A horrific, inexplicable loss to the 286th-best team in the country abruptly ends Denver’s NCAA dreams, and imperils their NIT fallback plan as well. I personally think they will now miss the NIT. [UPDATE: John Templon, NIT-ologist extraordinaire, says Denver may yet make it into the NIT.] I don’t understand how you go 18-0 against teams ranked below the RPI Top 100 all season, and then lose this one with everything on the line. (The Pios never led.) I don’t get it. I’m also too heartbroken to say more now. Ross will have a full recap later. Go Pios.
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A horrific, inexplicable loss to the 286th-best team in the country abruptly ends Denver’s NCAA dreams, and imperils their NIT fallback plan as well. I personally think they will now miss the NIT. [UPDATE: John Templon, NIT-ologist extraordinaire, says Denver may yet make it into the NIT.]

I don’t understand how you go 18-0 against teams ranked below the RPI Top 100 all season, and then lose this one with everything on the line. (The Pios never led.) I don’t get it. I’m also too heartbroken to say more now. Ross will have a full recap later.

Go Pios.

WAC Tournament: Live from Vegas!

Direct from the liveblog page, here’s the CoverItLive window that’s auto-importing tweets by @rosslancaster or @MileHighMids which are tagged with #MileHighMids (i.e., Ross’s official live-tweets from Vegas). Newest entries are on top.

And here is Mile High Mids’ ongoing, season-long liveblog, currently auto-importing all tweets & RTs by @MileHighMids and @rosslancaster (and all replies thereto and mentions thereof, assuming CiL’s Twitter search function is working), plus all tweets & RTs by @DU_MHoops and everyone else on my “DU / WAC in Vegas” Twitter list.

DU vs. Texas State preview: We’re not very much like each other

At first glance, Thursday’s WAC quarterfinal between Denver and Texas State looks like a classic low-seed/high-seed early-round conference tournament matchup.

Denver has won 10 games in a row, 17 of its last 18 and clinched a share of the conference regular season title on Saturday by thrashing the team it shared the crown with, Louisiana Tech, by 24. 

Texas State, while coming into the game as winners of 4 of its last 6 contests, has 21 losses on the season, and just six conference wins. The Bobcats have had a season plagued by separate losing streaks of five and nine games.

In the teams’ two previous meetings, Denver won 64-53 at Magness Arena on Jan. 3, and 79-64 in San Marcos, Texas, on Feb. 2. In the two contests, Denver racked up an average of 1.18 points per possession, while holding Texas State to 0.96.

All of those facts lead to Denver being a deserved 19-point favorite as per Ken Pomeroy’s magical robots and a 16.5-point favorite in Las Vegas.

Yet, the game should be absolutely fascinating due to the teams’ complete and utter disdain for playing each other’s favored styles.

If you’re reading this blog, you are almost certainly aware that Denver runs a methodical, Princeton-style offense that often plays the nation’s slowest tempo. Texas State is almost literally Denver’s polar opposite. In coach Doug Davalos’ seven-year tenure in charge of the Bobcats, the team has never ranked lower than seventh nationally in pace.

On Thursday, when Texas State wants to put up quick shots, Denver will want to take the entirety of the shot clock. After missed shots, the Bobcats will want to send everybody towards the hoop to get points in transition, while the Pios will be content to slow it down, pass, and cut away in their offense.

The matchup vaguely reminds me of one of my favorite games of the 20 I covered last year for the 800 Games Project, when UT-Arlington hosted Stephen F. Austin in the final game played at UTA’s Texas Hall. UTA was one of the nation’s fastest-paced clubs in 2012, while SFA was one of the slowest. The pace battle was an ever-evolving, zig-zagging strategic game-within-in-game. UTA got the best of the tempo battle, and won a defensive game.

