Boy am I glad Gonzaga got their just desserts and lost to a good Wyoming team last night. All the bitching and moaning they and the media did for them was nauseating. Dont believe the hype. The fact is they are a decent team probably in the top 20-25 range but they receive far too much credit. Their conference is pathetic and only they and Pepperdine finished above .500 from it. What about teams like Kent and Tulsa who play in much tougher conference and put up similar records but go largely ignored by the pollsters and the talking heads. Gonzaga is simply a media creation and that creation went down in flames tonight.

GONE-ZAGA INDEED.

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha

well I respectfully disagree. 29-4 is "media creation?" Don't think so. The Zags had an excellent season, and I for one am proud of who and what they are. They are still winners in Spokane baby!

Pure Schadenfreude.

I'm more upset that I picked the Zags to go to Sweet 16.

The selection committee had a hard-on for Gonzaga. Not only did they give them a far lower seed than their record warranted, and even a lower seed than their "RPI" warranted ... but they seeded them just low enough to make them play a high-altitude team (Wyoming Cowboys) at a high altitude location (Albuquerque).

You folks in the East Coast posse don't really understand the significance of altitude, but if this team was like the other Gonzaga teams (talented not very deep), then altitude would be crucial. The air does have less oxygen up there and you do tire much more quickly at high altitude. Let the boys in Mountain Time explain it to you.

Gonzaga was not over-rated. No more so than Southern Cal. Having to play at high altitude against a team conditioned for those conditions would be tough for just about everybody in the tournament. I can think of at least #1 seed (Kansas Jayhawks) that would've lost to Wyoming at high altitude last night.

Charlie, I agree with you on the altitude thing, but not sure the selection committee would take all that into consideration. Altitude does make a difference in some cases. But obviously not this year for teams from Utah... they SUCKED playing at home or away. Altitude sure never helps the Jazz and the Nuggest that much since they are the only two pro teams that have the "altitude" advantage.

Altitude? Bwahahahahahahaha.

No excuses accepted here. They got beat because they weren't the dominant team many wanted to think they were.

Cyd: respectfully, I for one am not offeering any, except to say the better team yesterday was Wyoming. Thats it. No excuses.

i think for the second time ever on this board,
i agree with cyd vicious. altitude is a pretty lame excuse. kansas always chokes anyways so they aren't a good example of who also would have been upset by wyoming. after hearing the annoying song
about dickau, i got kind of fed up with this squad. is he trying to be a model or a baller?
long live the true cinderellas out there.

p.s.-the conspiracy theories have got to go.

jay orig is the illest

[quote]Originally posted by Cyd at Outsports:
GONE-ZAGA INDEED.

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha

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Hey--"Gone-zaga" is my line!

It's in this thread.

I'm not going to make or accept any excuses but I still believe that the selection committee did a HORRENDOUS job this year in seeding the teams -- and this not only applies to Gonzaga but plenty of other teams that were given FAR too favorable seeds and site locations in relation to their regular season (AND post season) performances....not to sound cynical or bring up any conspiracy theories but it certainly makes me wonder how much politics (and cash?) were involved in determining which undeserved teams got rewarded with HOME games....how else can anyone justify Pittsburgh, Texas, and Southern Illinois being given virtual home games while teams with far more impressive records were sent packing -- Ohio State comes immediately to mind....did the fact that the Buckeyes WON the Big Ten tournament and tied for the regular season conference championship account for anything other than a bid itself?!....it makes me wonder if the committee even bothered watching any of the post season tournaments last weekend or whether they spent four days on the NCAA expense account sunning themselves at the hotel pool after "phoning in their seeds" two weeks earlier?....the millions of knowledgeable and enthusiastic college basketball fans throughout the country deserve far better than having their schools fate determined by ten imbeciles who may have sold their votes to the highest bidder....fortunately, this STILL has the makings of another exciting two and a half weeks of march madness despite the "efforts" of the selection committee.

As far as Gonzaga is concerned, while I won't claim altitude was a factor in their loss, I believe the Zags season-long successes merited not having to play a highly underrated Wyoming team (which I said BEFORE the seedings were announced) in what amounted to a virtual road game in front of an overwhelmingly hostile crowd in New Mexico....how was Pepperdine (who the Zags defeated in BOTH the regular and post season) allowed to play in Sacramento and the aforementioned Texas and Pittsburgh squads given a chance to play in their own back yards while a superior Gonzaga team with 3 TOTAL LOSSES throughout the regular and post season combined was forced to face a VERY tough team on the road?....no one will convince me that the committee didn't intentionally have it out for Gonzaga, perhaps because they felt the Zags received far too much national publicity (are you sure Cyd wasn't on the committee? ....sorry, Cyd, nothing personal of course -- just couldn't resist).

