Saint Mary's owns the East Coast Hype Duo

Move over Gonzaga, here comes the new Gonzaga! The Saint Mary's Irish Warriors (Gaels) put two of the most overhyped east coast teams in their place this week, as they managed to defeat both Richmond and Villanova, and they did this in Big East Country, in Providence, Rhode Island!

As you may recall, Saint Mary's had been left out of the NCAA tourney a couple of times in favor of some of the mediocre "Power 6", but this time, payback's a b*tch! :)

Speaking of the WCC, Gonzaga almost became GoneZaga, with "Tears of Ammo: Episode II" almost happening, but unlike UCLA, Florida State simply can't score, so the Zags held on and moved to the second round.

It is of interest to note that both these two WCC teams have solid centers, Omar Samhan for Saint Mary's and Sucre for the Zags...

Can Saint Mary's beat GoneZaga in the second half?

The final of the WCC conference tournament is at half time right now. Saint Mary's as usual is doing well at the half time mark. The big question is, can they do it in the second half? The Zags have had their number the last few years. Saint Mary's has more to gain with a win since they get a guaranteed NCAA invite, while the Zags only have to wonder whether their invite will come with a mocha or a latte ;-)

And whichever team loses is going to be yelling at the TV when "Dougie" does the postmortem analysis the game from the game :)

Is Randy Bennett the next California Berkley head coach?

This is speculative of course, but it was Herb Sendek's success in Year Two at Arizona State that got Jay John fired, and it is Sendek's success that will probably get Ben Braun fired at Cal. If Sendek can do it in two years, why is Ben Braun going sideways for 10+ years?

So why Randy Bennett? For one thing, he is just down the road at Moraga. He has been there for a while, and he has managed to built a top 25 caliber team at two different instances, so his earlier success was not a flash in the pan.

But the biggest reason why Cal should hire Randy Bennett as their next head coach: He looks like Herb Sendek ;-)

Saint Marys at Gonzaga

The battle for WCC supremacy was entertaining and fun! Up and down, up and down, despite Craig Ehlo ;-) The Zags only lost one WCC game so far, at Saint Mary's and this win gives them the regular season crown, on their own if they win on Monday, and a split if they win and the Gaels lose.

St. Mary's tries and fought hard against the crowd and home-cooking but Gonezaga was just too much to handle. Since the last time I watched the Zags played, they look like a much improved team. They may even win a game in the NCAA tourney again - as the underdog darling they used to be, before they became everyone's favorite Cinderella.

Why did the Zags look good? Depth and versatility! Pargo no longer has to carry the weight of the Zags world on his shoulders. He's got Tuff Cookie Bouldin and Gray to help with ball handling. Meanwhile upfront the team is loaded with different types of players, two athletic and rangy forwards in Daye and the Kansas transfer; a high-energy Lorenzo Mata-Real type in the Saint Joe's transfer (Kuso), two seven footers in Sucre and Foster, and a prodigal son in Heytvelt. But more effective of all is Pendo - the quintessential (not sure what it means, I was told to use it to make this post sound more educated) college basketball player.

But Saint Mary's is no chopped wood! They can play and they have their own depth. They also have played that force mismatches, from Diamon Simpson, to Patrick Mills to the space-eater Samhan, to the video game character coming off the bench ;-)

Both teams looked like at least NCAA bubble teams last year, although the battle for bubble spots will be ferocious this season. The way the WCC conference tourney is setup, these two teams are heading into a clash in the WCC conference tourney final on ESPN. All they have to do is win the semifinal. That's right, the top two teams start the conference tournament in the semifinals! CRAZY!