Tournament tests
Gonzaga made its case for a No. 1 seed with a comfortable win over St. Mary’s on Monday night. We can not offer much insight because we were neck deep in the hodgepodge and entertaining mess that was J.R. Ewing’s funeral. Good times.
As we hit tournament week, we’ll pause for one second to make sure Stuck and Chas are properly hydrated and don’t hyperventilate.
There are three types teams this week: Teams needing to state a tournament case for inclusion; Teams needing to state a tournament case for as high a seed as possible; Teams needing to state a tournament case by winning their conference tournament. Gonzaga – which has a definite Bad News Bear quality to it, right down to the questionable Kelly Leak/Kelly Olynyk hair choice as your best player – made their statement; St. Mary’s left their fate to the tournament committee (we think they are in, but Sunday will be a little stressful since the game was pretty one-sided).
That said, if the experts – Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi – are to be believed, the Zags’ win did not affect other bubble teams too much because St. Mary’s is listed as a 10 seed by each.
Jerry P has Tennessee, Iowa State, Kentucky and La Salle as his last four teams in the tournament, and if his ranking of “on the fence” at cbssports.com is any indication, he has the Vols as the last team. Joey Brackets has a boss nickname that screams gambling street cred and has La Salle, Boise State, Kentucky and Virginia has his last four in and Tennessee, MTSU, Ole Miss and Baylor as his first four out.