This should take nothing away from the great defensive performance of Wyoming who held the normally hot shooting Zags (or should I say Bulldogs?) to nearly 25% from the floor....I know that I'll be pulling for the Cowboys for as long as they remain in the tournament....too bad they were placed in the far too lopsided West Regional, whose array of high quality teams (i.e., Oklahoma, Arizona, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Xavier, Gonzaga, Wyoming) surpasses the other three regions COMBINED IMHO....I'd love to see the Cowboys knock off Arizona on Saturday though - Go Pokes!

I'm of the opinion that the NCAA just needs to go back to the way things were. They got 'some' teams close to home but others had to travel a great distance still. The new process isn't consistent enough, not to mention, some of the teams being seeded higher or lower than they should.

first of all how can you knock on Pitt...they won the Big East regular season championship and they lost like 5 games. Their BE schedule kicks the crap out of Gonzagas lowly WCC schedule. To say Pitt as a third see and with a 27-5 record did not deserve to play at home and Gonzaga is more deserving of them is simply a crock. What have you been smoking. Pitt has been a dominate team all season long. They deserve to play close to home!! Get your facts straight. The fact of the matter is if a team is good enough they will be able to win whatever their seed. Gonzaga could not handle an 11 seed so why would you think they could have handled a higher seed in the second round.

hey, scarlet knight -- I'll be kind and not even mention about Rutgers losing to Yale at home in the NIT (no offense intended there - just couldn't resist )

seriously though, I wasn't trying to rag on Pitt unfairly but rather was attempting to point out the selection committee's blatant inconsistency in terms of where teams were seeded and the location of their early round games....personally I think the Panthers DESERVED a #3 seed and would love to see them make it to the Final Four from the South Region (although I still think Duke will )....I am just strongly opposed to ANY team playing on their home court or city in the NCAA tournament -- I think it creates a far too significant advantage when the majority of other comparable teams have to play at neutral sites (or worse, in some cases).

I still can't understand why the NCAA "braintrust" changed this policy after last season....I remember going back to the 70s-early 80s (if memory serves me correctly) before the BIG tournament television contract surfaced (anyone think CBS doesn't have some say in when and where teams play when they are paying BILLIONS for the "privilege" of televising March Madness?) and the NCAA intentionally had teams play early round games on their HOME COURT -- in an effort to boost attendance, among other reasons....then after a few complaints from top seeded teams who were ousted while playing in the underdogs actual arena (Dale Brown's low-rated LSU team comes to mind when they pulled off a shocking upset IN Baton Rouge) the NCAA came to their senses and made a clear-cut policy that NO team could play at HOME in ANY round of the post-season tournament....understanding that some geographical "advantages" will still apply (Duke and UNC playing in Greensboro, for example) Texas, Pittsburgh, and even top-seeded Maryland should NOT be playing in their back yards this weekend -- and I am a FAN of Gary Williams and the Terps.

Sorry if you took offense at my earlier post, scarlet knight....it wasn't intended in the manner in which you apparently took it....I've enjoyed your insightful and enthusiastic comments chronicling the Scarlet Knights successes all season....this season must have been the most exciting days at the Rack since the time when Tom Young was coach.

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Potentially adding insult to injury, it looks like Gonzaga coach Mark Few is on the Washington Huskies' short list of replacements for Bob Bender, who'll be fired today.

It doesn't matter where the games are played to me. It doesn't matter what your seeding is to me. Great teams find a way to win. You think Duke or Maryland would not beat Wyoming in Denver? This is about finding a National Champion - and Gonzaga obviously wasn't that team this year.

[quote]Originally posted by Cyd at Outsports:
It doesn't matter where the games are played to me. It doesn't matter what your seeding is to me. Great teams find a way to win.

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I agree with you, Cyd. (Quick somebody feel my forehead, I MUST have a fever!)

i think Gonzaga is still a good team, you have to remember if they were seeded correctly, they would not be playing a team of Wyoming in the 1st round, The Cowboys gave Arizona all they wanted last weekend.
Hate to see everyone jumping off the bandwagon once they lose. i still think they are a top 10 team

It doesnt matter how good Wyoming was...Gonzaga if they were a top 10 team like you say should be able to beat them in the first round. By losing in the first round they prove they are not legit. Its not like Wyoming was a great seed..they were 11th for petes sake and deserved to be there. Gonzaga just isnt that good.