matt bouldin – Rush The Court

What’s Wrong With Gonzaga?

rtmsf — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:34:25 +0000

Michael Vernetti is an RTC contributor.

“What’s wrong with Gonzaga?” is a question heard more and more throughout college hoops. It is not surprising considering the Zags’ unusual 15-9 overall record and shocking 5-3 mark (4th place) in the West Coast Conference that it has dominated for the past decade. When any powerhouse team goes into a slump there are myriad reasons, and the same could be said about Gonzaga. Focusing on two major ones, however, helps put the Zags’ current woes into perspective. Simply put, the Zags are suffering from the loss of two players and a vacuum [...]

RTC Region by Region Tidbits: 03.22.10

rtmsf — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:59:30 +0000

Each day this week during the regional rounds of the NCAA Tournament we’re asking some of our top correspondents to put together a collection of notes and interesting tidbits about each region. If you know of something that we should include in tomorrow’s submission, hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

West Region Notes (Andrew Murawa)

Lower-seeded teams like Cornell, Washington, Northern Iowa and St. Mary’s advancing to the Sweet 16 surprised college basketball fans all over, but Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was not among them, saying that “there’s not a big gap” between teams in [...]

First Round Game Analysis: Friday Evening

rtmsf — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:55:24 +0000

Over the next two days in a series of separate posts, RTC will break down all 32 of the first round games using our best analytical efforts to understand these teams, the matchups and their individual strengths and weaknesses. Our hope is that you’ll let us know in the comments where you agree, disagree or otherwise think we’ve lost our collective minds. Here are the Friday evening games.

7:10 pm – #8 Gonzaga vs. #9 Florida State (Buffalo pod)

This is a very tough game to call, so let’s start with what we know [...]

RTC Region by Region Tidbits: 03.16.10

rtmsf — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:08:32 +0000

Each day this week during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament we’re asking some of our top correspondents to put together a collection of notes and interesting tidbits about each region. If you know of something that we should include in tomorrow’s submission, hit us up at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

South Region Notes (Patrick Sellars)

The first “upset” of the tournament occurred in the South Region when SWAC champion Arkansas Pine-Bluff took down the Big South tournament champion Winthrop, 61-44. The Golden Lions earned the right to play top seeded Duke on Friday night. When #9 Louisville [...]

RTC Bracket Prep: West Region

rtmsf — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:43:24 +0000

This is the third of our four quick-and-dirty region breakdowns. This will serve to help the quick triggers who like to fill out their brackets first thing on Monday morning. For the rest of you, we’ll be providing more detailed game-by-game analysis throughout the rest of the week.

Energy Solutions Arena Hosts the West Regional

Region: West

Favorite: Syracuse, #1 seed, 29-4. Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orange is the favorite in this region by a good margin. His team has lost their last two games and there are whispers that center Arinze Onuaku may not be [...]

Set Your Tivo: 03.08.10

THager — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:32:00 +0000

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live **** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home *** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later ** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2012 * – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

CAA Championship: Old Dominion vs. William & Mary – 7:00 pm on ESPN (****)

This neutral site [...]

WCC Tournament Preview

rtmsf — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:13:54 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

Final Standings (through games of 2/27/10)

Gonzaga 12-2 (24-5) Saint Mary’s 11-3 (24-5) Portland 9-4 (18-9) San Francisco 7-7 (12-17) Loyola Marymount 7-7 (16-14) Santa Clara 3-11 (11-20) San Diego 3-11 (10-20) Pepperdine 3-11 (7-23)

Eyes on the Prize

Although one could reasonably forecast a WCC tournament championship game featuring no. 1 seed Gonzaga battling no. 2 seed Saint Mary’s for the automatic NCAA bid, a lot of interesting basketball will be played before that final matchup on Monday night, March 8 (ESPN, 6 p.m. Pacific) in Las Vegas. The last week of conference play settled [...]

Morning Five: 03.02.10 Edition

rtmsf — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:41:42 +0000

According to a well-connected Kentucky columnist, Sunday will be junior Patrick Patterson’s Senior Day. We know that John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins will not be in a UK uniform next year either, so why not end the charade and celebrate their final games at Rupp as well? The Mountain West reprimanded New Mexico coach Steve Alford for his embarrassing outburst against BYU guard Jonathan Tavernari on Saturday night after their game. We mentioned it last night, but Alford’s later admission that he was just trying to congratulate Tavernari on his career rings a little hollow given the heated circumstances of the [...]

