The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

vs UNC Wilmington: W 83-55
vs William & Mary: W 92-77

at James Madison: W 86-77
vs Georgia State: W 79-61

Notable: McCarthy finally returns from injury and goes back to his hot shooting ways. The Dragons' offense is clicing and going -- although the defense has gotten a bit lax. Surrendering 77 points to James Madison was a big surprise, but Drexel had previously clinched the CAA with its victory over William & Mary. Cottrill continues his outstanding play off the bench, and Coach West notched 100th win in less than 3 seasons.

First and Second to Close Out the Season

The Dragons began their 15-1 tear through CAA play with a convincing victory over Hofstra, but with the regular season title wrapped up all the Dragons had on the line was pride. Well, pride and an RPI ranking of 10 to mantain (yet the Dragons are still only predicted to be a 6 seed). Meanwhile, the Pride of Hofstra is deadlocked in a three way tie for 2nd place in the CAA, and a win could help them clinch a more favorable seed.

But while the game started close, the Dragons' faltering defensive effort over the past month finally caught up with them. The Pride slammed the door on Drexel's regular season 97-71.

The game was actually close for the first 25 minutes. Hofstra stayed close with knock out distance shooting, while Drexel once again leaned on its inside game. But then the Pride got more aggressive on defense. They started to force turnovers. They packed the paint and completely shut down the Dragons ending the game on a 22-4 run.

The flat finish to the game could have big implications for the Dragons going forward. Not only does it put an end to Drexel's 11 game conferene win streak, but it also could give other teams a blueprint for how to shut down the Dragons just in time for the CAA tournament. Of this could be also just be a blip on the radar screen -- but Drexel can't be happy to finish the season with a thud.

Feb 26, 2011 - DREX at HOF
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
Drexel (26-4)	47	24	71
Hofstra (15-11)	49	48	97

Drexel
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
P. McCarthy	21	2-5	1-4	0-0	0	12	1	0	1	5
D. Richard	20	0-1	0-0	2-4	0	1	0	0	0	2
J. Payton	21	2-8	1-4	0-2	4	0	0	0	2	5
D. Sow	17	5-10	0-0	3-4	11	0	2	2	2	13
F. Ramsey	15	6-13	0-0	3-3	2	0	0	0	1	15
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
T. Cottrill	21	7-9	0-0	2-4	4	0	2	1	1	16
D. Marsh	13	1-1	1-1	1-2	1	5	0	0	1	4
G. McLaughlin	12	3-7	0-1	0-0	6	2	0	0	0	6
S. Manojlovic	7	1-3	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	2
J. Learner	3	1-1	0-0	1-1	0	0	0	0	0	3
R. Burnette	-- DID NOT PLAY --
A. Quick	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		28-58	3-11	12-20	28	20	5	3	8	71

Hofstra
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
G. Gross	21	6-12	2-6	4-4	4	6	0	1	1	18
D. Barlett	21	7-9	3-3	0-0	3	2	3	0	0	17
S. McLendon	22	3-6	3-3	4-4	2	7	0	0	1	13
R. Irvin	26	6-10	1-3	0-0	3	3	1	1	1	13
J. Jeffers	16	4-12	1-3	1-2	4	0	1	1	1	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
D. Havens	15	2-6	0-0	2-2	6	0	0	1	0	6
F. Samuels	10	1-1	0-0	1-2	3	0	0	1	0	3
V. Wilkerson	4	1-1	0-0	1-2	4	0	0	0	0	3
R. Brown	4	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	2
E. Northcutt	11	5-6	1-2	0-0	0	5	0	0	1	11
P. Bilbo	-- DID NOT PLAY --
S. Nwaukoni	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		36-64	11-20	14-18	29	23	6	5	5	97

Coach West: We've been having trouble stopping teams lately, and I've been telling our players that they need to stop messing around and buckle down. Seriously, we can't joke around. Hofstra came to play, and they finished the game. I'm the only one to blame if our players took the other team lightly and came unprepared, but we cannot do this song and dance again and again. We need to play defense up to our ability...consistently.

[TDenverFan]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Ouch! Tough loss. I think, however, that you have had a pretty solid regular season and playing in the CAA, you will get a decent auto-bid

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Ouch! Tough loss. I think, however, that you have had a pretty solid regular season and playing in the CAA, you will get a decent auto-bid

I'd be inclined to agree, especially considering the resume the team has steam rolled together this season.

