It’s not often (and by “not often” I mean “absolutely never”) that the #1 team in the nation appears during the first week of the CTC, but that is going to be the case here in 2013 (and, my thoughts on that are documented), as the Gonzaga Bulldogs are the AP’s #1 team in the country.  But, we have to sort through plenty of WCC riffraff before we welcome the Zags (or their tourney-bound conferencemate, St. Mary’s).  Gonzaga dominated the WCC yet again this year, as St. Mary’s was yet again the strong #2.  A solid year from Santa Clara wasn’t enough to crack the perennial top 3, as BYU held on to that 3rd spot.  The bottom of this conference was rather poor, with Portland and LMU having dreadful seasons, and San Diego ruining a promising season by not winning a game in the month of February.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 11th – 42 points)

#1 Gonzaga vs #2 St. Mary’s
The dream championship matchup in the WCC.  A St. Mary’s team that thinks they belong in the Dance against a Gonzaga team that thinks they belong as the king.  This should be an interesting test, as the one thing that Gonzaga may struggle with is perimeter defense, and SMC’s Matthew Dellavadova is one of the best guards in the country.  This is must-watch TV on an otherwise calm CTC day.

23 people have Gonzaga winning this tournament.  Stumpf is the lone dissenting opinion, as he has St. Mary’s.  A Gael win tonight will give him a 56-point gain over the entire rest of the field.  Stumpf’s St. Mary’s pick is good enough to take him to the 2013 WCC crown is they win.  If Gonzaga wins, GrossSr will win the WCC this year.

Gonzaga 65 – St. Mary’s 51
Do the right thing, Committee!  THIS is the #1 overall seed, my friends.  They were 5-0 against the Big XII, including wins at Oklahoma St. and K-State and neutral court wins over Oklahoma and Baylor.  They were a freak inbounds pass away from beating Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse with College GameDay there (the home team always wins with GameDay).  And, they have now beaten a really good SMC team three times – all pretty convincingly.  You really think this team wouldn’t have won the Pac-12 by 2 or 3 games?  I think they probably win the SEC and Big XII, as well.  Hell, I’d even take my chances with the Zags in the Big East.  The only conference I think that they don’t win is the Big Ten, but none of those teams has a better resume for the top seed.  Last night was another impressive performance for a LOADED front line, though it would have been interesting if Jorden Page had been healthy the whole game.

Everyone except Stumpf got this one right, with GrossSr taking the 2013 CTC WCC crown – his first in his inaugural season.

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 28 points each)

#1 Gonzaga vs #9 Loyola Marymount
After three crazy upsets by LMU, they get the pleasure of playing the #1 team in the nation.  I have been saying from the beginning of the season that this is the best Gonzaga team in program history, and now it seems pretty obvious.  But, this season will be defined by what they do in the next tournament, not this one.  But, it would be nice to complete a WCC title with a tournament win to lock up a #1 seed in the Dance.  They got lucky to not have to face solid Santa Clara or San Francisco teams, while instead they get a 1-15 LMU team that is playing their 4th game in 4 nights.  This might be the biggest upset in the history of conference tournaments if it comes through.

Everyone has Gonzaga winning this game, with 23 people taking the Zags to win the tournament.  Stumpf, the only one with St. Mary’s should be rooting for LMU here.

Gonzaga 66 – Loyola Marymount 48
Elias Harris goes for 21 and 8 in a very easy semifinal win for the Zags.

Everyone got this right.

#2 St. Mary’s vs #6 San Diego
The second quarterfinal upset of the night on Friday night was a 3-point USD upset of of BYU.  The Toreros, after beating Pepperdine in the second round and then BYU on Friday, will have to take on a very good Gaels team that still has work to do to assure themselves of another trip to the Dance.  Personally, I think St. Mary’s belongs, but I definitely understand the issues with their resume (namely, that they hadn’t beaten anyone until their BracketBusters win over Creighton), but I think that a semifinal win here should cement an at-large on this very soft bubble.  And, if they do get in, Matthew Dellavadova may become a household name – he’s that good.

GrossSr has the huge upset pick of San Diego here.  Dave and Doogan have both already lost this game with BYU.  The other 21 all have St. Mary’s, including Stumpf, who has them cutting down the nets.

St. Mary’s 69 – San Diego 66 (OT)
The Toreros kept Dellavadova in check for over 39 minutes, but he hit a game-tying three-pointer with :10 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime, where the Gaels hung on to advance to a great championship with Gonzaga.  Dellavadova only had 7, but Brad Waldow stepped up with 23 points and 16 boards to avoid a possible bubble-bursting loss for St. Mary’s and ended an up-and-down season for USD.