Set Your Tivo: 02.25.10

THager — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:41:51 +0000

Tulsa @ #5 Duke- 7:00 pm on ESPN2 (**)

Singler is Key Cog in the [...]

ATB: Syracuse Survives but Gonzaga Doesn’t

rtmsf — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:55:08 +0000

Orange Sweep. #5 Syracuse 75, #10 Georgetown 71. Syracuse looked like a Final Four contender for the first 28 minutes last night. Their zone was impenetrable, their offense efficient and unselfish. Behind big first halves from Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson, the Cuse was able to build a 44-31 halftime lead, a lead they pushed to 23 points midway through the second half. But the Hoyas weren’t about to go away. As the Orange got complacent, the Hoyas started forcing turnovers and getting to the rim. Greg Monroe really began to assert himself in the paint, almost singlehandedly [...]

Morning Five: 02.18.10 Edition

rtmsf — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:09:52 +0000

In an era of slashing budgets, it was surprising to hear that Fordham University is planning on heavily increasing their basketball expenditures in an effort to become a major player in the NYC metropolitan area and the Atlantic 10. Perhaps given the pathetic status of local high-major programs at St. John’s and Rutgers, it’s a reasonable gamble. The Rams are searching nationally for a new head coach, and if a higher salary and recruiting budget will draw a dynamic young coach to The Bronx, then perhaps this could elevate the program to an NIT level. Chalk Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim up as [...]

Checking in on… the WCC

rtmsf — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:39:48 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

Standings (through games of 2/13/10)

Gonzaga 9-1 (21-4) Saint Mary’s 8-3 (21-5) Portland 7-3 (16-8) San Francisco 6-5 (11-15) Loyola Marymount 4-6 (13-13) Pepperdine 3-7 (7-19) Santa Clara 3-8 (11-17) San Diego 2-9 (9-18)

The Dynasty Continues

Barring a collapse of unimaginable proportions, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will win their tenth straight WCC Championship in 2010 – an almost-unprecedented string of single team domination in college basketball. After swatting down pretenders Portland (76-49) and Saint Mary’s (80-61) on consecutive Thursday nights at home, the Zags face a road trip this week to the less-than-fearsome Loyola Marymount Lions and Pepperdine [...]

ATB: Gonzaga & Butler – Same As It Ever Was

rtmsf — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:24:30 +0000

WCC Dominance. #11 Gonzaga 80, St. Mary’s 61. It was billed the Game of the Year on the west coast (keep the snickering to a minimum), but like so many of the others before it, the end result was the same with Gonzaga knocking off its top rival St. Mary’s tonight. The Zags used a devastating early second-half 16-3 run to break a tight game wide open, and the sense for those of us watching at home was one of vague familiarity. Elias Harris followed up his dunking exhibition from a month ago with a 19/4 night before [...]

Set Your Tivo: 02.11.10

THager — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:00:04 +0000

Ole Miss @ Mississippi State — 9:00 pm on ESPN (***)

This game between in-state rivals could [...]

Checking in on… the WCC

rtmsf — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:22:45 +0000

Michael Vernetti is the RTC correspondent for the West Coast Conference.

Standings (through games of 2/6/10)

Saint Mary’s 8-1 (21-3) Gonzaga 7-1 (19-4) Portland 5-3 (14-8) San Francisco 4-5 (9-15) Loyola Marymount 3-5 (12-12) Pepperdine 3-5 (7-17) Santa Clara 2-7 (10-16) San Diego 2-7 (9-16)

Moment of Truth, Part II

Gonzaga triumphed in its trial-by-fire three-game stretch to Portland, Saint Mary’s and San Diego last month, and now it’s Saint Mary’s turn to run the gauntlet. After holding serve at home last week against Santa Clara (74-62) and San Francisco (73-57), the Gaels face a showdown with the Zags Thursday night (Feb. 11) in Spokane, a tough rematch with [...]