End of Regular Season Resume

Record: 26-5 (16-2)
RPI: 22
Last 10: 9-1
Vs. Top 25: 1-1
Road/Neutral: 14-4
Home Streak: 5 games
RPI 1-50: 2-1
RPI 51-100: 2-0
RPI 101-200: 11-4
RPI 201+: 11-0
Predicted Seed: 7



Final Standings

CAA Final Standings Conference Standings - Updated: Mar 3, 2014
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	GB
Drexel	26-5	.839	16-2	-
Hofstra	15-11	.577	12-6	4
VCU	18-10	.643	11-7	5
Towson	16-12	.571	11-7	5
Delaware	15-13	.536	11-7	5
George Mason	12-16	.429	10-8	6
UNC Wilmington	16-13	.552	9-9	7
Old Dominion	14-13	.519	9-9	7
Georgia State	13-16	.448	7-11	9
Northeastern	8-22	.267	4-14	12
William & Mary	7-22	.241	4-14	12
James Madison	5-23	.179	4-14	12

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Tournament

First Round
#8 Old Dominion 86 #9 Georgia State 81
#5 Delaware 90 #12 James Madison 59
#6 George Mason 53 #11 William & Mary 58
#7 UNC Wilmington 67 #10 Northeastern 72

Although there were two upsets, the only real stunner was Northeastern's victory over UNC Wilmington. The Seahawks had a strong early regular season run, but it looks like they carried their backwards momentum from the end of the season with them into the tournament. Meanwhile, George Mason finishes off their very disappointing season with a close, low scoring loss to William & Mary. Now they get to wonder what might have been if they had gone after Coach West for last year's coaching vacancy.

Second Round
#5 Delaware 80 #4 Towson 83
#11 William & Mary 55 #3 Virginia Commonwealth 77
#10 Northeastern 61 #2 Hofstra 64

The early results all have one thing in common: chalk chalk & chalk. The Tigers, Rams, and Pride all showed why they ended the season at the top of the standings. Although VCU was the only team to win comfortably, all three teams were able to keep the tournament pressure from getting to them. For them, it's win or go home, and Towson gets to wait and see if its next opponent will be the powerful #1 seed or the scrappy #8 seed.

#1 Drexel vs #8 Old Dominion

After last week's loss, Coach West preached one thing to his Dragons: "defense." He worked them hard, he made them run, he made them sweat, but it was clear that the Hofstra loss had gotten to him more than he let on in the media.

"Coach made us run, but you know he's right," commented team captain Joshua Payton before the game, "We can score with anybody. But that's not always going to get the W. We need to D it up, it's one and done the rest of the way."

And from the onset, it was clear that West's message had been received. It wasn't Perry McCarthy's lights out shooting that carried the Dragons -- most of his 5 threes came in the second half. It wasn't Femi Ramsey's inside scoring presence that carried the load -- he had to sit out half of the first period with foul trouble. No, it was Drexel's suffocating, tenacious, game breaking defense that crushed the Monarchs before they had a chance to make the game competitive. Drexel held Old Dominion to a meager 14 first half points on the way to a convincing 91-49 victory.

The Dragons got contributions from across the floor. Payton and Richard continued to show why they're such good defenders on the wings, and Cottrill did an excellent job of maintaining the intensity while coming in for Ramsey during the first half. Meanwhile, the Monarchs were forced into bad shots -- especially with Diaz trying to win the game by himself instead of getting his team mates involved. Aaron Scott was the only Monarch to put up any kind of respectable performance on both ends of the floor, but by the time he started making a contribution in the second half the game was already well out of reach.

Drexel advances to the CAA semi-finals to take on #3 seed Towson. The Dragons have already beaten the Tigers twice this season.

Mar 5, 2014 - ODU at DREX
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
#8 Old Dominion (15-13)	14	35	49
#1 Drexel (26-5)	50	41	91

Old Dominion
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
B. Braxton	23	0-5	0-4	0-0	0	4	2	0	7	0
J. Munir	21	3-8	0-1	2-2	4	3	1	0	1	8
V. Diaz	21	3-14	1-3	4-4	1	2	0	0	2	11
A. Scott	22	5-8	1-1	3-4	11	0	1	0	0	14
J. Yeager	15	1-1	0-0	1-2	6	0	0	0	1	3
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
M. Akpan	15	1-5	0-1	2-2	1	1	0	0	1	4
R. Stehly	15	1-3	0-1	3-4	4	1	0	3	0	5
J. Hicks	10	1-6	0-1	0-0	1	1	1	0	3	2
A. Larson	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B. Carlisle	5	1-3	0-2	0-0	1	1	0	0	0	2
S. Rogers	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0
B. Chan	1	0-0	0-0	0-2	0	0	0	0	1	0
TEAM TOTALS		16-53	2-14	15-20	29	13	5	3	17	49

