Broncos bungle their bye

By Brian Betz

Say goodbye to a first-round bye, Bronco fans.

With parity dominating the WCC, the only guarantee I'll make is that the men's basketball team will not be watching from the stands during the first day's action in the WCC Tournament.

Instead, they'll be one of the four teams that need to win four games in as many days in order to achieve the unthinkable: make the NCAA Tournament.

Why the pessimism? Well, it's quite simple. Only the top four teams get byes and currently the 5-7 Broncos are the fifth seed, just behind USF's 6-6 conference record. Though feasible that we could win our last two games and the Dons could lose theirs, the odds are about as good as hitting on 19 in blackjack.

The Broncos play both games this weekend on the road, where they've been a stellar 0-5 in WCC play. Tonight, they take on Portland before a Saturday laugher against Gonzaga. A loss to the No. 4 nationally-ranked Bulldogs is a foregone conclusion, and should you disagree, check the spread, send me an e-mail and I'd be glad to take your money.

So, at best, the Broncos will be 6-8 going into the WCC Tourney. USF still needs to lose at home to Pepperdine (who they've defeated three times in a row) and to Loyola Marymount, who they've beaten 11 straight times.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to predict where Santa Clara will be seeded because of tiebreaker rules. Surprisingly, overall record isn't a factor. Conference record is the first determinant, followed by head-to-head matchups. Should two teams with identical conference records have split their two meetings as the Dons and Broncos have, the next tiebreaker is a comparison of how they fared against the top WCC teams. Since both Santa Clara and USF lost twice to league-champion Gonzaga, you look to see how they each did against the second-place team. While that's currently Saint Mary's, the Gaels could fall behind Pepperdine to third with losses this weekend.

The mystery seedings are a fitting ending to the parity consumed WCC, excepting Gonzaga. But even the Zags know nothing is assured when the WCC Tournament rolls around, just as they learned in last year's championship-game loss to San Diego.

For now we'll have to wait and see. But mark your calendars because the Broncos will be in uniform during first-round play on March 5.

û Contact Brian Betz at (408) 554-4852 or bbetz@scu.edu.