21 people got this right, but GrossSr was oh so close to a pretty big upset.  Dave and Doogan lost ground here, as well, because of their BYU picks.  The SMC win here was biggest for Stumpf, as he is the only one that doesn’t have Gonzaga winning the whole thing – he’s got St. Mary’s.

QUARTERFINALS (March 8th – 14 points each)

#4 Santa Clara vs #9 Loyola Marymount
If you haven’t seen Santa Clara play in the past season or two, and you enjoy guards who can flat-out SCORE, it might be worth checking out a Broncos game before Kevin Foster graduates – you’ll thank me later.  Foster – and a decent supporting cast – wound up playing a pretty solid “4th fiddle,” if you will, this year in the WCC behind the big boys of Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, and BYU.  He and his mates will open their WCC tournament on Friday night against a surprising foe.  They probably spent yesterday preparing for San Francisco, only to wake up this morning and find out that they have LMU on the docket in the quarters, as the Lions shocked USF Thursday night in an OT thriller.  The winner of this game will face #1 Gonzaga – not #1-seed…NUMBER ONE.

No one has Loyola Marymount in this game, but a few people (Doogan, Lazarow, Lynch, Scoot, Teddy, and Waters) all had USF here, so they are hoping for yet another LMU upset to zero out these points for everyone.

Loyola Marymount 60 – Santa Clara 58
MADNESS!!!  Anthony Ireland, who was huge all day, hits a driving layup with :05 seconds left to put the Lions up 1.  Then, LMU committed an AWFUL foul, sending an 80% free throw shooter to the line, who missed the front-end of a 1-and-1, and the Lions held on to continue this unbelievable run after a 1-15 conference season.  It’s hard to believe that it will last any longer, as they will play their 4th game in 4 nights against the #1 team in the country, who has a ridiculously big and physical front line.  I can’t imagine they have anything left, but, remember when Georgia won the SEC tournament including winning two games in the SAME DAY?  So, in this crazy, crazy month, anything can happen.  A great career of Kevin Foster comes to a close here in disappointing fashion

All those that picked San Francisco to beat Santa Clara (Doogan, Lazarow, Lynch, Scoot, Teddy, and Waters) here can breathe a sigh of relief, as no one will get points here.

#3 BYU vs #6 San Diego
The Jimmer is long gone, but there is still a Davies left from the Jimmer team, a Carlino left from last year’s team, and a new guy this year coming off a Mormon mission, Tyler Haws, who can absolutely LIGHT UP the scorebook.  The Cougars are probably a severe longshot to earn an at-large bid this year, but they are still one of the 50-75 best teams in America, at worst, so they are worth keeping an eye on here.  USD survived #7 Pepperdine Thursday night, but will have to play a lot better Friday if they are going to pull off this big upset.  The winner here will face #2 St. Mary’s in the semis on Saturday.

Six people (GrossJr, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Scoot, and Waters) have the big USD upset here in the quarters.  GrossSr has them beating St. Mary’s in the semis to reach the finals.

San Diego 72 – BYU 69
Upset City in the WCC Friday night, as 6th-seeded San Diego ended any hopes at the NCAA tournament for BYU.  Nothing about the last month of basketball at USD looked like a semifinalist, but nothing all year about LMU made them look like a semifinalist and they won the early quarterfinal.

Six people nailed this big upset pick, including GrossSr, who keeps alive another big upset pick next round.  Dave and Doogan each lost a finalist here.

SECOND ROUND (March 7th – 7 points each)

#5 San Francisco vs #9 Loyola Marymount
Remember Rex Walters draining 3’s for Kansas all those years ago?  Okay, well, I do.  Now, he’s the next up-and-coming head coach and he turned in a pretty solid season as the head man at USF.  The Dons could have done a lot more, if not for some really tough, close losses, but they still finished right in the middle of the league, behind four pretty good teams.  And, with no seniors on the roster and budding stars in Cole Dickerson and Cody Doolin, this team should be an upper-division team next year.  LMU officially snapped their brutal 14-game losing streak on Wednesday night with a win in the pigtail game against Portland, but they have a bigger test on Thursday with the Dons.

Caleb, Dave, GrossJr, J, and Mac have all already lost this game with Portland.  GrossSr, PapaCim, and Primm all have a really nice upset pick of LMU here.  Everyone else has the Dons today, with Doogan, Lazarow, Lynch, Scoot, Teddy, and Waters all taking USF to win today and then beat Santa Clara tomorrow.

Loyola Marymount 61 – San Francisco 60 (OT)
MADNESS!  After entering the tournament on a 14-game losing streak, the LMU Lions upset Portland in the pigtail game and now ended a relatively disappointing season for Rex Walters’s team at USF.  Cole Dickerson did his part for what should be a really good Dons team next year, adding 23 points and 18 boards in the losing effort.  LMU will move on to face #4 Santa Clara in the quarters on Friday.