Drexel
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
P. McCarthy	21	6-10	5-6	0-0	1	5	2	0	3	17
D. Richard	19	3-4	0-0	3-4	2	1	1	0	0	9
J. Payton	21	3-9	0-3	1-2	5	3	0	0	2	7
D. Sow	21	4-8	0-0	2-4	11	3	2	2	0	10
F. Ramsey	19	9-13	0-0	0-0	3	2	2	4	0	18
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
T. Cottrill	17	4-7	1-1	2-3	4	0	1	1	0	11
D. Marsh	14	4-6	1-2	1-2	1	2	2	0	0	10
G. McLaughlin	11	2-3	0-0	2-2	3	2	2	2	2	6
S. Manojlovic	5	0-3	0-1	1-2	1	3	2	0	0	1
J. Learner	2	1-2	0-1	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	2
R. Burnette	-- DID NOT PLAY --
A. Quick	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		36-65	7-14	12-19	31	22	15	9	7	91

Coach West: You just don't win by 42 points -- not in a conference tournament. But that's exactly what we did, and that's entirely because we were doing everything right. We moved with the ball. We moved without the ball. We ran through screens and moved from the perimeter to the paint. It's not that Old Dominion did not play well or did not having a good game plan going in -- instead it's that we had the right energy and took the game away from them early. We just need to keep this up. I'd love to limit opponents to under 20 points a half every game.

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Tournament

Semifinals
#3 Virginia Commonwealth 86 #2 Hofstra 71

The VCU Rams look to be peaking at the right time and finally living up to their early season promise. After stumbling a bit in conference play, they continue their romp through the CAA tournament with their second blow out victory. The Hofstra Pride went down big early and could not manage a consistent offense in the second half to threaten a come back. Meanwhile, the Rams will play the winner of Drexel and Towson for the CAA's auto-bid to the NCAA tournament. With a series of bad losses in conference play, VCU likely needs to win the whole thing to get an at large bid despite notching their 20th win for the season -- although an at large NIT bid for the Rams is not out of the question.

#4 Towson vs #1 Drexel

There seems to be two themes for the Drexel Dragons this tournament: Femi Ramsey getting in early foul trouble and ratcheting up the defense on the opposition. Both happened for the second day in a row, and this time the Dragons overcame Ramsey's lack of discipline in the first half to limit the Tigers to 17 points in the first half. Unfortunately, although their on ball defense was excellent for a second straight game, their offense could not get the ball in the hoop. And despite Towson bringing the game to within single digits late in the 2nd half, the Dragons advance to the CAA finals by a comfortable margin: 63-45.

Although Okpwae continued to be a strong presence in the middle for the Tigers, the Dragons were still able to get to the basket and make shots. They needed all the interior work they could get, as Drexel laid a bunch of bricks from the outside. The cold shooting was led by McCarthy, who followed up a hot shooting night with a meager 1-6 from beyond the arc, and by far the worst shooting performance of Joshua Payton's career. Coach West continued to give him the green light to shoot hoping he'd shoot his way out of his rut. Instead, he shot himself straight into a doughnut with 10 misses.

Fortunately for the Dragons, their offense was just good enough to compliment their outstanding defensive outing -- one that was highlighted by an emphatic swat by Sow of James Flash's driving layup while the Tigers were mounting a come back. His 6th swat of the game sent the ball deep into the stands, and someone almost got to go home with a nice souvenir from the tournament.

Instead, the lucky fan will have to be content with watching the VCU Rams and Drexel Dragons duke it out in the CAA final. The Dragons won the only meeting between the two teams earlier this season, but they will face a stiff match up against a Ram team that is playing it's best ball of the season.

