Bay Area Sports Blog

First, congrats to the St. Mary’s Gaels, who made Gonzaga look silly in the WCC finals tonight to avoid the bubble drama from last year. Between the USF win in January and tonight’s dismantling, the Bay Area teams have given tourney foes plenty of fodder for beating Gonzaga. An early-round Zags exit? It’s college basketball, who knows. Whoa there, early March Madness pool latent frustration!

Second, congrats to Cal’s Jerome Randle, Pac-10 Player of the Year. He’s been destined to win since the seventh grade, so it’s about time.

Finally, congrats to former Golden Bears linebackers giving back. First it was Scott Fujita, who left New Orleans (for Cleveland) with a going-away present of half his playoff bonus. Half of that money went to Haiti relief, the other half to help New Orleans.

Then Zack Follett one-upped Fujita by stepping into a cage with a for-reals lion. He’s taking the “playing for the Detroit Lions” thing to its logical conclusion. Actually this video is meant to encourage donations for the Cat Haven Wild Animal Park near Fresno (Follett is from the area). Fast-forward to the 2:55 mark for some tense moments with the big cat.

While this might fire up support for the park, it’s certainly firing up the Detroiters who love their crazy linebacker. Says “Joey Ballgame“: “Dude is putting in time with the pride during the off season, f—– awesome. Can we make Zack captain and let him come out of the tunnel riding a lion before each game?” Yes, please.

They were partying in San Francisco last night after USF upset Gonzaga in overtime. Now the Dons are 8-14! Woot woot!

But seriously, this was a big win for USF. The Dons ended the Zags’ 27-game WCC regular-season win streak, and it’s their first win over Gonzaga in 10 tries.

Dior Lowhorn, the senior who transferred from Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech program in 2006, was the star. He hit five of seven three-pointers, including one with nine seconds left in regulation to send the game to OT. Lowhorn was excited along with the rest of the Dons after the game.

You always want to beat the No. 1 team that everybody knows about in your conference. The only team people think about is Gonzaga. … Gonzaga, Gonzaga, Gonzaga, Gonzaga.

So, Gonzaga?

The Dons fans got to rush the court after the game, though the live blog from the aptly named Rush the Court blog criticized the Dons fans for their listless behavior throughout the contest. “Honestly, the USF crowd is just as stunned about this as their team probably is. They’re not really sure how to go wild, as they’re mostly sitting around. Do they not realize they’re leading the #8 team in America with 3.5 minutes to go? And they’re 7-14 this year!?!?!!?” Maybe they were just waiting for the buzzer to make it all real:

Saint Mary’s star Patty Mills announced that he will not withdraw his nomination and will remain in the NBA draft.  In related news, the Gaels will be nationally irrelevant next season. “It was a tough decision for Pat,” SMC head coach Randy Bennett told reporters. “He’s thought about it. It’s not easy. He’s right on the cusp, so that makes it even trickier. But I’m excited for him. If someone in life is trying to chase a dream, it’s hard to do anything but support him. That’s where I am.” Mills, who will forgo the final two years of his eligibility, averaged 18.4 points per game as a sophomore. He is projected as a second-round pick. Contra Costa Times

Austin Burton says that while his size will scare some teams away, it shouldn’t, and Mills has first-round talent. Dime

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A 1-seed against a 2-seed. One team with quick guards who like to run, another with a myriad of scoring threats and a dominant big man. The underdog playing essentially in its home arena.

And a blowout.

Yep, the Badness finale almost exactly followed the script of the NCAA title game. Except that’s real and Badness is something we made up (No, really! Check out the intro to see the scientific parameters; also the first round and the Final Four). But who won? Was it the big bad dominant 1-seed? Or the upstart 2-seed?

The greatest Bay Area basketball team of all time is …

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Much like the real NCAA tournament, the Badness tournament is all chalk, all the time. You’re maybe wondering what, exactly, is this suspicious-sounding but clearly wonderful made-up tournament? It’s our attempt to determine the best Bay Area college basketball time of all time, ever, in history. Check out the intro and the first round for more.

The Final Four was the first chance for the top seeds to flex their muscles, and flex they did. The point guards shone as San Francisco dispatched Stanford and Cal blew out Santa Clara. Full recaps, updated bracket and more down below.

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St. Mary’s made a valiant comeback bid after falling behind by 16 points in the first half of its NIT quarterfinal game at San Diego State tonight, but ultimately came up short. As a result, Patty Mills won’t get to showcase his skills at Madison Square Garden and the Gaels won’t enter the pantheon of past NIT champions from the Bay Area. I think they’ll get over it. Here’s a look back at the elite company that St. Mary’s will not be joining.
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So that one tournament is wrapping up its supposedly exciting first weekend of action. But we here at Bay Area Sports Blog have been keeping our eyes on much more important tournaments. The NIT, because we’re having Curry for St. Patty’s day tomorrow, i.e. Moraga Madness, i.e. St. Mary’s vs. Davidson at 8:30 p.m. The CBI, because tomorrow is Shock ‘Em Stanford day, i.e. Kan-madness, i.e. Stanford vs. Wichita State at 5 p.m.

