Not that it was the plan. I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid volleyball — that is not my modus operandi and it never will be. But my school has the rare privilege of hosting NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments this weekend. It's only about the third or fourth time that this has happened for any school. If you remember my discussion of how the Division II volleyball tournament was organized, the basketball tournaments work the same way. There's eight regions of eight teams, held on the home court of the top-seeded team. Our men's and women's teams were both #1 in the region. And this after our men won the national championship last year. I sure do like to talk up WWU volleyball, but I guess when it comes down to it, we're a basketball school.
And you could fill a thim—well, not a thimble, I guess, I do know the basic rules, but maybe you fill a child's tumbler with what I know about basketball. So I never frequently went to games back when I was a student. A few here and there. But both NCAA tournaments? A 14-game festival over 5 days? I had to check that out, just for the experience. And, to be sure, whatever volleyball I didn't cover tonight, I also won't cover tomorrow.
I'm pleased to say the experience was everything I hoped it would be. It was fun seeing teams from sort of far away come play at our gym. It was also interesting to see Grand Canyon, in their last days as a Division II team, also considering I've written about their male volleyball team recently. Fun as well to see Chaminade, who turned probably the biggest upset of the college basketball season by defeating the Texas Longhorns (Division I Texas) at their storied home invitational in Maui. I watched that game on ESPNwhateveritwas and I enjoyed it greatly.
Much to my surprise, the PA announcer was the same guy who replaced me at volleyball. I guess he's the voice of Carver Gym now. I can't really critique his work too much today, since I really don't know basketball very well, but he really seemed to phone it in for three games (I keep wanting to say matches) prior to Western's. Now I have done something somewhat like that before — one year we hosted a volleyball invitational, and there were 6 matches in one day and I think 4 the next. It was a crapload of volleyball. Midway through, I sort of devolved into saying "Kill for Jane Smith, point for <team nickname>," in my zombified state as I saved up energy for Western's upcoming match (the home team always plays the last match of the day). But at no point in any of the preliminary games did he come anywhere close to how he sounded during Western's match. All he did was mumble the name of the guy who scored or fouled, and even that it wasn't every time. Just seemed a little tacky to me.
(Am I being too hard on this guy? I feel I may be towing the line)
Despite most of the teams having to fly in (we're here at not-quite-Canada in the top-left corner of the contiguous States, and there were teams from Arizona, California, Utah, and Hawaii), they all brought traveling fans as well, which was a lot of fun to see. I always love seeing people who passionately support their team.
As mentioned, don't expect incisive analysis of the games themselves. Seattle Pacific blew out Grand Canyon in the first game. The others were more competitive, with Cal Poly Pomona beating Chico State and Cal State San Bernardino beating Dixie State both by single digits. I was actually happy CSUSB won, because they lined up as our (generally I hate "we" and "our" in use by sports fans, but when it's your national team or your alma mater, I think it works) second-round opponents. I just remember that little rivalry we had with them in volleyball a few years back, so matching up with them again would be all the sweeter, to no one but me 😛
Then came our match with Chaminade. And the house was PACKED. I have never seen Carver Gymnasium so full. Maybe not every seat was taken, but awfully close to it, and lots of people standing. That was another great thing about it, most of the home fans (the student section and those around it) stood the whole match. So did I. It was fun. Our team didn't really play any defense until late in the game, but boy did we light up the scoreboard. It was 52-48 at halftime, and 102-85 was the final.
And tomorrow it starts again! I'm so looking forward to it (I enjoy women's sport generally more than men's). I hope the place will be packed and rockin' again tomorrow night, but I'm a realist. I know it won't be. There's actually a couple of perfectly reasonable reasons why — the women aren't defending national champions, and next week are final exams at the university. Though I'm sure even if all else were equal, the women would draw a smaller crowd.
That's K, though. Fewer bodies = less heat, and it sure was hot toward the end there!
So consider this notice of a two-day sabbatical for me from volleyball. It's also made me make another decision, that I'll make known shortly (tomorrow or Sunday sometime). Just hope my throat and voice can make it one more night!
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