2009 West Regional

I have seen everything. The Humboldt State Women's Basketball team got the # 4 seed in the West Regional and they will play Western Washington in the first round which will be held at Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle, WA.

I think most Humboldt State need to buy a lottery ticket on this bit of news. The Humboldt State Men's Basketball team made it into the West Regional as the # 8 seed. They will be playing the # 1 seed BYU-Hawaii at the Cannon Activities Center in L'aie, HI. The West Regional for the Men will be broken up into sub-regionals this year due to the new rule that was instituted this year. Please note, that the higher seed among the winners of the sub-regionals will host the regional final on Tuesday March 17th.

Here are the match ups for the First Round of the West Regional.

2009 Women's Basketball West Regional at Seattle Pacific in Seattle, WA

Friday March 13th First Round Games
# 3 UC San Diego 66, # 6 Cal State Dominguez Hills 65
# 2 Alaska Anchorage 64, # 7 Northwest Nazarene 54
# 4 Humboldt State 74, # 5 Western Washington 64
# 1 Seattle Pacific 77, # 8 Grand Canyon 48

Saturday March 14th Regional Semifinals
# 3 UC San Diego vs. # 2 Alaska Anchorage 5:00 PM PDT
# 4 Humboldt State vs. # 1 Seattle Pacific 7:00 PM PDT

2009 Men's Basketball West Regional Championships.

Sub-Regional # 1: L'aie, HI
Friday March 13th First Round Games
# 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills 87, # 5 Central Washington 83
# 1 BYU-Hawaii 98, # 8 Humboldt State 84

Saturday March 14th Regional Semifinal
# 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills vs. # 1 BYU-Hawaii 10:30 PM PDT

Sub-Regional # 2: Bellingham, WA
Friday March 13th First Round Games
# 3 Cal Poly Pomona 83, # 6 Cal State San Bernardino 81 (OT)
# 7 Seattle Pacific 82, # 2 Western Washington 77

Saturday March 14th Regional Semifinal
# 7 Seattle Pacific vs. # 3 Cal Poly Pomona 7:00 PM PDT

Let the discussion begin now.

Can anyone explain how the Jacks edged out St. Martin's for the 8th spot in the Men's regional? I love it but don't understand how it happened. St. Martin's ended at 22-8. St Martin's lost big to Anchorage last week but the Jacks lost to CSULA at home.

Also, I think the Jacks have a legitimate shot to beat BYU. BYU's record is very suspect.

Is anyone coming up to Seattle to watch the Women with me?

Go Jacks!

The reasoning was Humboldt's "Superior strenghth of schedule".

A very nice suprise!

I wish the ladies could have ended up somewhere more tropical.

Good luck to both teams!

Hey Seattle Fan, I'm not going, but the Marching band will, but alas, none of the people that use this forum will be in that band.

Great! Maybe between the band, the local HSU alumni and the parents that make the trip we can make some noise, especially since many SPU and West Washington supporters will be in Bellingham for the Men's game. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Lady Jacks play. The last time I saw the Women play was during the Carol Harrison tenure (ugh).

yeah, you are in for a different humboldt now. Gleason is very intense, she gets on the refs if they make a bad call and she'll let her players know when they done something wrong.

I thought I would post something interesting from The Olympian, which is a daily newspaper in Olympia, Washington on the story on Saint Martin's and their remarks about the West Regional selections.

Here is the story.

Published March 09, 2009

Even 22-win season unable to move Saints into tourney
Gail Wood

Saint Martin's is out.

After winning 22 games, after beating Colorado State and after finishing with just its second winning season in 17 years, The SMU men's basketball team was not named Sunday to the eight-team NCAA Divsion II West Regional tournament.

"It's disappointing, but it's also a blessing to be that close," Saints coach Keith Cooper said. "We'll take that and continue to build. Not going to this tournament doesn't take away from how great a year we had."

Saint Martin's, finishing 22-8 after a 31-point win at Fairbanks on Saturday, was ranked seventh in the regional poll two weeks ago and eighth last week.

But Humboldt State edged ahead of SMU and got into the tournament as the No. 8 seed with a 20-11 record after losing in the first round of the California Conference tournament.

"I was afraid that might happen if we lost to Anchorage," Cooper said. "Only a couple of us were groaning when Humboldt State got in as No. 8."

Saint Martin's watched the announcement together as a team Sunday evening at the Worthington Center. The announcement was met with silence.

"We knew when we lost Thursday night to Anchorage it was going to be iffy," Cooper said. "We knew it was far from a done deal. We knew we needed to play well Saturday against Fairbanks to have a chance."

Saint Martin's won convincingly, defeating Fairbanks 96-65.

"We ended the season on a great note," Cooper said. "We had a great year. I don't think not going to the tournament took away anything from the year we had."

Three teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference qualified for the tournament ? Central Washington (18-6), Seattle Pacific (18-9) and Western Washington (21-5).

BYU Hawaii is ranked No. 1 in the tournament. Western Washington is ranked No. 2. Central Washington is seeded fifth and SPU is seventh.

Saint Martin's wins against Bentley College, Seattle Pacific and Central Washington wasn't enough to get the Saints into the tournament. Saint Martin's win at Colorado State wasn't even factored into evaluation because games against NCAA Division I opponents are not counted in tournament's evaluation.

Saint Martin's beat everyone in the conference but Western Washington, the GNAC champs.

Saint Martin's loss at Western Oregon hurt the Saints' playoff chances. It was the Saints' only defeat to a team with a record under .500. But Western Oregon also defeated Humboldt State. The Saints beat Western Oregon two-out-of-three games.

Another common opponent was Anchorage, which the Saints split with and Humboldt State beat earlier in the season.

"That could have been a big factor, I don't know," Cooper said. "There are so many different categories it's hard to know what gets factored in."

Cooper said tradition ? good or bad ? is not supposed to influence the decision. Humboldt State has a winning tradition. This is only Saint Martin's second winning season in 17 years.

"They've built that tradition and we'll build it here," Cooper said. "It's just going to take awhile."

SMU won 13 games last year and 22 this season.

"We're not going backwards," Cooper said. "We're disappointed, but I feel good about what we did. We'll get there. The future looks bright."

I guess if that were the San Bernardino County Sun I would dislike their whining attitude. But I kind of feel for the Saints. They had a great year and got nothing but a 22-8 record to show. They ARE taking it like men, no complaining or Humboldt bashing (for the most part). Good luck next year, Saints..unless you play Humboldt.