Mar 6, 2014 - TOW at DREX
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
#4 Towson (17-12)	17	28	45
#1 Drexel (27-5)	35	28	63

Towson
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
T. Chapman	28	3-7	0-2	0-0	0	5	0	0	4	6
D. Green	24	5-10	1-1	0-0	3	4	2	1	2	11
A. Giergen	18	2-9	0-1	4-7	1	0	0	2	1	8
J. Flash	18	2-8	0-2	0-0	4	0	1	1	0	4
E. Okpwae	21	3-9	0-2	0-0	8	0	1	2	3	6
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
D. Cowen	19	1-3	1-3	2-2	2	1	0	0	1	5
F. Crumbley	9	0-5	0-2	1-2	2	0	0	0	1	1
S. Augustin	10	1-2	0-0	0-0	2	1	0	0	0	2
M. Geddes	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	0
R. Carlson	-- DID NOT PLAY --
D. Conor	-- DID NOT PLAY --
C. Warzynski	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		18-54	2-13	7-12	25	11	4	5	12	45

Drexel
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
P. McCarthy	22	4-10	1-6	0-0	1	4	1	0	2	9
D. Richard	18	4-10	2-5	1-2	2	2	2	0	1	11
J. Payton	22	0-10	0-6	0-1	3	1	1	1	1	0
D. Sow	21	6-11	0-0	0-0	11	1	1	6	1	12
F. Ramsey	17	4-9	0-0	3-4	7	1	0	3	1	11
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
T. Cottrill	19	2-4	0-0	1-2	5	1	1	0	1	5
D. Marsh	12	1-2	1-2	2-2	2	4	0	0	1	5
G. McLaughlin	11	3-3	1-1	1-1	3	1	0	1	2	8
S. Manojlovic	5	1-2	0-1	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	2
J. Learner	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
A. Quick	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
R. Burnette	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		25-61	5-21	8-12	34	16	7	11	10	63

Coach West: I'm pleased with our defensive effort, and I'm glad we have really been able to crank up the intensity for the tournament. I'm not too concerned about our shooting -- Peyton and McCarthy aren't usually off on the same night, but we managed. They'll be fine for tomorrow's game -- I really have to give credit to Towson's back court for limiting our guards' space and ability to catch and shoot. I'd love to see us get more assisted baskets, but once again the credit goes to Towson -- who is one of the best defensive teams in the conference.

[McLite]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Just read this from post #1...great read!

I'm still playing 2k8 and love it. Dartmouth to Colorado ST to UConn so far. I'm closing in on season 10 and just passed 200 wins and will keep playing for who knows how long.

Go Drexel!

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Just read this from post #1...great read!

I'm still playing 2k8 and love it. Dartmouth to Colorado ST to UConn so far. I'm closing in on season 10 and just passed 200 wins and will keep playing for who knows how long.

Go Drexel!

Cool, glad you liked it. Thanks for your support too -- it helps keep me motivated to post. And grats on your 200 wins!

Tournament Final

Conference tournaments seem to do no favors to Coach West no matter what squad he is coaching. He has a knack for making deep runs, but at the same time he always finds the best team in the conference waiting for him near the summit. In the MEAC it was Morgan State. In the CAA the most talented team, at least on paper, is VCU. Led by likely lottery pick Cornelius Neale, the Rams are a dangerous foe and are playing the best basketball of the season at the right time.

However, the Rams and Dragons are far more evenly matched than the Norfolk State Spartans and Morgan State Bears ever were. And with an RPI that is just outside of consideration for an NCAA berth, the Rams have everything to play for tonight. The Dragons are in regardless of the outcome, but there's no doubt they would love to bring home the CAA championship for the first time in over a decade.

In their only match up of the season, the Rams and Dragons had a defensive battle that was only decided once Drexel managed to pull away. Considering the brand of defense Drexel has brought to the tournament and the outpouring of points VCU has laid on its opponents, who knows how this game is going to turn out.

#3 Virginia Commonwealth vs #1 Drexel

It was a fast start for Femi Ramsey. With eight quick points in the opening minutes of the game, he set the tone for the Dragons before an all too familiar sound erupted in the arena: the ref's whistle. For the third game in a row, Ramsey was sidelined with foul trouble and was turned into a non-factor.

Fortunately for the Dragons, the team is composed of far more than their star center. And although Neale and company put up a valiant effort that included a dramatic second half come back, the Dragons were carried by super-frosh and CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Duncan Sow on the way to a 82-67 victory.

Sow averaged 14.7 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks for the tournament, but he saved the best last with a strong nose for attacking the basket and stopping penetration. And with Ramsey picking up two quick fouls to start the second half, it was on the supporting cast to rise to the occasion as well. Tracey Cottrill filled in very well in Ramsey's place, and the Cottrill-Sow duo combined for a game changing 42 points.