And we’re excited for Badness: The Ultimate Bay Area Tourney most of all, because we made it up. And we always value those things most. It was an exciting first weekend in the Badness, as long as you define “exciting” as “massive blowouts by higher seeds.” Stanford took on SJSU and Santa Clara squared off with St. Mary’s while top seeds USF and Cal await the winners next weekend. Below, find results, an updated bracket (compare to your own!) and full recaps.

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Well, the St. Mary’s bubble went all bursted today. And now the Gaels are causing fights between Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale. Never mind the schedule, the Gaels can blame Mississippi State. And Arizona. Arizona? Seriously? Are they just giving the Wildcats pity bids at this point? Nobody likes a pity bid. Cal gets Maryland in the first round and potentially Memphis in the second. Brutal. Enjoy your one weekend in the tourney, Cal.

But St. Mary’s fans shouldn’t fret: Your team is still alive in the Bay Area Sports Blog’s totally fabricated and completely irrelevent side tournament! Score! What is this glorious-sounding thing, you might ask?

We wanted to settle the whole debate about who has the best all-time basketball team in the Bay Area. Is it Stanford? USF? San Jose State? So we chose an all-time starting five for each team, we got the committee together to seed them, and we’ll pit them against each other over the next few weeks using the WhatIfSports simulator. Today, get a good look at the bracket and the starting fives for each team. Next week the tourney begins. Suggestions? Modifications? Leave them in the comments. Be sure to read the fine print first, though.

The fine print is this: WhatIfSports doesn’t have NCAA teams older than this decade, so we had to use the NBA simulator. That means we compiled teams of college stars using the stats from their best pro season. Does that sound illogical? Don’t think about it so much. Does this upset you? Screw you. Besides, one of the marks of success for a college program is its ability to produce pro stars, right? Oh, also, these are really the best teams of the last half-century because WhatIfSports stats start in 51-52. Finally, with these parameters some teams didn’t have enough players to field a starting five or a full 12-man roster, so we used repeat seasons from existing players.

Here are the lineups, with the pro season we’ll use in parentheses.

1-University of San Francisco Dons

C-Bill Cartwright 79-80

F-Bill Russell 61-62

F-Joe Ellis 69-70

G-KC Jones 55-56

G-Phil Smith 75-76

Bench: G Freddie Scolari 51-52; G Quinton Dailey 83-84; F Erwin Mueller 66-67; F Kevin Restani 79-80; G Winford Boynes 78-79; C Wallace Bryant 84-85; C Pete Cross 70-71

2-Cal Golden Bears

C-Darrall Imhoff 66-67

F-Lamond Murray 99-00

F-Shareef Abdur-Rahim 99-00

G-Kevin Johnson 89-90

G-Jason Kidd 98-99

Bench: G Phil Chenier 73-74; C Francisco Elson 06-07; G Ed Gray 97-98; G Charlie Johnson 74-75; C Michael Stewart 97-98; F Jamal Sampson 04-05; C Mark McNamara 83-84

3-Stanford Cardinal

C-Rich Kelley 78-79

F-Bob Bedell 67-68

F-Josh Childress 06-07

G-Todd Lichti 90-91

G-Brevin Knight 05-06

Bench: G Mike Bratz 80-81; C Jarron Collins 01-02; G Art Harris 68-69; G Casey Jacobsen 04-05; F Adam Keefe 97-98; C Jason Collins 04-05; G Paul Neumann 65-66

4-Santa Clara Broncos

C-Dennis Awtrey 74-75

F-Kurt Rambis 88-89

F-Ken Sears 59-60

G/F Carlos Ogden 69-70

G-Steve Nash 05-06

Bench: C Mark McNamara 83-84; C Nick Vanos 85-86; G Marlon Garnett 98-99; Nash 04-05; Nash 06-07; Nash 07-08; Rambis 89-90

5-St. Mary’s Gaels

F-Peter Thibeaux 85-86

F-Tom Meschery 67-68

F-Meschery 62-63

G-Frank Kudelka 51-52

G-Kudelka 52-53

Bench: Thibeaux 84-85; Meschery 61-62; Meschery 68-69 Meschery 64-65; Meschery 65-66; Meschery 69-70; Meschery 66-67

6-San Jose State Spartans

C-Coby Dietrick 76-77

F-Ricky Berry 88-89

F-Darnell Hillman 77-78

G/F-Chris McNealy 85-86

G-Tariq Abdul-Wahad/Olivier Michael St. Jean 99-00

Bench: F Tony Farmer 99-00; F Wally Rank 80-81; Abdul-Wahad 98-99; Hillman 76-77; McNealy 86-87; Hillman 78-79; Dietrick 79-80