Monday, March 10, 2008

Laz-E-Day

Today was another lazy day spent watching NCAA basketball from the comfort of my Laz-E-Boy.

I must say I was very happy to turn on ESPN this morning and see that they were showing a double order of WCC (West Coast Conference) basketball. This was the conference I played in while spending time in the USA and I still have close ties, and St Mary's currently have a few Aussies on their roster. Actually there is a nice sprinkling of Aussies throughout this conference.

Back to the games. Well my Gonzaga Bulldogs managed to scrap their way past a pesky Santa Clara (Steve Nash and Kurt Rambis territory, Jason Sedlock too for those ABA fans) team. SC has and Aussie on their squad as well. Ben Dowdell, the younger brother of Perth Wildcat Jeff Dowdell.

Dowdell may be a player that people want to keep an eye on in the upcoming years. Only in his first season with the Broncos he has logged good minutes and seems like he will only get better with time. A real energy guy right now, but I can see him developing into a All-Conference player in a couple of years. Boxscore

Onto the next game and St Mary's got out of the blocks fast on San Diego, but this became a double OT thriller BABY! (If ESPN replay this game, it is worth checking out!) Patrick Mills was solid without being flashy, but could not come up with the big plays down the stretch. He has done this numerous times for his squad this year, just not tonight.

It is nervous times now for St Mary's. They should make the NCAA tourney, but if there are too many upsets during conference tourney play, they may have to settle for the NIT (Not Invited Tournament) for post season action. Boxscore

Now For A Little Fun

I came across this website the other night. You may spend hours on it or just move on as quick as you went there. What is it? You punch in a players name and the system will spit out how that player has been in touch with the inventor of the game, Dr James Naismith.

It is like a six degrees of separation deal, only I'm ten degrees away. Good luck with it and waste away those frustrating working hours.

Now to my daily dose of NBL news. Besides his driveway, Chris Anstey's mantel piece will be filling fast. Today he was announced the Defensive Player of the Year. Former Croc and now a flying high Hawk, Cam Tragardh wins the Most Improved (court time) Award. Joey may do a 180, and the Tigers want to wrap it up in Melbourne.

This You Tube clip might have the Perth Wildcats thinking they recruited the wrong Shipp! The younger Shipp plays for the UCLA Bruins currently.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My sister went to the Syracuse v Pitt game the other week - The Orangemen were up 11 with less than 3 mins to go and lost by 5!

She said it was AMAZING! The stadium holds 30000 for bball and 50000 for football. The pics looks unreal - a sea of orange!

Anonymous said...

Hey JR - can you explain why there are 65 teams invited and not just 64?

Anonymous said...

Bad luck to those soft-cock zags today. Couldn't have happened to a bigger bunch of tools

John Rillie said...

DJ Rod:

The Cuse is one of the best programs in America and also best attended. Always around 30000 to watch the Orangemen go around.

As for 65 teams, about five years ago they extended the field to 65. The day before the full field begins in the tourney, the two worst teams play off to get into the field of 64.

It just allows one of the better teams to be in, instead of left to play in the NIT.

John Rillie said...

Anonymous:

You must be a disappointed Gaels fan. The is no doubting that San Diego played the best basketball during the tourney.

Now you will have to sweat it out to see if your Gaels make it. For the WCC's sake, I hope all three teams make it.