But the game was not as simple as working the ball in the paint. Although the Dragons entered the 2nd half with a comfortable lead, their inability to hit shots from a distance began to catch up with them. Peyton and McCarthy continued their cold shooting, and the Rams got hot and began to defend the paint well. Fortunately, Richard and Marsh were able to nail some important mid-range shots, and VCU's 5 point deficit quickly climbed back to 9, then 14. They could not keep up. Tonight was the Dragons' night.

In the end the better team won on the floor tonight. But where will the Dragons go from here? They tried to make some noise early in the season with a string of impressive upsets -- but the world gave nothing but a shrug. Will they be able to make some noise in the tournament and force people to pay attention? Will VCU be there with them?

Those questions and more will start to be answered Selection Sunday.

Mar 7, 2014 - VCU at DREX
TEAM	1ST	2ND	SCORE
#3 Virginia Commonwealth (20-10)	30	37	67
#1 Drexel (28-5)	46	36	82

Virginia Commonwealth
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
C. Neale	27	4-13	2-7	8-10	0	3	1	0	0	18
L. Ervin	24	4-10	0-2	3-3	3	1	0	0	0	11
J. Klatsky	22	1-9	1-4	3-6	6	3	3	1	1	6
J. Reddic	17	0-4	0-2	3-4	5	0	0	1	0	3
D. Haley	20	5-11	0-0	3-4	5	1	1	0	1	13
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
R. Brandenburg	20	3-10	2-6	3-4	5	3	1	0	0	11
J. Opong	10	1-3	1-1	0-0	2	1	0	0	0	3
H. Houston	7	1-5	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	2
B. Norman	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
L. Polk	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
J. Laksa	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
J. Skiovlocke	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		19-65	6-22	23-31	29	13	6	2	2	67

Drexel
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
P. McCarthy	22	0-6	0-6	0-0	1	11	1	0	1	0
J. Payton	21	1-5	0-2	0-0	2	0	0	0	0	2
D. Richard	18	6-10	0-1	0-0	2	1	0	0	0	12
D. Sow	19	9-12	0-0	4-7	18	0	0	3	1	22
F. Ramsey	9	5-9	0-0	0-0	3	2	1	3	0	10
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
T. Cottrill	21	6-12	1-2	7-7	7	0	0	2	4	20
D. Marsh	13	3-6	1-2	2-3	2	2	0	0	1	9
G. McLaughlin	13	1-2	0-1	0-0	4	0	0	0	1	2
S. Manojlovic	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0
J. Learner	5	0-0	0-0	2-2	0	1	0	0	1	2
R. Burnette	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	0	0
A. Quick	1	1-1	1-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	3
TEAM TOTALS		32-63	3-15	15-19	39	20	2	8	9	82

Coach West: I really hope VCU can make it to the big dance. They're a VERY good team and deserve to be there. And I'm proud of how our guys bought in to what we were doing here. It's a credit to our team that they were able to get together so well, integrate all the new parts, and climb from near the bottom of a very tough CAA to the top. But we're not done yet. Trust me, we've got a lot of basketball left to play.

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Final Tournament Resume

Record: 29-5 (16-2)
RPI: 12
Last 10: 9-1
Vs. Top 25: 1-1
Road/Neutral: 17-4
Home Streak: 5 games
RPI 1-50: 2-1
RPI 51-100: 2-0
RPI 101-200: 14-4
RPI 201+: 11-0
Good Wins: vs LSU (RPI 3), vs South Florida (RPI 39), @ Florida State (RPI 62)
Bad Losses: vs Old Dominion (RPI 166), @ Hofstra (RPI 163), @ Norfolk State (RPI 121)
Predicted Seed: 5


RPI Top 25

As Tournament season approaches it's time once again to look at the RPI rankings at the close of the conference tournaments. While the RPI has remained volatile throughout the season, this should give a first snap-shot of where to pencil teams into the bracket. Of course, the selection committee has the final say.

