Day 1 of the WAC tournament eliminated all the pretenders and now we are left with just the top four teams in the league battling it out.  The first matchup will feature the number one seed Utah State Aggies taking on the number four seed Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.  The Aggies have played the part of the steamroller lately, and after dispatching Boise State yesterday 84-60 have now run their winning streak up to 16 straight games.  Despite the blowout score, Boise State tested the Aggies, forcing an uncharacteristically high 15 turnovers with a full court pressure defense.  Louisiana Tech will likely try to exploit this by pressuring the Aggies as well, probably using the same 1-3-1 zone we saw in a previous RTC Live that features 6’11 Magnum Rolle at the top of the key trapping Utah State’s much smaller guard line.  The key for the Bulldogs will be generating offense.  Kyle Gibson still does not look like his old self, scoring just seven points yesterday, but backcourt mate Jamel Guyton scored 31 to lead the Bulldogs over Fresno State 74-66.  If the Bulldogs can get that kind of offensive explosion again it should be a great game to decide who moves onto the championship game tomorrow.

In the night cap in the WAC tournament the homestanding Nevada Wolfpack will take on the New Mexico State Aggies.  Neither team had any trouble in the opening round here in Reno as Nevada blasted Idaho 87-71 and New Mexico State had no problems with San Jose State winning 90-69.  These two teams met just a week ago here in Reno and the Wolfpack won in a shootout 100-92, led by Brandon Fields ‘career high 32 points.  If Nevada is getting scoring in bunches from players besides Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson then it’s going to be a long night for New Mexico State.  The Aggies need to get some big numbers out of guards Jahmar Young and Jonathan Gibson, and find someone to slow down Luke Babbitt.  Expect another high scoring, and fast-paced matchup between these two, with the winner moving on to face Louisiana Tech/Utah State for the championship tomorrow night. The game is on ESPN2 so tune and follow along with us on RTC Live.

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We’re back at the Pac-10 Tournament for semifinal Friday night at the Staples Center.  Unlike most of the major conference tourneys that get to the semifinal stage, only one team — the Cal Bears — is safely into the NCAA Tournament.  The other three — UCLA, Washington and Stanford — are looking to steal an automatic bid from another team somewhere out there sweating in bubble-land.  For UCLA and Stanford in particular, it’s win or go home, as both teams come into tonight with losing records and will end their season with the next loss.  In the first semifinal, Cal will face UCLA in an interesting battle in that even though the Bears are the top seed, UCLA will undoubtedly have the home crowd advantage.  Ben Howland teams rarely miss the postseason and the two teams split the season series, so we should expect the Bruins to come hard at the Bears in this one tonight.  In the second game, Washington is one of Zach Hayes’ last four teams in at this point, but the Huskies don’t want to put the committee in a tough position with a cinderella like Stanford continuing on to the Pac-10 championship game.  For what it’s worth, Lorenzo Romar’s team found the matchups with Stanford very beneficial, beating the Cardinal by 17 in Palo Alto and 33 in Seattle.  Join us tonight for a couple of key games with respect to the bubble picture on RTC Live!

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No offense to the teams that got sent packing on Thursday, but these are the semis we really wanted anyway, clearly the four best teams in the conference advancing to square off with a date in the championship game awaiting. In the first session, top-seeded New Mexico got a huge performance by conference player of the year Darington Hobson but still had to hold off a pesky Air Force team, and they’ll advance to face a San Diego State team that had to get two late free throws by junior point D.J. Gay to keep their at-large NCAA tournament hopes alive. In the late session, BYU’s junior guard Jimmer Fredette scored a MWC Tournament record 45 points, including 30 in the second half to pull away from a game TCU squad and they’ll square off with a UNLV team that pulled away from Utah late playing in front of what is ostensibly a home crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center. Both of these matchups were a wash in the regular season, with the home team winning each game, but three of those four games were down-to-the-wire contests, with both Aztec/Lobo matchups very even games. We hope you’ll join us for what could be two classic, intense examples of the best March has to offer.

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We’ll try it again from Kansas City with a great doubleheader.  It’s the Big 12 semifinals with the Jayhawks taking on Texas A&M in the first one, and in the very same window about a half hour later, we’ve got Baylor against a K-State team that yesterday looked like the best team in the tournament.  Frank Martin joked yesterday about how he’s excited that he finally gets to use a second suit in the Big 12 Tournament, so we’ll see how it works for him.  More importantly, the quick turnaround is something each of these four teams is going to have to get used to in a few days.  No Cinderellas in the Big 12 Tournament this year — these are just four semifinal teams that are grinding it out for the championship of the best conference from this past season.  We hope you’ll join us, and by all means, give us a comment or two.  Let’s have some fun.

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For the fourth straight day, RTC Live will once again be present at MSG as we whittle down this behemoth of a conference to try and crown a champion. Four teams are left, as Georgetown takes on Marquette and West Virginia does battle with Notre Dame.