Still, those teams were more evenly matched than the two that will be playing Thursday night. While teams in this tournament could possibly exploit Denver’s less-than-stellar rebounding, Texas State isn’t likely to, ranking ninth in the WAC in offensive and defensive rebound percentage. Denver should also be able to turn over the Bobcats, which would make controlling the tempo that much easier.

If Texas State wants to cause shockwaves in the mid-major world and cause the enormous upset, it will have to get a big game from power forward Joel Wright, an extremely high-usage player who is also a foul-drawing machine. Wright is coming off a 26-point effort against Seattle in which he went to the line 14 times, connecting on 12. Against Denver in February, the juco transfer went to the line 18 times en route to dropping a near-season high 33 on the Pios. What has the makings of a long day for the Bobcats stands to be even longer if Wright can’t repeat his previous output.

Northern Colorado faces elimination game tonight too

Both of the “true” mid-majors in the Front Range region, Denver and Northern Colorado, play elimination games today in their respective conferences’ quarterfinal rounds. The Pioneers face Texas State at 3:30 PM Mountain Time in Las Vegas; the Bears play in the 4-5 game against Montana State at 7:00 PM on Montana’s home court in Bozeman.

But this blog’s focus has been almost exclusively on Denver. There are two reasons for that. One, DU is always the primary focus of this blog, with UNC secondary (and the Mountain West teams and other mid-majors tertiary, covered primarily on the blog’s Twitter feed). Denver, after all, is the team I “adopted” in 2010. They’re my primary emotional investment. But secondly, the Pioneers simply have a much more realistic path to NCAA glory. Denver is arguably the favorite to win the WAC tourney. Northern Colorado, despite being the 3rd-most likely team to win the Big Sky according to Ken Pomeroy, has just a 2.5% chance of doing so — a testament to how dominent #1 and #2 seeds Montana and Weber State have been. According to KenPom, there’s a 94.7% chance that one of those two teams will capture the Big Sky’s autobid.

That said, UNC is the slight favorite tonight, per KenPom, despite being the #5 seed. The Bears are given a 65.4% chance of beating the #4-seeded Bobcats. Here is Big Sky Basketball’s preview:

(4) Montana State vs. (5) Northern Colorado

First two meetings: Each team won on each other’s home court. MSU beat UNC by 3 in Greeley, while UNC won by 13 in Bozeman.

How Montana State wins: Get some stops. They are 338th in defensive efficiency, which makes it tough to win big games. They also need Flavien Davis and Paul Egwuonwu to keep bringing their A games - both guys have been excellent in the past couple weeks.

How Northern Colorado wins: Take care of the basketball, as this can sometimes be their Achilles heel. Defensively, they have to pay attention to their assignments, as they have a tendency to lose their man. Tevin Svihovec and Connor Osborne need to show up and play big. BJ Hill knows what he will get from Tate Unruh and Derrick Barden, but the play of Osborne and Svihovec is the difference for them.

PREDICTIONS: … (5) Northern Colorado over (4) Montana State - MSU is a team that is capable of making a long run or losing in the first round. It’s hard to know what to expect from them. UNC has looked better defensively in the last couple of weeks. Lack of bench production is a concern, but I like UNC to eek out a win in what should be a very competitive, entertaining game.

And here’s what Brett Hein at Mid-Major Madness says about the Bears:

It’s a little bit of a mystery why Northern Colorado wasn’t better this season, but the Bears still can pack a punch. Why? They can shoot the ball. Every major contributor shoots 44% or better from the field, with Derrick Barden and Connor Osborne over 52%. Those two, combined with Tate Unruh and Paul Garnica, all shoot better than 41% from the three-point line as well.

Their first-round matchup with Montana State is a quintessential four-five game: Both teams were a perfectly-average 10-10 in conference play, and split head-to-head with wins on the other’s home court.

Northern Colorado’s win over Montana State displays exactly why the Bears at least can be dangerous: Every starter scored 11 points or more and as a team, NoCo shot 61.7% (29-47). If the shooters are on, opponent beware. Plus, Derrick Barden does a little of everything for the Bears, and does it all very well.