NCAA RPI Rankings - Updated: Mar 13, 2014
RK	TEAM (VOTES)	RECORD
1	Florida	26-6
2	Tennessee	25-7
3	LSU	26-7
4	Connecticut	26-5
5	Cincinnati	27-6
6	Providence	26-8
7	Alabama	23-10
8	Ohio State	26-5
9	UCLA	25-7
10	Missouri	25-7
11	Arizona State	24-7
12	Drexel	29-5
13	Wisconsin	20-10
14	Stanford	23-10
15	Boston College	20-9
16	Louisville	25-7
17	Texas	24-8
18	Kentucky	22-10
19	South Carolina	17-14
20	Georgia	16-13
21	Houston	27-7
22	Duke	22-13
23	Memphis	24-6
24	West Virginia	20-12
25	Ole Miss	18-12

Providence, Wisconsin, and Houston should all be rewarded for their successful seasons with very high seeds. Meanwhile, other teams have some question marks floating around them. The one that stands out the most is Georgia. I cannot remember a time ever where a 16 win team got an at large bid to the tournament, but it could happen if the Bulldogs make the field this year. And that nugget is a perfect segue to the...

Tournament Bubble Watch

Georgia 16-13 (RPI 20)
Ole Miss 18-12 (RPI 25)
Arkansas 19-13 (RPI 35)
Marquette 25-13 (RPI 38)
Virginia Tech 19-11 (RPI 42)
Loyola Marymount 22-10 (RPI 45)
Saint Mary’s 23-10 (RPI 48)
Utah State 22-8 (RPI 50)
Saint Joseph’s 20-12 (RPI 53)
Gardner Webb 26-6 (RPI 64)

While it would be great for smaller conference teams that have had great regular season success to make the tournament (see Utah State and Gardner Webb), there just seems to be too many high quality teams above them. All of these teams are worthy, but with only a field of 65 there are so many spots. So it goes for squads that can't take care of business in the conference tournament. Time to sweat it out. Of course, not every team needs to sweat it out. The committee is proud to announce the top four seeds for the 2014 NCAA Tournament:

The Top Seeds

Hmm...Drexel already has a scalp of one of the top four teams. That can only bode well for them come seeding time.

[Getty51]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Heck of a run there. Ramsey getting into such bad foul trouble doesn't bode well for a tournament run, maybe it is a blessing that he didn't play much in the conference tourney and he goes nuts in the NCAA tournament.

[crques]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Well, I'm sure my boss wouldn't be too happy knowing that I've spent the last 45 minutes of my day here at work sifting through 18 pages of your wonderful dynasty. I'm really enjoying this and definitely will be following now that I'm up to snuff on things. Great job!! I haven't played College Hoops in a while, but you've inspired me to dust it off and give it a go tonight. Hopefully my wife and kids will cooperate and fall asleep early so I can get a few hours of gaming in.

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

@ Getty: I can only hope so. When Ramsey is on the floor he's great. But he can't score and swat from the bench.
@ crques: I'm glad you're enjoying it, and welcome back to CH 2k8! It has a lot of staying power, that's for sure.

Selection Sunday

Ready to make some dreams come true and shatter some others? It's time for the big dance, and without further ado here is the fruits of the Selection Committee's labor for everyone to devour and digest:

East Regional

#1 Florida vs Play In (New Mexico and Jackson State)
#8 Michigan v #9 South Carolina
#5 Boston College v #12 Fairfield
#4 Wisconsin v #13 Austin Peay
#6 NC State vs #11 Virginia Tech
#3 Providence vs #14 North Dakota State
#7 La Salle vs #10 Marquette
#2 Missouri vs #15 Wagner

Outside of the top two seeds, each higher seed in this regional has some question marks. There could be a couple of upsets by lower seeds -- especially with a team like Fairfield that's been deep in the tournament before. However, many have to be disappointed with seeing North Dakota State, who has been strong all year, draw a 14 seed and a very tough match up with Providence. Finally, Missouri is probably the only team in the region that can compete with Florida for a spot in the Final Four. Expect one of those two to advance.

South Regional
#1 Connecticut vs #16 Colgate
#8 Oklahoma vs #9 Xavier
#5 Kentucky vs #12 Appalachian State
#4 Alabama vs #13 SC Upstate
#6 Saint Louis vs #11 Utah State
#3 UCLA vs #14 Kent State
#7 Maryland vs #10 Harvard
#2 Cincinnati vs #15 George Washington

Next we turn to what is probably the most stacked regional with a lot of traditional power teams. Look for the highest seeds to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, but Connecticut got no favors by drawing traditional powers Cincinnati, UCLA, Alabama, and Kentucky as the top five seeds. There's no telling who will break through. Meanwhile, Utah State crashes the tournament party the WAC despite losing its conference final. The committee must have recognized the quality of the Aggies and they're going to give Saint Louis a run for their money. Meanwhile, other bubble teams have to be sweating it out now.

