Utah Women’s Basketball Independent

“What is the Big 10?” was the question on Jeopardy! Thursday night for the clue “This numeric conference is stealing USC and UCLA, goddamnit.”

Bulldogs got the ball into Brynna’s hands with 6.3 seconds left, and she lost the ball.

Also, their player of the year took a shot to the shoulder, and landed face down.

I wonder what kind of seed Gonzaga gets now. Might be dreadful, an 8 or 9.

Watching from the library. First time out of my house for a week. Championship week, you know.

Maxwell’s shooting 2-for-8, 1-for-6, but Coach Fortier is smart enough to keep her out there.

Pilots turned 20 turnovers into 28 points.

Second straight year Pacific plays their best ball in March. Winner meets Gonzaga, who beat BYU 79-64 in the other semi, in the WCC championship game.

This Fowler kid playing for Portland sure is impressive.

Say Leger-Walker doesn’t miss four games, and the Cougars win all four of them. The top 8 then looks like this:

Stanford 15 3
Utah 14 4
Washington St 13 5
Colorado 12 6
Arizona 11 7
UCLA 10 8
USC 10 8
Oregon 7 11

It’s amazing how little changes. Washington St. doesn’t have to play Cal on Wednesday, but they still get UCLA and Utah, and if successful, Stanford in the final.

The team that benefits most from this imaginary scenario is Stanford, because they still get Oregon, but Colorado (or Arizona) instead of UCLA, then WASU in the final, whom they thumped 61-38 in season.

The loser in this what if? story is ESPN, who get a pedestrian 1 vs. 3 final instead of 5 vs. 7, which makes for a more intriguing broadcast (if not a better game).

In an effort to preserve some interest in the conference tournament, I note that the even-numbered seeds were all eliminated as soon as possible — #12 Arizona St. by #7 UCLA, #10 Cal by #7 Washington St., #8 Washington by #9 Oregon, #6 USC by #11 Oregon St., #4 Arizona by #5 UCLA, #2 Utah by #7 Washington St. — which includes the three teams who beat Stanford (Washington, USC, Utah).

The sharks are circling at Cal, where men’s coach Mark Fox is a few days from the end of the Golden Bears’ worst season ever.

The coach at San Jose St. is suggested as a good candidate to replace Fox, but they really ought to call Lindsay Gottlieb.

Coach Gottlieb has two years of NBA experience, she was in charge last time Cal reached the round of four at the NCAAs, and hiring her away from Southern Cal would 1) Get her out of the Big 10 and the road trips to Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey, and 2) Get her out of southern California.

At least I’m not stuck in Las Vegas.

In the online application for media credentials, it asks you which team you’re there to cover, with a checkbox “do you plan to stick around after they lose?”. I always check ‘yes’ because on my own dime, I can’t afford not to.

Like I said after the loss to Arizona, Utah’s inexperience shows after they achieve new plateaus. Their first loss was to Colorado after climbing to #8. The third loss to Arizona was after reaching #5. This loss comes after getting to #3.

Utah’s elimination by Washington State felt like a loss in the first quarter. If it weren’t for the Cougars’ excessive turnovers, it wouldn’t’ve been close at the quarter or the half.

It’s a little amusing that four of Utah’s five starters were named to the all-conference team or mentioned in balloting, but they were hampered in the absence of the one who wasn’t. Without Palmer at the 1, and Johnson benched by very early foul trouble, they’re not the same team. And in spite of that, they’re still within 3 in the last minute until Leger-Walker drops that off-balance NBA trey.

I can concentrate on schoolwork. Yay.