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Honestly, unless you're a fan or alum of one of the Final Four teams in the NCAA Tournament, hasn't it really been among the duller Big Dance. OK, sure there were the early darlings, Harvard, then Florida Gulf Coast, but this Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds have been painfully routine.
The routine has allowed the lesser tournaments (NIT, CIT, WNIT) to get way more of a look from us, mainly because three of our teams have romped through the "next level."
BYU head coach Dave Rose led BYU to six straight NCAA appearances, one of them spiced up by that rarest of phenomenon's called "Jimmermania" and Rose now said the following of his teams unlikely ride to New York City for the NIT Semifinals:
"We went to the NCAA Tournament six straight years but I don't remember my teams having near the fun or enjoying their time more than these kids are now, heading to the final four of the NIT."
Just ask Weber State's Randy Rahe. He told me his team still might not have moved past the utter devastation of losing their NCAA tournament bid on Montana's floor to the home team in the Big Sky Tournament Championship game, but how do you like ‘em now? Weber State's set a new school and Big Sky record with 30 wins and gets to host East Carolina in the championship game of the College Insiders.com Tournament (CIT). It's Tuesday, with a 6 p.m. MDT tipoff at the Dee Events Center.
"We're beaten up and tired but I know our kids will be ready to play come Tuesday," Rahe said. "We love playing in front of our fans and those 6,7,8 thousand fans, maybe more, will give us a tremendous lift."
Don't forget about Andy Levrets Utah womens team. WNIT road wins at San Diego, Pacific, then St Mary's has delivered Michelle Plouffe and her teammates to the WNIT Final Four. It is not quite a trip to the basketball Mecca that Madison Square Garden is but, hey, the Utah women are still playing into April too. They play in the WNIT Semifinals at Kansas State Wednesday at 6 p.m. MDT.
The Jazz are pitching in too as we move into April. Four wins in a row when they absolutely had to have them. Now they appear to have the upper hand on the Lakers for the eighth and final playoff spot, BUT that assumes the Jazz take care of their business. They will have to win at least six of their last nine games and hope the Lakers just play like they've been playing. The Jazz own tiebreakers over the Lakers, so Kobe and his teammates have to finish at least one game ahead to grab that eighth spot.
This will be a huge week of hoops and we can't wait!