TITLE CHANCES: Dark Horse. In the conference tournament setting, a team that can get as scorching hot as Northern Colorado always has a shot. But it’s not always there to save the Bears, hence the 10-10 record. We’ll only know which team shows up when the ball is tipped.

Unlike the WAC, which charges $7.95 a pop for the privilege of streaming its tournament games, the Big Sky lets you watch the entire tourney for free on Big Sky TV.

The deep breath before the plunge: Quarterfinals’ Eve

The board is set. The pieces are moving. It’s almost time, finally, to play the games.

INCREDIBLY LARGE BRACKET
Above: An INCREDIBLY LARGE BRACKET at Orleans Arena. Photo by Ross Lancaster.

The first WAC quarterfinal is #3-seed New Mexico State against #6 Idaho at 1:00 PM Mountain Time tomorrow. NMSU is a 6.5-point favorite. I know I wrote yesterday that “DU fans…need to root for…NMSU on Thursday” for the sake of Denver’s profile — specifically, its RPI Top 100 RPI wins — which could affect NCAA seeding. (At-large selection ain’t happening. It just isn’t. At all. Sorry, Paul and Mike and Coach Scott.) But that was a broader statement than I meant to make. I meant only that DU fans should root for NMSU if they are focused narrowly on that RPI issue. However, I agree with several folks who have commented that Denver fans should instead root for Idaho because, while Kyle Barone is good and anything is possible, on paper NMSU is a much tougher matchup for DU if the Pioneers get there, and the priority for DU is to just win, baby — we can worry about NCAA seeding later, but first we’ve gotta win three straight games, and that’ll be easier if the potential semifinal opponent is the Vandals instead of the Red Aggies and the INCREDIBLY LARGE MAN. So, yeah. Root for Idaho tomorrow.

The second game is the biggie, of course: #2 Denver against #7 Texas State at 3:30 PM Mountain Time. Denver is favored by 16.5 points. Our WAC tourney correspondent, Ross Lancaster, will be posting a game preview in the morning. Stay tuned for that. [UPDATE: Here it is.]

Ross, by the way, just landed in Vegas, along with blog mascot Mile High Bally:

The third game is #1 Louisiana Tech against #9 Texas-San Antonio at 7:00 PM Mountain Time. An upset would be delightful, of course, but I won’t hold my breath. My ScoreCenter app isn’t telling me the line for this game, but Ken Pomeroy, who #robots’ numbers usually line up with the Vegas odds pretty well, projects a 12-point Louisiana Tech victory.

The fourth and final game is #4 Texas-Arlington against #5 Utah State, at 9:30 PM Mountain Time. On paper, this is the day’s most evenly matched game, as the seeds would imply. Utah State is a 3-point favorite, despite having been swept by UTA this season. USU’s Spencer Butterfield is back from injury, though Preston Medlin apparently won’t be. In any case, Denver fans have a clear rooting interest in this one, because of that RPI Top 100 business. DU definitely wants Utah State to win here. I! I BELIEVE! :)

The games are all being streamed by WacSports.tv, though it’ll cost you — $7.95 per game — and incredibly, there doesn’t seem to be an all-tournament package. Ugh. Alternatively, you can listen to Denver’s game on 1510 AM. Check #midsradio for possible radio options vis a vis the other games.

Also, remember, the liveblog page is here. And/or follow @MileHighMids on Twitter. Ross and I will both be tweeting there. (His tweets will be automatically signed “-@rosslancaster”; mine are unsigned.)

P.S. Parsing the WAC also has, and will continue to have, more good stuff on the tourney.

Chancellor: Boone issue “closed”; mascot “polarizing”

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Above: Boone with Chris Udofia after Denver’s win over Louisiana Tech. More photos at LetsGoDU.

