awesome. I'm cautiously optimistic . . . the Cougs are definitely the underdogs, and I think it will be a real challenge for them, if for no other reason than it's not a home game, they have to travel 1,700 miles to get there, and it's a super fast turnaround. But even if BYU loses tomorrow, I'll be satisfied. I think they've pulled a lot more out of this season than many people expected they would. No matter how much further they go in the NIT tourney, I will be there cheering them on. Let's go, Cougars!

Me, Kailee, & Melanie cheering on our Cougars!

NIT Tourney Round #2 Preview: BYU vs Mercer

2 of Ty's 37 points against Washington

BYU basketball made it past the Washington Huskies last Tuesday and will host the Mercer Bears tomorrow night in the Marriott Center. Once again, I've got my ticket (row 7, blue seats), and I'm ready to kick some bear tail!

Mercer University is located in Macon, Georgia. They are 24-11 overall this year, with really only one notable win this season against Florida Gulf Coast, and the only reason that's notable is because Florida Gulf Coast just upset 2-seed Georgetown in the NCAA tourney. And Mercer didn't beat Florida Gulf Coast when it counted-- in the conference tournament. I haven't even heard of most of the other teams Mercer played this year (who in the world are Lipscomb and Stetson?) Anyway, I'm definitely not saying it will be easy, especially since Mercer is just coming off a win against Tennessee, but I think BYU has a definite shot. I'm also really hoping Louisiana Tech beats Southern Miss tomorrow, because then BYU would get another home game, most likely on Wednesday, if they defeat Mercer on Monday.

Overall, I was fairly impressed with the way BYU played against Washington, especially in the second half. But I had an unfortunate realization during this game-- we are only as good as Matt Carlino is currently playing. He had a horrible 1st half, and thankfully Coach Rose benched him before it got way out of hand. He got back in in the second half, and was much more productive-- had fewer turnovers, got some steals, and scored some points. After knocking down a few long three-balls (including 1 or 2 that could definitely be considered Jimmer Range), though, he began to get overly confident. Thankfully, he then shot an air ball, and even though he claimed it was deflected (I'm still not sure), I think it was a good humbling and brought him back down to earth.

Oh Matty, Matty, Matty . . .

When Matt has his head on straight, he's really good. But when he's off, he just spirals down and down further and further and brings the rest of the team down with him. And unfortunately, he seems to be off more often than he's on. If Matt had continued to play the way he did in the first half in the second half against Washington, I think BYU would have lost-- despite the amazing 37-point performance from Tyler. Matty, please, please, please don't ruin this tournament for us!! And get a haircut while you're at it (but DON'T shave your head again!).

Coach Rose needs to get some discipline in that kid. Am I the only one who's noticed that Matt plays A LOT better after he's been benched for bad behavior? Honestly, I think we'd have the greatest shot of winning tomorrow if Coach Rose didn't put Matt on the starting lineup, or if he benched him immediately after his first stupid turnover (which will most likely come within the first 30 seconds of the game). Matt plays a lot better when he feels like he's got something to prove. When he feels like he has to earn his role on the court (instead of already having it guaranteed), he plays so much better and with his head on straight. I doubt that's going to happen though, so we might just have to get lucky like we did last week. Ok, enough of my Carlino soapbox. I just really hope he doesn't blow it for us.

Cross your fingers, Cougar fans. Let's keep this NIT party started and take down Mercer!

BYU Basketball Heads to the NIT

Brandon and the rest of the boys are bringing
their skills (including Kung Fu, by the looks
of this picture) back to the Marriott Center!

Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't understand why everyone is boo-hooing about how embarrassing it is that BYU is going to the NIT Tournament. I'm stoked! What's the great allure of the NCAA anyway? If BYU had made it to the NCAA tourney, they would just get their trash kicked by a #1 or #2 seed in the first round . . . what's so great about that? I don't understand why bubble teams fight so hard to get in to the NCAA-- I think getting creamed in a play-in game or in the first round is much more embarrassing than going to the NIT. I'd much rather go to the NIT tournament because the odds are a lot higher that they can actually win a few more games. Will BYU win the NIT tournament? Probably not, but they've got a decent chance of at least making the Elite 8, especially with the home crowd at the Marriott Center behind them. I'm actually really pumped about it.

