Conference Winner: Gonzaga
The WCC reminds me a lot of the #10 Conference, the
Valley. Gonzaga is akin to Wichita State in that they’ve dominated for a
long time. The difference is that the Zags are going to win with their
bigs as opposed to their guards. Przemek Karnowski and Kyle Wilter
present one of the biggest inside/outside combo’s in the country and that’s not
taking into consideration who I think is their best player, Domantas
Sabonis. Sabonis, son of not your Vydas, nor my Vydas, but Arvydas
Sabonis has the skill set to best of all of them. Sure there are
questions marks about the back court but I like Kyle Dranginis and if the bigs
produce as they should they don’t need big numbers from them anyway. This
team is reverse west coast Wichita State. Elite Eight or bust
At-Large: BYU
Here’s the slight difference between the conferences as I
view BYU as a lock. Yes, they lost high scorer Tyler Haws but this year
begins and ends with Kyle Collingsworth. Yes, he can score, but it
everything else that makes him special. 8 rebounds and 6 assists per game make
a him a triple threat and he’s a solid defender as well. He had 6 triple
doubles last year! 6! A triple double in the high scorer NBA is bandied
about on sport center every night but tell me if you’ve heard of Collingsworth?
By the way, it’s an NCAA record.
Possible At-Large: Pepperdine
And back to the valley comparisons, here’s your MVC’s
version of Evansville. This is scary similar. A program that has
been down for a long, long time (we miss you Doug Christie). A program
that made a breakthrough last year. A team that returns all 5
starters….it’s eerie. The only reason I hesitate to put them in the
tournament is their weak non-conference which has only 1 team projected in the
tournament. They do have two shots at the Zags and a split is a
must. This is a bubble team for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment