CTC Day Three: A West Coast Pigtail

Is there a chance the the WCC is actually underrated these days?  When Gonzaga was becoming almost as cliche for an underdog as Cinderella, the thing that was lost on people was that, yes, it was a great story of a small program having big-time success, but it wasn’t as Hollywood as it sounds.  In the beginning it was everything you’d think, but after a few years of success The Zags had a great coach who wasn’t going anywhere and, more importantly, they had BY FAR the most resources and best facilities in the WCC, so it would have taken a, forgive me, Gonzaga-ish upset in the WCC tournament for them not to make the tournament.  But, now, with the building up of several programs to try and compete with the Zags and the theft of BYU from the M-West, this conference is, all of a sudden, really, really good.  And, Gonzaga’s success is probably a lot more impressive these days than it was in the days of Matt Santangelo, Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison, and Robert Sacre (…wait, Sacre’s still there?!?).  Well, this year, they decided to add a pigtail round to their already interesting double-bye format, giving us even more intrigue and originality in the tournament brackets this year.  Well, that pigtail game is tonight, before we will add two new teams to the field in each of the next three nights.

Championship Picks
5 for #1 St. Mary’s (Alexi, Bry, J, Primm, Teddy)
11 for #2 Gonzaga
1 for #3 BYU (Gross)
1 for #4 Loyola Marymount (Mac)

Biggest Upsets
R1 – #9 Santa Clara (Bry, Dave, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RSmith, Teddy)
R2 – #9 Santa Clara (RSmith)
QF – #6 San Diego (RSmith)
SF – #5 San Francisco (Dave)

Previous CTC Champs
2011 – Bry*
2010 – Lynch
2009 – Ina*
2008 – Waters

#8 Portland vs. #9 Santa Clara
Santa Clara, picked 5th in the preseason and finished 8-5 in the non-conference has had an absolute nightmare of a conference season, finishing an embarrassing 0-16, 3 games behing 8th-place Portland.  But, the Broncos have been playing better as of late and the Pilots have lost 6 in a row themselves.  The winner of this game will get #5 San Francisco tomorrow night in the second round.  7 people went with the mild upset tonight (Bry, Dave, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RSmith, and Teddy).  RSmith has the most at stake, as he has Santa Clara winning tonight and tomorrow over San Fran.  Nobody has Portland going any further than Round 2.