First up, we've got Washington on Tuesday night. I've already got my ticket-- in the comfy blue seats, 6 rows behind the Washington Bench, the perfect location for heckling and relaxing as I revel in how wonderful it is to not be stuck in the ROC. I hope I never have to sit there again . . . Anyway, Washington is a member of the PAC-12 and they made it to the Final Four of the NIT last year. They've gone 18-15 this year, which sounds pretty bad, but they have a few notable wins, including St. Louis (who just got a 4-seed in the NCAA), Cal, and Colorado.

Greg Wrubell has been throwing out Washington facts / stats in Tweets almost constantly since last night. A few of the ones that caught my eye:

• UW has had an interesting season. Opened 4-4, then won 8 of 9, then lost 7 of 8, then finished winning 5 of 8 (L's to Ariz, UCLA, Oregon). UW has more TOs than assists in 4 of its last 5 games and 17 times in 33 games. More assists than TOs only 8 times all season.
• Washington guards/wings have gone 17-for-36 (47%) from the arc over their last two games.
• BYU averages 71.3 possessions per game. Washington has had only 4 regulation games with more than 71 possessions (3-1 in those games).
• In its last 11 games, Washington has scored fewer than 70 points eight times. BYU has also slumped: under 70 seven times in last 14 games
• BYU averages almost 77 points per game. Washington last scored more than 72 points in regulation back on February 2nd (96-92 win v. ASU)
• BYU plays fast, doesn't turn it over a lot. Washington plays slow, turns it over quite a bit more. Huskies have played 0 games at altitude.
• U-Dub starts 6'9", 255 and 7'0", 260 up front. One of the country's best teams on the offensive glass. Huskies w/ excellent def 3PFGA/FGA %.
• Neither BYU nor Washington rely much on the three or shoot it very well. BYU is offensively more efficient, better eFG%, better TO%.

I think BYU's two main downfalls are poor three-point shooting and dumb decisions from Matt Carlino. I'm relieved to find out that U-Dub struggles with turnovers, too and doesn't shoot a ton of 3s. If we can keep Matty under control, play fast, and not throw up wild treys in desperation like we have a few times this year, plus play a FULL 40 minutes (I hope Tyler's healthy again!), I think we've got it in the bag.

The first thing I think of when I hear about U-Dub is the 2008 BYU / Washington football game, when BYU snuck away with a 1-point win. I hope the basketball game tomorrow isn't nearly that close, but I hope even more for a Cougar win! I'm cautiously optimistic that the Cougs can go on a run in the NIT and make the most of a disappointing season by ending it on a high note.

If you don't have tickets yet for tomorrow's game, get them now! It's a great deal at only $10, even for good lower-bowl seats. Let's pack the house and help the Cougars win!

BYU Basketball: The Season's Not Over Yet!

I hope Brandon and the other seniors get a chance
to play in the MC at least one more time this year.

Needless to say, the BYU basketball season is definitely turning out to be a disappointment. Just like the 2012 BYU football team, there was so much potential with the players, but it just never got off the ground. But after having a few days to simmer, I'm over the pain, and I've reminded myself that it's not over yet! BYU will most likely get an invite to the NIT Tournament on Selection Sunday, which is coming up in just a few days. Yes, the NIT has some unfortunate nicknames (the "Not Invited" Tournament, the "Not In" Tournament, and the "No one's Interested" Tournament, to name a few), but I, for one, am glad BYU will get a chance to play (and hopefully win) a few more games this year.

After coming off a high during Jimmer's senior season, last year was kind of deemed a disappointment, too. Not quite as bad as this year, but a disappointment nonetheless. However, do you remember what happened in the end?

One year ago yesterday, BYU staged the biggest comeback in NCAA tourney history to overcome a 25-point deficit and beat Iona. I don't think I'll EVER forget that night. I watched the game with a group of ward friends, and the emotions were higher than I think they've ever been with that group of people-- the only exception being, maybe, when BYU football beat #3 Oklahoma in 2009.

The Iona basketball game ended a season, and the Oklahoma football game began a season, and while the emotions were similar, they were also very different. With the Oklahoma game, we were given a sense of hope that this was going to be a great season (and it did turn out to be pretty great-- we only lost 2 games that year and ended up ranked #12 nationally). And with Iona, it just gave us a great memory and proof that the players really did have a lot of fight in them. It almost didn't matter that the Cougs lost to Marquette in horrible fashion a few days later. What mattered is that they came out fighting and took down a team many people thought they could never beat after such a poor performance in the first half.

