March Madness – Can Northwest Teams Represent?

As a born and bred Indiana Hoosier, I have watched the NCAA Tournament Selection show every year since 1988.  I’ve been hooked on basketball from my freshman year of college when Indiana won its last championship, and I’ve been holding out for a hero ever since (Steve Alford, it’s Bloomington calling on Line 2).  And I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest shocks of the 2016 bracket for me was when Oregon State’s name was called.  They were under the radar, and all in all, this was an up and down year for the Pac-12.  The normally dominant teams weren’t so dominant, and every time the University of Washington gave us a glimmer of hope, that hope receded quickly.  That said, I have an enduring mad crush on Andrew Andrews for his 4-year tenacity and stout leadership of a young Husky squad—fingers crossed that they go deep in the NIT!

It’s always a kick to out-pundit the pundits where the tournament predictions are concerned.  If a team is riding an 8-game winning streak will that propel them to the second weekend?  What if they have some returning players from previous tourneys?  Senior leaders?  Matchup nightmares? 54-year droughts?  Here are some armchair observations about the 1^st round games featuring Northwest teams, sprinkled with a frisson of hope that I get these right and win some Allstate insurance or a new credit cards or something.

Seton Hall (6) vs. Gonzaga (11):  Gonzaga is not used to being a double-digit seed, albeit they had trouble living up to their higher seeds in years past (see 2010-2014).  2015 was a great tourney for the Zags, and even though this wasn’t their best regular season, Coach Mark Few is a rock star, and will get these guys 100% prepared.  Kyle Wiltjer has a great basketball IQ and will be ready to shine on the big stage.  Seton Hall snuck in by virtue of their remarkable upset of Villanova and a lot of the talk this week has been about their star, Isaiah Whitehead. I think the more balanced team will prevail.  Prediction:  Gonzaga 82, Seton Hall, 70.

Oregon State (7) vs. VCU (10):  VCU garners some more name recognition than the average mid-major conference team, thanks to their success under Shaka Smart who was eventually persuaded to join the dark side (yeah, I said it) with the Texas Longhorns. Hate the behavior, love the person, I guess.  But back to the current VCU squad.  Interesting that VCU has a guy whose field goal percentage is 60.2%, but he only averages 7.5 points per game.  Maybe they should give him the ball more.  Speaking of name recognition, the Beavers feature this guy, Gary Payton II.  Basketball is literally in his DNA. Even though everyone was raving about how OSU went 9-9 in the conference, I’m not sure when a .500 record became a cause for celebration.  The A-10 is a gritty, determined little-conference-that-could, and the Pac-12 was the least powerful power conference this year. I’m picking the mild upset here between the 7 and 10 seeds. Prediction: VCU 77, OSU 72.

Oregon (1) vs. Holy Cross (16):  Crusaders’ coach Bill Carmody has been courtside for a darn long time, and brought the notorious “Princeton Offense” with him to Holy Cross.  This disciplined, methodical style has been known to vex opponents accustomed to a more up-tempo approach.  Oregon is capable of putting a lot of points on the board, with four Ducks averaging double-digit points per game.  Given that Holy Cross got some first round jitters out of the way in the First Four game, I think the first half of this 1 vs. 16 match-up will be interesting, but that Oregon will pull away in the second half. Prediction: Oregon 84, Holy Cross, 63.

Trust me. I’ll root like crazy for our Northwest teams.  Meanwhile, amuse yourself while you wait for Thursday’s tipoff by watching the Monmouth bench’s crazy fabulous dance moves.