Lunardi's bracket Feb. 20th

[NotoriousZ]

Zags a 7 seed. Same with SMC.

There goes my hopes of winning out and being a 3 seed in Portland. MAYBE they can still get a 5 (or even a 4 with some other teams dropping) and land up in the northwest...but I don't think we'll be that lucky.

Then there's that whole deal about playing a 1 seed earlier than you would like. When the Zags are on their game and not turning the ball over every other friggin' possession, they have the pieces to take down a giant. It could be one of our greatest moments.

But gotta get there first...beat BYU!

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

[Goshzagit]

Geez, now we're flirting around with the 8/9 line again, which doesn't get any worse, imo.

We can still win our way back up to a 6 seed, which isn't too shabby. If we win out, I believe a 6 is our ceiling and as low as a 8 seed.

If we lose to BYU, we'll most likely be the 3 or 4 seed heading into WCC and...I don't even want to think about that...

[Reborn]

All three of the teams drop in this version of bracketolgy. Yes. Murry St beat St. Mary's but Lunardi must be aware that Holt was out and Delly had a bad ankle. I guess that doesn't count. Yes..GU lost to USf @ USF. Lunardi should know that winning @ USF is very difficult. Rather than acknowledging that the WCC is a good conference with five really good teams, he punishes us for losing @ USF. The Zags should have gone down from a 5 to a 6. Usually when a team loses they drop a seed and when they win they go up one seed. So if we beat BYU and San Diego we will be a 6 in Lunardi's brackets. The good news is Joe is good at figuring out who gets in, but not as good at what seed they will get. I agree that a 6 seed is okay. And actually I like the 7 seed too. Like many of us I would like to be in the lower seeds (5-10) and face the #2 seed rather then playing the #1 seed.

[Bogozags]

NCAA TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS:

1a. Let's say SMC loses to USF and we beat BYU at home and win the WCC, then we are looking at a 5-6 seed. I of course, prefer the 6 seed, staying away from the 1 seeds.

2a. If we beat BYU at home and win the WCC tournament, I believe we will either be a 5 or 6 seed. If we beat BYU and lose the WCC tournament, we wind up either the 7-9 seeds. The 7 seed would be my choice, again staying away from the 1 seeds.

3a. If we lose to BYU and lose the WCC tournament, we wind up in the 9-11 seeds. Being either the 10 or the 11 seed would be my prefer these seeds to the 9 seed.


WCC TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS:

1b. If SMC loses to USF and we beat BYU, then we play the winner of the USF-BYU game. We win this game and beat LMU in the finals.

2b. If we beat BYU, then we are the two seed and play LMU in the semi-finals and the BYU/USF winner would play the #1 seed SMC. I believe SMC loses this game and we play BYU in the conference finals. We play BYU in the finals and...

3b. If we lose to BYU...we will be a four seed and just do not want to be matched up against USF who would be the five seed...that is my worry. I do not fear playing SMC for the third time in the semi-finals as I feel w/o Holt they are very vulnerable. We beat SMC and play BYU in the finals. There is a possibility that LMU wins this game and believe this is our best match-up in the finals.

Two match-ups I do not want to see happen in the WCC tournament: 4 seed GU vs 5 seed USF and 4 seed GU vs 2 seed BYU in the finals.

[ZagnetitForce]

I'm pretty sure the worse the Zags can be is a 3 seed in the WCC. If they lose to BYU on Thursday they will be tied with BYU having the head to head tiebreaker. GU and LMU tie and GU has the head to head tiebreaker. Right?

[Bogozags]

I'm pretty sure the worse the Zags can be is a 3 seed in the WCC. If they lose to BYU on Thursday they will be tied with BYU having the head to head tiebreaker. GU and LMU tie and GU has the head to head tiebreaker. Right?

Don't know how that tie-break sets up: GU loses twice to #1 and #2 seeds and LMU losing twice to #1 seed and splitting with #2 seed. If it is looked at from that point, then GU is the 4 seed and if they go the head to head first, then GU is the #3 seed. I don't know how the WCC breaks ties so I went with the worst case scenario with GU as a 4 seed IF we lose to BYU Thursday.

[zagfan1970]

It is not that we "dropped" as much as it is that other teams moved up as they earned it. Creighton had a nice win against an under rated LBSt team, Notre Dame continues to play great, New Mexico and Witchita St both had far better weeks than the Zags did. Add it all up and we are where we deserve to be! I would not mind this draw at all! A 6 or 7 seed with Ohio St or Kansas a 2 seed would give the Zags the best chance of advancing IMO.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

Gonzaga and SMC as 7 seeds sounds about right after this past week-end.

Something tells me that St. Mary's is going to slide a little more and be in real bubble danger. They look like a team that is playing hurt. I don't think they have enough depth to overcome injuries during these final weeks of the season. I hate to see that happen, because I thought that the WCC had three legitimate Sweet 16 contenders on February 1st. Right now, I'm not sure that St. Mary's is playing well enough to make that kind of run. As for Gonzaga, I just hope that our kids shake off the funk they were in on Saturday night and come back with a win on Thursday.

[TheGonzagaFactor]

Wait, I thought we had no chance of making the tourney anymore?

[BJZags]

Wait, I thought we had no chance of making the tourney anymore?

You forget, for many, winning the WCC and making the NCAA tournament are inclusive benchmarks.

[Das Zagger]

Gonzaga and SMC as 7 seeds sounds about right after this past week-end.

Something tells me that St. Mary's is going to slide a little more and be in real bubble danger. They look like a team that is playing hurt. I don't think they have enough depth to overcome injuries during these final weeks of the season. I hate to see that happen, because I thought that the WCC had three legitimate Sweet 16 contenders on February 1st. Right now, I'm not sure that St. Mary's is playing well enough to make that kind of run. As for Gonzaga, I just hope that our kids shake off the funk they were in on Saturday night and come back with a win on Thursday.

It will be interesting with SMC.

Quality wins outside of the WCC? None with a bad loss to Denver.

I don't think the WCC gets 3 teams in (the P-12 will get 3 in before the WCC does (not saying that's right but auto-berths were created for BCS teams)) but instead gets 2, it will be GU and either SMC/BYU with SMC getting the edge with 2 wins (sans tourney).

Have to, have to beat BYU on Thursday.

[caduceus]

The Bracket Project Matrix (a consensus of 70 or so bracketologists) has us right now as the top 6 seed.

[NotoriousZ]

You forget, for many, winning the WCC and making the NCAA tournament are inclusive benchmarks.

Unless Jay "Dream Killer" Bilas gets his way. He's still going on about removing the automatic bids (not going to happen, Jay).

[kyle dixon]

Beat BYU

Now we got to focus on BYU and back to one game at a time. I am glad the NCAA coaches do not select the teams for the NCAA tourney field. St Mary's still ranked at 23. Been boat raced by double digits in three of their past four games (us, LMU, and Murray State). It pays to have a coach voting for the ESPN Coaches poll (Randy Bennett). Wow...

[ZagLawGrad]

This team has earned a 7 at best, so far. I don't see them doing well with that number wrapped around their neck. Especially with any significant travel.