Will we have another Oklahoma or Iona-like win in basketball this year? Probably not. But I hope the 2012-2013 BYU basketball team can at least end the season on a high note.

Right now, the only thing I'm scared about is whether BYU will get the chance to host a home game in the NIT. I'd be really disappointed if their true last home game was that painful loss to Gonzaga a few weeks ago. Plus, I really want the chance to see the Cougar seniors play live again, even just one more time. Fingers crossed!

Come on, Cougars! Let's finish the season out strong and make the best of whatever we're handed on Selection Sunday. Bring on March Madness!

What BYU needs to do to make it to the Big Dance

Matty takes a shot against San Diego, 1-19-12

Last night's BYU basketball game against Pepperdine was WAY too close for comfort. The game ended up resting in the hands of Matt Carlino (which, as much as I love Matty, is never a safe bet), yet he somehow managed to throw up a wild, falling flat on his back, several feet beyond the arc three-pointer that luckily found nothing but the bottom of the net, just as the shot clock expired with 12 seconds left in the game. It gave the Cougs a 4-point lead which they had fought and clawed and scratched their way to, despite being behind almost the entire game. Anson Winder almost threw the happy moment away by fouling Jordan Baker on a 3-pointer at the other end of the court. Baker nailed 2 freethrows and missed the third on purpose, hoping to get a tip-in to send the game to overtime. Luckily the tip missed, too, and BYU scraped by with a win, even though it was far from pretty.

It pains me to say that this kind of inconsistent play is what might be the BYU basketball team's ultimate undoing. Yes, they almost beat St. Mary's, but they got creamed by Gonzaga, and barely scraped by one of the worst teams in the league, which doesn't look so good on their rap sheet. The question at the forefront of every Cougar fan's mind is: Will they make it to the NCAA tourney for the 7th straight year? I think they're definitely on the fence. So what do they need to do to make it?

One of these scenarios has to play out for BYU to make it to the Big Dance:

Ty drives to the hoop vs. Pepperdine
in Provo, 1-10-12

1. They win out the rest of the season, with the possible exception of one loss to either St. Mary's on the road or Gonzaga at home-- but they can't lose both. I think if they can at least beat one of them, though, they've got a good shot at making it into the tournament. Those are the last 2 games of the regular season, so they've got plenty of time to prepare-- I just hope they don't psych themselves out like they often tend to do.

2. They win the conference tournament. BYU will most likely be a 3-seed, making that task almost impossible-- it's basically the absolute worst seed to get because they'd have to beat both St. Mary's and Gonzaga to win. In order to only have to play one of them, they'd have to get them to play each other in the semi-finals, meaning BYU would have to be a 1-seed, which is basically impossible at this point. 

3. They get lucky. If they lose to both St. Mary's and Gonzaga AND lose the conference tournament, but someone on the selection committee sees the potential of Tyler Haws and Brandon Davies (like I believe they should), or if they're itching for another Iona-like showdown, they may have a shot. But obviously there are no guarantees.

For one of those situations to play out, Matt Carlino has to stop being frantic and get some consistency back into him, Tyler Haws has to be ON every game, and Brandon Davis has to stay out of foul trouble. I'm not sure if all three of those things has ever happened at the same time this year, but they need to-- especially in the games against St. Mary's and Gonzaga.

All-in-all, I think the most likely situation is they will end up in an almost identical position as last year-- they will be one of the first four in or one of the first four out of the bracket. Maybe I'm a horrible fan for saying this, but I kind of hope if that's the case, they go to the NIT instead of NCAA. I'd rather have them play a few more games (some of which could even be on their home court) and make it a little further in a tournament than get creamed in round one. Then again, I said that last year, too, and if I had been right, we never would have had the chance to witness the greatest comeback in NCAA history against Iona. I would feel really badly for the seniors (Brock Zylstra, Craig Cusick, and Brandon Davies) if they don't make the NCAA, but I think they could finish off their careers on a higher note if they go to the NIT. I guess only time will tell. I can't believe there's only a little over a month left in the season! March Madness will be here before we know it. Hope they finish strong, no matter which way the cookie (or their season) crumbles.