Midwest Regional
#1 Tennessee vs #16 Sam Houston State
#8 UAB vs #9 West Virginia
#5 Stanford vs #12 Western Kentucky
#4 Houston vs #13 Hawaii
#6 Duke vs #11 Ole Miss
#3 Louisville vs #14 Boston University
#7 Wake Forest vs #10 Georgia
#2 Arizona State vs #15 Gonzaga

Tennessee finds itself atop what is probably the biggest enigma of the regionals. The top four seeds are all strong squads, but both Wake Forest and Stanford need to show they can perform in tournament time after early exits in their conference tournaments. Meanwhile, Duke is a sneaky 6 seed, and Arizona State will have its hands full against a talented but disappointing Gonzaga squad who managed to run the table in WCC Tournament. Finally, expect many pundits to cry foul because Georgia broke into the field as a 10 seed despite only having 16 wins on the season.

West Regional
#1 LSU vs #16 Radford
#8 Southern Illinois vs #9 Michigan State
#5 Texas Tech vs #12 Florida State
#4 Memphis vs #13 Long Beach State
#6 Drexel vs #11 Valparaiso
#3 Texas vs #14 Morgan State
#7 Kansas vs #10 Oregon State
#2 Ohio State vs #15 Montana State

Finally, LSU finds itself in the other very strong regional. Whoever escapes from here will be battle tested -- and LSU and Ohio State for the regional final would be an amazing marquee match up. But do not overlook defending national champion Texas -- they are just as hungry this year and can no longer be labeled as the "young squad" -- especially after returning all five starters. Also, look for a possible upset at the #12 seed here -- Texas Tech has been inconsistent since February before stunning many by winning the Big 12 Tournament. On the other hand, Florida State really came on strong after some January injury trouble to win the ACC Tournament.

Bubble Watch

Teams In:
Georgia
Ole Miss
Marquette
Virginia Tech
Utah State

Teams Out:
Loyola Marymount
Saint Mary’s
Arkansas
Saint Joseph’s
Gardner Webb



Seeding Reaction

What else is there to say? A six seed for a mid-major is pretty impressive. But, on the other hand, look at Drexel's body of work. Something is amiss. An RPI of 12. Twenty-nine wins on the season. Strong play in two out of conference tournaments. A victory over a #1 seed on a neutral floor. A fantastic run through the CAA tournament. All that, and the Dragons have yet to sniff the AP or Coaches Top 25 and get seeded far lower than their RPI suggests. What else are the Dragons supposed to do? Pay off the committee? At least Drexel managed to draw a very winnable first round match up against Valpo, but if the Dragons win will they have to face defending national champion Texas or the very familiar Morgan State Bears?

Coach West: We're not just happy to be here. Looks like our guys still aren't getting the respect they deserve. Yeah, seeding is a number and it's time to play the games, but we earned our RPI with quality wins -- not by gaming the system. As I've said before -- making it to the NCAAs is only a step. It isn't the goal. And it's time we forced the nation to pay attention on the biggest stage.

[TDenverFan]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

I always feel like the RPI over ranks mid-major teams, AP is fair, and Coaches under ranks mid-majors.

As SDSU:
27-3 Regular Season (89 ovr, 84 Unity)

RPI: 1 (!?)
AP: 14
Coaches: Unranked

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Who's Laughing Now? Not Guy West

"To be honest, if things had gone the way I planned I would not be here today. I'm not going to say 'Things happen for a reason' -- I hate it when people say that. But I am very thankful that Drexel gave me an opportunity, and I'm doing my best to take advantage of it as best I can."

Those were Coach Guy West's comments when asked about a recent revelation from an unnamed source that he had approached Norfolk State about wanting to stay before his contract expired and he was cut loose. And maybe it is a good time for retrospection for the folks in Norfolk. Many have begun to publicly question the Norfolk State AD's decision to let their coach go, especially in light of Drexel's single digit seeding under Coach West while Norfolk State will miss postseason tournament play after three straight years of it under West.

Norfolk State took a step back in its first year under Coach Hobbs. After striking down Drexel on their home floor, and after some public gloating by the Norfolk State AD, the teams have gone in two entirely different directions. The Dragons went on to lose only two more games for the entire year. Meanwhile, the Spartans finish 20-10 but only 13-5 in the conference. What's worse, the Spartans were one-and-done in the MEAC 2nd round -- getting taken out by Florida A&M.