In the midst of final exams, and on the eve of perhaps the most important weekend in the history of Denver men’s basketball (to say nothing of the hockey playoffs), DU Chancellor Robert Coombe sent an e-mail to the university community earlier today addressing the ongoing controversy surrounding the university’s unofficial mascot, Denver Boone. It was, in a sense, a follow-up to Chancellor Coombe’s 2008 e-mail on the same topic.

(My previous posts on the Boone controversy can be found here, here, here, here and here.)

In today’s e-mail, Coombe says he is writing “in the hope of adding some clarity to this discussion, in particular regarding the University’s position on the matter.” He then proceeds to address and reiterate various facts that have already been discussed here on the blog. In that sense, the e-mail doesn’t really make any news. It does reaffirm that the “task force” created to find a new mascot “will not be evaluating support for Boone, as that matter is closed; rather, it will be looking toward a new mascot that everyone can get behind and embrace.”

As with each and every statement I have seen from Boone opponents, including Coombe’s 2008 communique, this latest e-mail does not actually attempt to explain WHY Boone is offensive or unacceptable as a mascot. Instead, the e-mail simply asserts that Boone does not “reflect the growing diversity of the DU community,” whatever that means; further asserts that “many women, persons of color, international students and faculty members [find it] difficult to relate to [Boone] as defining the pioneering spirit,” without explaining why that is so; and finally asserts that Boone is a “polarizing figure,” without making any effort to explore whether there is an objectively reasonable basis for the objections to Boone that underlie the “polarization.”

I assume that Chancellor Coombe, as a distinguished academic, understands the difference between explanation and assertion, so I assume that the decision to assert, and not even attempt to explain, is a conscious choice. I confess I am somewhat baffled by the choice, but that is the choice he has consistently made, as have other Boone opponents, from what I’ve seen. They really seem to think Boone’s supporters, as well as third parties with no dog in the fight (like me), don’t need to understand why he’s offensive. They just need to accept it and move on. It’s like a parent talking to a small child: do it because I said so.

As I’ve said before, I remain genuinely willing to be convinced that there is a reasonable basis to oppose Boone. I just haven’t heard it yet. As an outsider to the DU community whose only link to this issue is the fact that I root for the basketball team, I don’t have some deep personal connection to the decades of tradition that Boone represents. If he’s genuinely offensive, if there’s an objectively reasonable basis to oppose him, then yeah, I would support getting rid of him. But I am certainly inclined to support him unless someone actually explains why he should be eliminated. Again:

Members of majority groups shouldn’t automatically scoff at minority groups’ concerns and say they’re just being oversensitive, because there are times when their concerns are very legitimate. … [T]here certainly ARE cases where “tradition” must give way to a concern for being respectful of particular groups. …

The elimination of the mascot at my mother’s alma mater, the University of Illinois, comes to mind. My mom had a lot of fond memories of Chief Illiniwek, but she also ultimately came to recognize that, reluctantly, yes, he had to go. The reasons for that made sense.

But with Boone, it’s far less self-evident WHY he’s offensive (particularly if his name were to be changed). Again, MAYBE HE IS offensive, but you can’t just *assert* that without explaining why, or say “he doesn’t reflect DU’s diversity and the true Pioneer spirit” (which is a meaningless statement without elaboration — mascots aren’t supposed to be mirrors held up to a student body, so this “diversity” argument just sounds like ivory-tower P.C. mumbo-jumbo to anyone outside the bubble).

I really don’t want to get bogged down with this issue tonight. I’ve got more pressing things to think and tweet and blog about, like the WAC quarterfinals and Denver’s game against Texas State tomorrow. But for the record, after the jump, I have published several questions that I’ve e-mailed, over the last couple of weeks, to student government president Sam Estenson, who played a key role in the recent anti-Boone bill, and also to Jozer Guerrero, a prominent Boone opponent who commented on a recent thread. I haven’t gotten any answers yet, but perhaps someone in this thread will be able to answer the questions. I’m all ears.

Chancellor Coombe’s full e-mail is also after the jump.

