By Gregory Crawford--- TV, Radio and Print Basketball Analyst--- on twitter @wchoops @kcsportsmgmt @crawssportsbiz
Crawford's Best Nine---My final best nine of the 2014-15 college basketball season. This is really tough, but fun to do, so many teams could be in the best nine. Overall it has been a sub-par year for basketball out west. Big Sky had a good year, so did Mt. West, but rest of leagues, including the Pac-12 were sub-par at best.
9. UC Davis---- Great year for the Aggies, winning the Big West, but because it is the Big West, they must win the tournament to get to the NCAA Big Dance.
8. Colorado State---- 26 wins for the Rams, third place in the tough Mt. West and becoming a strong basketball school.
7. Eastern Washington--- They win because they have a great coach in Jim Hayford. He has taken a depressed basketball program in short time, to winning this year a share of the Big Sky title.
6. New Mexico State--- Easy winners of the WAC. They are really good team, that no matter what happens in the WAC tournament, they deserve to be in the NCAA tournament.
5. BYU----The Cougars have now won 9 of 10, meet Portland on Monday night in the WCC tournament semis. They will be in the NCAA tournament and deserve to be there.
4. Oregon Ducks----Closed out the season winning 11 of 13, gaining the number 2 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. Dana Altman has to be considered for national coach of year.
3. Gonzaga--- I am still holding out hope the Zags will make the Final Four this year, but they need to start playing better.
2. Arizona----Another team to watch in the NCAA tournament, so much talent, they should advance a long way.
1. Boise State----Yes, my final number one of 2015. Mt. West champs, they are so well coached by Leon Rice and finished the regular season winning 14 of 15, in a great basketball conference.
Barry Tompkins----Always good to see Barry doing games. One of the all time great broadcasters in the country, it is surprising and shocking why he is not on the Pac-12 network.
Jim Boeheim--- Should he step down? You make the call. Certainly his legacy has changed forever in the past few days, plus his win count, losing 108 victories off his record.
Danny Miles--- Miles will end his career at Oregon Tech after the 2015-16 season. What a career it has been. Let's hope Miles will have a great final year in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, but let's really hope with over 1,000 wins, 45 years at the same school, he is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame really soon.
Big Sky Conference----Congrats to the Big Sky on one of their best men's basketball seasons ever. Great to see teams like Eastern Washington and Sacramento State in the mix on the final day for the conference title. EWU and Montana wound up co-champs, Montana getting the tie breaker and hosting the postseason tournament.
Advice from Crawford to the league I love. Next year play a balanced schedule and never again with 8 teams in the tournament, have all games played at one site. Fans and teams deserve better. It is actually thought that next year the Big Sky will move to a neutral site for their postseason, with Reno being the frontrunner at present.
more of Gregory's blogs--- http://crawfordsgolfdaily.blogspot.com (golf and sports biz, combo)
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