When asked about his thoughts on his old school, West gave what appeared to be a genuine assessment. "Norfolk State is going to be fine. We had our fair share of close calls when I was there, that's for sure. But they're still a very young team. But they won't get discouraged -- they know that getting into a postseason tournament isn't automatic. They're going to grow together and they're going to be just fine."

Be that as it may, the Spartans did see a bit of a down-tick from their top performers. Greg Seymour and Jerold Doss finished tied for the team lead in scoring with 15.4 points, but their rebounding numbers were down to 4.5 and 7.2 respectively. Jamar Ball (77 OVR!) is the favorite for MEAC Freshman of the Year, but he only averaged 6.8 PPG and needs to get more involved in the offense because he can shoot from anywhere on the court. Meanwhile, Tom Friend -- who expressed some frustration at his role on the team towards the end of the season -- worked hard enough to notch up 8.6 PPG despite never starting and only playing 11 minutes per game.

When asked further about his old team's performance, West responded, "We scouted for them and played them early this year. I've been too busy to really follow them much outside of the occasional box score. The team's got great, stand up guys. I know that because that was a requirement for bringing them in. But I have enough work preparing for the NCAAs -- not dwelling on the past." He had a similar response when asked about the Norfolk State AD (who was not available for this story).

However, West was happy to discuss the teams from his pool for the first two rounds of the NCAAs. The Dragons travel to Tampa, FL -- a city they already played in early this year for the Palm Tree Invitational.

Valparaiso: "I have a lot of respect for Homer Drew and his coaching style. His teams always work hard, but they're disciplined enough to change up the game plan on the fly. But my respect goes even a little further than that. I can still remember sitting as a teenager in front of the TV and seeing my first ever buzzer beater huge upset with Bryce Drew's shot to knock out Ole Miss. It's still burned in my brain, and really cemented my love for college basketball."

Morgan State: "Ah, the familiar Bears. They may have lost their two stars to the NBA but their run through the MEAC and Tournament are a testament to the value of senior leadership. They're still a good team, and they transitioned very well from their old coach moving to Houston. Their game all started with Black at the point last year, and that much hasn't changed except that now he's a monster. It could be a good match up between him and Texas' back court. Black is a very tall 1 and can be really tough to guard."

Texas: "What can you say -- they're the defending National Champions. They've been here, they know what it takes to make it through the tournament. But what makes them really scary to me is not the fact that they returned all five starters or the fact that they started two juniors and three sophomores last year. No, what scares me is just how deep their bench is. Real deep. Coach Barnes has put together a heck of a team building from both the outside and the inside. If you try and shut down one part of their game, they'll just kill you with another."

According to ESPN's Bracket Challenge, 91.3% of the entered brackets have Texas advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, with 8.3% of them having Texas to win it all. By comparison, only 68.0% of brackets have Drexel making it out of the first round against Valparaiso -- making them one of the more popular upset picks of the tournament. Pundits have pointed to Vaplo's star PG Jordan Harris' match up over Junior College transfer Perry McCarthy and the fact that Valpo starts 3 seniors to Drexel's none as classic red flags for an upset. But Coach West has a different take on the Dragons, who are currently favored to advance by 7 points,

"I think we got a good draw here in Tampa because all of the teams we could face are good teams. There are no pushovers, and we'll be tested no matter who we face. But this Drexel team believes, and this team can play with anyone. It can play with Morgan State of Valparaiso. It can play with Texas. We can play with anyone. We're a better team now than we were when we beat LSU months ago. But all of that does not matter if we don't take care of business in Round 1."

[waytofailself]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

I always feel like the RPI over ranks mid-major teams, AP is fair, and Coaches under ranks mid-majors.

As SDSU:
27-3 Regular Season (89 ovr, 84 Unity)

RPI: 1 (!?)
AP: 14
Coaches: Unranked

I wonder if RPI is a static formula in the game like it is in real life? I assume that it is, but don't feel like going through all the math and data to attempt to check.

[VandyRedskins21]

Re: The Accidental Career of Guy West (CH2k8)

Wow that was a really good write-up for the preview of the tournament. Can't wait to see the results!

Edit: I think I might know the outcome of this..

Edit #2: NEVERMIND..