Hoops

Well, with the loss yesterday, the Bears are firmly in position of participating in the NIT, and going for Ben Braun's second National Championship (yes, according to Rod Benson, Ben considers his NIT championship a National Championship).

I think there is no doubt that the Bears make the NIT. They currently are rated 87 in the RPI, and have shown the ability to beat teams that are very good. They have three players that will be NBA bound at some point, presumably. So they would be a good show. And, yes, they even draw well - the 8800 average is more than your typical NIT team.

That being said, I guess the victory against the Huskies was a good one. They were able to keep their record over 500, which is the sort of basic guideline for making the post season.

That was a good game. Ryan Anderson, while he looked tired, he also took the game in control and put it away for the Bears, particularly on the inbound play with less than 30 seconds left and two seconds on the shot clock, and him banging a three.

Also, while he didn't play that well, it was clear that Boykin was pumped up to be in the postseason. It seemed like he was the only one who cared on the bench. So what if he fouled out. He was excited to do it. We need more bears pumped on the sidelines, waiting to get in and bang around. It was fun to sit behind the bench and see him getting jacked up at the end of the game. Hopefully he can develop his game a bit and become a leader for the Bears next year.

The UCLA game was another story. They clearly were the better team and there was no pretense this time of the Bears even being in it.

As far as the rest of the Pac 10 goes, I think it is clear that UCLA, Washington State, Stanford, and USC are in. Arizona is probably in as well, even though there has never been a team with a losing record in Pac 10 to make the tournament. But Arizona's RPI is fairly high, and they did have injuries this year, which are now better. Oregon is probably also safe at RPI 56, one of the last four in.

Arizona State is in an interesting position. They have a lousy RPI, at 82. Cal is at 87, for example. But they have beaten a lot of very good teams, and are ahead of two other Pac 10 teams that are most likely tournament bound - Arizona and Oregon - in the Pac 10 standings. They also swept Arizona. The issue with Arizona State is that they do not have a winning record against top 200 RPI teams. The worst team that they lost to was Illinois (RPI 127, 14 and 18). But they also lost to Cal, Nebraska, Washington - all teams that are not going to make the tournament. So not glaring losses, but still did not have the out of conference slate that would have pushed them to the top. They did have a good win against Xavier (RPI 8). But no team has ever gotten into the dance with a losing record against the RPI top 200.

But say the committee does take them - that would mean 7 from the Pac 10, which would be a record. That is kind of neat.
In any event, I think that this clearly was the toughest year I can remember in the Pac 10.

GO BEARS!!