Sunday, February 22, 2015

Greg Crawford On Basketball, For February 22nd, 2015

By Gregory Crawford--- TV, Radio and Print Basketball Analyst---- on twitter @wchoops @crawssportsbiz @kcsportsmgmt

Crawford's Best Nine---- It is Sunday, so time for another edition of Crawford's Best Nine, the nine best teams at the moment who play in the six D-1 leagues out west.

9. Sacramento State----Hornets have won 9 of 11, tied for Big Sky lead, finish with 3 tough games on the road, at a dangerous Portland State team next Saturday.

8. Boise State----Another solid year under Leon Rice, who obviously is a really good basketball coach.

7. UC Davis--- The class of the Big West still, have won 12 of 13 and show no signs of slowing down.

6. BYU----Big road trip to finish the WCC regular season, in Portland on Thursday and Spokane on Saturday.

5. New Mexico State----Have now won 14 of 15, a team I am sure no one wants to play in the NCAA tourney.

4. San Diego State--- Aztecs lead the best basketball conference out west, the Mt. West by one game, have won 7 of 8.

3. Arizona----Strong team, in holding patter right now, just keep winning games.

2. Utah---- A shade higher than Arizona, showdown game next Saturday in Salt Lake City with the Wildcats, but must get by a really good Oregon team, a noon contest today.

1. Gonzaga---- Down 17 yesterday at St. Mary's, but Zags do what they do best in the regulars season, win games. Team has Final Four written all over it.

Cascade Collegiate Conference----More evidence of why this league is the best D-2 NAIA men's basketball conference in the country. Regular season play ended yesterday, with 3 teams as co-champs. Congrats to Warner Pacific, Concordia and College of Idaho.

C of I won the tiebreaker, so they get the number one seed, let the playoffs begin. This league does it right when it comes to playoffs, as 8 of the 10 teams get in, the top four seeds host games, the top seed winners continue to host games. A very fair way to do things.

A big difference here. The Big Sky Conference has the same amount of teams in the playoffs, but every game is played at the home site of the regular season league winner. Why not let the top seeds host at least one playoff game. It does not make sense to me. Penalizes the fans and teams.

While we are discussing playoffs, it is about time the very tough D-3 Northwest Conference got out of the dark ages and get more teams in the playoffs for basketball. At present four of the nine teams in the league make postseason. How about six making it, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5 and the winners get 1 and 2. If these leagues really want to be known for their  student/athletes, then you expand the playoffs and make it a great college experience.

Crawford's NWAC Women's Power Rankings----It is Sunday, so time again for Crawford's NWAC power rankings for the women's teams. It has been a great year of basketball, but big shake up this week, as the team's head to the final week of regular season play.

9. Blue Mountain
8. Columbia Basin
7. Highline
6. Walla Walla
5. Peninsula
4. Centralia
3. Bellevue
2. Umpqua
1. Lower Columbia

Yes a new number one, well deserved.

more of Gregory's blogs--- http://crawfordsgolfdaily.blogspot.com (golf and sports biz, 365 days per year)

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