Conference Tournament Time

It's conference tournament time in women's college basketball.

West Coast Conference:

LMU was the 6th seed in the WCC tourney. The Lions beat USF in the first round but lost to Pepperdine in the second round. If Bill Husack, LMU AD, was smart, he would make that game Julie Wilhoit's last game as head coach.

Pepperdine, 3rd seed, beat LMU, then beat St. Mary's, and are now in the WCC Championship game vs Gonzaga. Good luck to the Wave.

Big West:

Long Beach St. enjoyed a great turnaround season, going from 9th place in the BW to 4th place.

Cal State Fullerton is the 6th seed.

UC Irvine is the 7th seed.

Cal State Northridge missed the BWT and hopefully that will be enough for CSN to get rid of Coach Schultz.

Random thoughts:

After the 2008-09 season, Long Beach on the women's side and Cal Poly on the men's side, both let go of their coaches, after they missed the BWT. The Big West has 9 teams and only 8 teams make the BWT. BW coaches have tried to pass the CYA rule, cover your ass, so all 9 teams make the BWT.

The Mountain West Conference also has 9 teams and an interesting format.

First round:

Seeds: 5 vs 8 & 4 vs 9. With the winners playing each other in the second round.

Seeds 6 vs 7. With the winners playing 3rd seed in the second round.

Second Round:

Winner of 5 vs 8 & 4 vs 9 play each other.

3rd seed, who had earned a 1st round bye, plays winner of 6 vs 7 game.

Third round:

1st and 2nd seeds get two byes and play the second round winners.

The Big West will move the BWT to The Honda Center, for the 2011 tournament. I hope they don't have this CYA format. If a team isn't good enough to finish in the top 8, they shouldn't be in the BWT.

Degree Required?

I thought a college degree was required to be a college coach. But it appears that San Diego St.'s Coach Fred Chmiel doesn't have a college degree.