NCAA Tournament: New Mexico And BYU Get The Boot

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 21, 2010 2:10 PM PDT in Basketball

The Mountain West went 2-4 in this years tournament with the only real upset was with New Mexico getting smoked by eleven seeded Washington, 82-64. BYU ended up losing to Kansas State 84-72 mainly because of allowing Jacob Pullen.

Starting with New Mexico it is safe to assume that making fun of the Pac-10 for being a bad conference is off limits. Mountain West player of the year Darrington Hobson was held to 11 points for the second straight game, and the only Lobo to show up was Dairese Gary who had a career high 25 points which is double his season average.

Washington was too much for New Mexico with their fast paced style of game as they had four players score in double figures and were lead by Quincy Pondexter with 18 points. Washington used multiple players who did a good job scoring with their uptempo pass, while New Mexico really only had Dairese Gary and then the rest of the team did not really do too much.

The Lobos made a mistake of trying to play at the pace of Washington during the first half where they trailed nearly the entire half and ended up being down 12. New Mexico was never really able to mount a comeback or use their strengths to mount a comeback. The Huskies had too many scoring options for New Mexico to stop. New Mexico really should have been a legit elite eight or possibly an outside final four team.

NCAA Basketball

Then on to the BYU game which was all a big tease with BYU leading 10-0 in the first half. The biggest change in the game was when Kansas State changed defensive assignments by putting Jacob Pullen on Jimmer Fredette. Jimmer was shut down after the quick BYU start in this game. Pullen was a man for K-State as he was on fire from anywhere on the court as he hit 7-12 three pointers and ended up with 34 points.

Kansas State used a swarming defense that allowed no BYU player an inch of room and shut down the entire BYU offense. Foul trouble was an issue as well for the Cougars; a category that typically leans toward Kansas State. BYU's only big men had three fouls early in the second half which lead to a rebounding deficiency. Kansas State had eleven offensive rebounds which were resulting in points and they out rebounded BYU by nine.

Kansas State made the early adjustments will BYU was unable to counter those adjustments, and the foul trouble was an issue as well that lead to the BYU loss.

Kansas State vs. BYU

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No offense to UNM or its fans

But was the UW game really an upset? On paper UNM had the higher seed and the higher ranking but going into it you couldn’t really look at UW and say that UNM was going to roll. In fact I chose UW over UNM because of the 8 (?) game win streak they had going for them and with how UNM struggles to shut down inferior teams. I definitely don’t think UW is 20 points better than UNM, I just think they peaked at the right time. UNM would win 6-7/10 games against UW on any other day imo.

Tough loss for the Cougars, I’m just glad we kept it respectable. They killed our momentum anytime we got back within 5 with Clemente or Pullen draining a 35’ 3 pointer. Those guys made it look like the bucket was as big as the ocean.

by vaughnzipper on Mar 21, 2010 2:52 PM PDT reply actions

I don't think it was...vegas didn't either

I think realistically UW wins 7 out of 10 of those games simply based on style. UW has outstanding perimeter defense coupled with a 10 deep rotation of quality athletes. They can run, and it really takes a Wisc./USC slow down type of team, with outstanding defense to take us down. UNM is talented, but they over achieved all year. It doesn’t help that they got an awful draw.

UW is exactly the opposite. UW started the year ranked in the top 15, and it was warranted. They had some growing pains with a young lineup, and will still struggle against the more experienced squads, but they have final four talent for sure. If I had to take an objective look at the WVU matchup…I’d say WVU 70-66. Since I’m a huge homer and I have no objectivity, I’m calling a 78-71 UW upset.

The Big East is now 1-3 so far - Greg Gumble

by B Money on Mar 21, 2010 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions

things are not all bleak in mwc basketball. the lady aztecs are up by 10 points over texas

we still have st. marys, butler, northern iowa, xavier and cornell left in the tournament. those are five teams out of the top six conference’s. i would say butler has the best chance to get to final four. i think they have won 22 o r23 games in a row.

I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood"

by wolfmanshowlforever on Mar 21, 2010 5:13 PM PDT reply actions

very true

Nearly all the good players were under classmen

Mountain West Connection

by Jeremy Mauss on Mar 21, 2010 5:18 PM PDT up reply actions

Tough draws

Looks like the MWC just ran into some hot teams as N Iowa and Tennessee are still alive as well as Kansas St. and Washington of course. It looks like the MWC just got teams that were peaking and are now on the verge of Elite 8 births.

Bring back Fum's Song!

by bhsmarine on Mar 21, 2010 7:13 PM PDT reply actions