The Hoyas lost to Marquette earlier this year in one of the few nailbiters that Marquette won early in the season. Marquette is a much different team now; more confident, more prepared to play a close game. Believe it or not, both of these teams run similar offenses. They are both perimeter-oriented and thrive in a spread floor situation. But where Marquette creates open looks when their guards attack gaps and either get to the rim or find an open teammate, Georgetown is more likely to try to find a cutter after getting the ball to Greg Monroe in the post. Both teams seems to be playing some of their best basketball right now, but I think that the Hoyas win this. Georgetown, unlike Villanova, has good defenders on the perimeter.  Believe it or not, Notre Dame beat West Virginia in their first matchup this season, and it came before the Irish became Slo-tre Dame. ND jumped out to a huge lead on the Mountaineers before hanging on to win by two. I like the Irish again in this one. If there is anything that West Virginia really struggles at, it is scoring in the halfcourt. the Irish force you to play nothing but halfcourt basketball. So long as Notre Dame can compete on the glass, I think they win this and advance to the finals.

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Maryland versus Georgia Tech. Didn’t we just see Maryland reserve guard Cliff Tucker hit a buzzer beating three in College Park to knock off the Jackets just a few short weeks ago? We did, and here we go again. This time, however, it’s on a neutral court and Georgia Tech just played a hard-fought game yesterday to earn the right to face the Terps and Greivis Vasquez tonight. So what should we expect this time? Well, don’t expect Tech to roll over. They feel as if they had the last meeting between these teams stolen from them, and they will have something to prove. The question remains whether playing the day before will give the Jackets an advantage or if fatigue will cause their downfall late in the second half of what should be a tight, competitive game. Only time, and Georgia Tech’s legs, will tell.  Join us this evening for another edition of RTC Live from Greensboro.

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The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes are riding a wave of momentum into this semifinal matchup with the UTEP Miners, a wave they hope can carry them all the way to their first CUSA title. UTEP is by far the best team, and they proved that by sweeping the regular season series with Tulsa. However, the Golden Hurricanes have the huge advantage of playing at home in front of their own fans. But if Tulsa wants to defeat the Miners they will need more than just a house full of blue, they will also need a spectacular performance from their star center Jerome Jordan, similar to the game he had last night against Marshall (21 pts, 12 rebs, 4 assists, 3 blocks). His college legacy, along with everyone else on this Tulsa team, will be determined in large part by the outcome of this game. Derrick Caracter is the catalyst for UTEP’s success. If he plays the way he is capable, this team is virtually unstoppable. Will Tulsa overcome the odds and revive this season? Or will they be just another notch in UTEP’s belt? Join us on RTC Live to find out!

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The first round of the ACC Tournament is over, and it’s on to quarterfinal Friday. The first game gives us top seeded Duke versus #9 seed Virginia, a 68-62 winner over Boston College yesterday. Virginia will still be shorthanded, missing Sylven Landesberg and Calvin Baker, but they proved that they could be competitive without those two players by winning yesterday. Sammy Zeglinski poured in a season high in points to help the Hoos squeak into the quarterfinals. Tony Bennett will need more than just Zeglinski to get past Duke, however. Not two weeks ago, Duke handled Virginia easily by 18 in Charlottesville with Landesberg and Baker playing. So, how will head coach Tony Bennett approach the Blue Devils this time? With only a single day to prepare, we’ll just have to see come game time at high noon on Friday.

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Welcome back to RTC Live for another quarterfinal game at the Pac-10 Tournament from the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.  This city takes a lot of heat for a lot of different things, but they know how to put on a solid event, and the Tournament so far has been buzzworthy.  Tonight we’ll see if one of the league’s two bubble teams in Washington can continue to improve its resume for the Selection Committee by getting past an old foe, Oregon State, a team that the Huskies defeated twice this season already.  The Huskies are led by Pac-10 POY runner-up Quincy Pondexter, and many believe that he should have won the award over Cal’s Jerome Randle.  Oregon State has had a middling season, but the Beavers are capable of springing the upset, having won eight games in the Pac-10 this year.  This game is also a contrast in styles of play, as OSU is one of the slowest teams in the country in terms of tempo, while Washington looks to run on nearly every possession.  If you haven’t had enough hoops on this glorious day of college basketball across the nation, stop by with a coffee for a little late-night action.

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The night cap from the first day of play in the WAC tournament features the #3 seed New Mexico State Aggies versus the #6 seed San Jose State Spartans. New Mexico State comes into the tourney on a two game slide after losing at Nevada and Utah State when two wins would have meant a WAC championship. The Aggies have been a much better team since Troy Gillenwater and Wendell McKines became available during the spring semester, and combined with first team All-WAC player Jahmar Young, they make for a dynamic team capable of scoring in bunches. San Jose State counters with the best pure scorer in the WAC in Adrian Oliver (also a first team All-WAC player) and an odd lineup in which they will play up to four guards at once and try to push the pace of the game. New Mexico State also loves to play the uptempo game so expect each team to finish in the 80s or 90s. The winner of this game gets a semifinal matchup with the winner of the Nevada/Idaho on Friday night, while the loser packs up and hopes for a better season next year. Stay up late and see who can survive and advance to Friday night in Reno.

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