P.S. Oh, and new readers… this isn’t really a blog about Boone, even though that’s been a hot topic lately. It’s a blog about the Denver men’s basketball team. Please bookmark the Mile High Mids homepage, “like” Mile High Mids on Facebook, follow @MileHighMids on Twitter, and keep coming back as the Pios vie for NCAA glory!

Okay, now for the promised “after the jump” stuff…

Read More

Pioneers invade Vegas

With tip-off of the Denver men’s WAC quarterfinal set for 3:30 PM Mountain Time tomorrow (and the Denver women having, alas, already been eliminated today after winning yesterday), it seems like everybody associated with the Pioneers program is descending on Sin City.

Monday and Tuesday, busing it to Vegas were the cheerleaders (and band):

Here they are at Orleans Arena (I think) this afternoon:

Also on Monday, SID extraordinaire Mike Kennedy flew im:

By this morning, Kennedy — an avid runner — was reporting on the, um, atmospheric conditions in Vegas:

Then today, the team flew out:

Denver Boone also arrived today:

And, as I write this, Mile High Mids correspondent Ross Lancaster and, as shown below, Mile High Bally, are en route to Vegas:

And then there were 8

On Pillowfight Tuesday in the WAC, Texas State and Texas-San Antonio won the 7-10 and 8-9 games, respectively, thus ensuring that all three Texas schools reach the quarterfinals, and giving us a bracket that looks like this:

Untitled

So, it’ll be Denver against Texas State at 3:30 PM Mountain Time on Thursday. In their previous two meetings, the Pioneers won 64-53 at Magness Arena and 79-64 in San Marcos, TX. Hopefully Thursday will be more of the same!

Incidentally, for the very latest live coverage of the tourney, visit our new liveblog page. (Or just follow us on Twitter, @MileHighMids.)

Introducing your fearless correspondent in Vegas

As I type, the WAC tournament, of which Denver is the No. 2 seed and statistical favorite to win, has just begun with what The Mid-Majority’s Kyle Whelliston would have called “pillowfight” games if this was the CAA tournament in Richmond. 

UntitledThis blog has a seat reserved for those games, but the seat won’t be occupied until Thursday at noon Pacific Time, when New Mexico State plays Idaho in the conference tournament’s first quarterfinal. The normal author of this blog won’t be at those games, either. Instead, I, Ross Lancaster, will be there in Brendan’s place, with Mile High Bally beside me.

So, you may be asking yourself right now, who ARE you? What are you doing here? Are you going to give this place any Deadspin-esque makeovers?

If you followed TMM’s 800 Games Project last season, you might remember my name. As a resident of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, I mostly went to North Texas and UT-Arlington games, and followed the Sun Belt and Southland conferences. Even though I’ve never lived in Denver (but am a Broncos fan as a result of my parents living in Boulder just before having me), I’ve been able to follow DU’s program for the last several years since UNT and UTA have been conference mates with the Pioneers at different points.

Thus, my reason for wanting to be at this tournament came via both UT-Arlington and Denver, the WAC teams I’ve followed before their singular WAC season.

All the way back in July, I met former UT-Arlington SID Darrin Scheid at the McKinney Avenue Tavern in Dallas. Almost immediately, with the Summer Olympics on in the background and the calendar closer to football season in Texas, we started talking about Sun Belt, WAC and Southland Conference basketball. Several months later, we started making plans to merely spectate in Las Vegas to watch UTA in its conference tournament.

After knowing that I would be in Vegas in mid-March, I DM’d Brendan asking him if he was going to be there to watch Denver. He said he wouldn’t be there, but offered me the chance to cover the tournament through Mile High Mids AND get credentialed on press row.

The next few days mark my first time ever covering a conference tournament from press row, and I couldn’t be more excited. I can’t wait to bring you all the action from Orleans Arena (and possibly the Thomas & Mack Center if the times work out with a MWC game) and do it in a fun, lively way, as is this blog’s custom.