GrossSr, PapaCim, and Primm hit a really, really nice upset pick here, as the three of them pick up a cool THIRTY-FIVE points on the rest of the field.  Six people had USF winning again in the quarters, so they lost a couple games tonight.

#6 San Diego vs #7 Pepperdine
It was quite the interesting season for San Diego.  For much of the early part of the conference season, the Toreros actually looked like they might be the team that, at least, put up a fight against the Big Three in the WCC.  And, never more did it appear that way than the first two weekends in February, when they played Gonzaga to a 2-point loss on the 2nd, then beat LMU on the road on the 4th, then BEAT BYU on the 7th, and finally played St. Mary’s really tough on the 9th.  But, something happened after that.  They lost 4 straight, including a head-scratcher to Portland and slippped all the way down to this 6-spot.  Now, they have a second round date with Pepperdine today and, if they survive that, they have to take on BYU in the quarters.  The Waves, on the other hand, continue to suffer through a down period in the program, which, honestly, I cannot even fathom.  If I were the best high school player in America and I could go to any D-I school, tuition-free, the most beautiful campus in the country would certainly make my short list.  Isn’t Malibu a pretty amazing recruiting tool in and of itself?  It would be for me (coming from the guy that chose Lancaster, PA, as his college destination…)

Bry, Lazarow, PapaCim, and Primm are the only ones to take Pepperdine in this one, while none of them have the Waves going any further.  GrossJr, J, Lynch, Scoot, and Waters all have San Diego winning today and tomorrow to reach the semis.  GrossSr is the biggest San Diego believer, as he has them going all the way to the finals.

San Diego 62 – Pepperdine 59
In a close game throughout, the Toreros of San Diego held on to keep their season alive against 7th-seeded Pepperdine.  The Toreros will move on to the league’s quarterfinal round on Friday night against one of the big boys – BYU.

20 people got this one right (including GrossSr, who is, unbelievably still perfect in this bracket), 5 of whom kept alive a semifinalist with the Toreros here.

OPENING ROUND (March 6th – 3.5 points)

#8 Portland vs #9 Loyola Marymount
These two teams were bad – really bad – but it was only a surprise for one of them.  Portland knew that they didn’t have much this year, but for LMU, with the apparent talent they have on the roster, to go 1-15 in conference play, including a 14-game losing streak to enter the conference tournament is really terrible.  They will try and salvage something here in the tournament, but it has to start with Portland here in the pigtail game – and it doesn’t get much easier, as Rex Walters’s San Francisco team awaits the winner of this game in the next round.

Eight people (Alex, Bry, Doogan, GrossSr, LohseJr, PapaCim, Primm, and Waters) have LMU in the minor upset tonight.  GrossSr, PapaCim, and Primm have Marymount winning again tomorrow.  Caleb, Dave, GrossJr, J, and Mac all have Portland winning again tomorrow.  No one has either of these teams reaching the semis.

Loyola Marymount 65 – Portland 54
14-game losing streak?  That is old news.  Loyola Marymount – picked to finish in the top-half of the league – at least was not the first team out of the WCC tournament.  A rebuilding Portland team can look towards 2013-14, while LMU will try and salvage a little more respect on Thursday against 5th-seeded San Francisco.

Eight people nabbed this upset pick, while GrossSr, PapaCim, and Primm all keep alive an upset shot in the 2nd round with LMU.  Caleb, Dave, GrossJr, J, and Mac all lost two games today with Portland.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1  Gonzaga (23)
• #2  St. Mary’s (1)

Biggest Upsets

• R2 – #9 Loyola Marymount (GrossSr, PapaCim, Primm)
• QF – #6 San Diego (GrossJr, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Scoot, Waters)
• SF – #6 San Diego (GrossSr)
• Champ – #2 St. Mary’s (Stumpf)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Waters
• 2009 – Ina (perfect)
• 2010 – Lynch
• 2011 – Bry (perfect)
• 2012 – Alexi

FINAL 2013 SCORES:

1. GrossSr (’13) – 154
2. Waters (’08) – 147
3. GrossJr – 140
4. J – 140
5. Lynch (’10) – 140
6. PapaCim – 140
7. Primm – 140
8. Scoot – 140
9. Alex – 112
10. LohseJr – 112
11. Alexi (’12) – 105
12. Bry (’11*) – 105
13. Caleb – 105
14. Cheryl – 105
15. Gersh – 105
16. Lohse – 105
17. Mac – 105
18. RDoc – 105
19. Rikey – 105
20. Teddy – 105
21. Lazarow – 98
22. Doogan – 84
23. Dave – 77
24. Stumpf – 63