Dionne Marsh and Brandi Kimble had a senior day away from the pit as they put the smackdown on San Diego State-helping the lobos win the Mountain West Conference Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Lobos are hosting in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday. The Lobos won a tight 62 to 59 battle. They have now won five of the last six tournament titles. In addition to playing well, the Lobos also credit their secret weapon…..the buffet for their success. Dionne Marsh and Brandi Kimble made the all tournament team. Marsh was named tournament MVP. She had an ear to ear smile on her face as she picked up her trophy. Marsh says the MVP award is for the whole team. UNLV won the men’s championship over BYU. Things got ugly after the game. Some BYU band members and fans got into a scuffle with UNLV fans. UNLV fans also rushed the court-upsetting some of the BYU fans.
The Mountain West Tournament will be in Las Vegas until at least 2010. Some of the teams have already started grumbling about the homecourt advantage for UNLV. UNLV also has the home cooked advantage. Food is everywhere in this town and it’s time for me and sports reporter Doug Strickland to have some. We have been working long days and nights since the tournament started. We are tired and hungry and we will get down on a large plate of food right now.
The Lobo women’s basketball team continues to eat at the buffet. They also continue to win. The women had to put on a gritty performance to turn back a very physical and confident Colorado State team 65 to 41. The defending Mountain west champions now play in the championship game once again. The Lobos have won four of the last five titles. Colorado State actually tried to get physical with a much larger and physical Lobo team. That was a mistake. The Lobo men are still hoping to go the NCAA tournament. At the moment, the Lobos are out of all of the projections to make the big dance. We will find out what happens Sunday. Postseason awaits somewhere.
March 14, 2008 – 11:55 am
We all knew it would be hard for the Lobo men’s basketball team to beat Utah for a third time in the same season. It almost happened. The Lobos had plenty of fans pulling for them. They picked up more fans when J.R. Giddens reached backed to last week and snagged a ball out of the sky for a serious alley opp throw down. Most of the crowd from the UNLV game joined Lobo fans in rooting against the Utes. Giddens wasn’t done yet as he dropped a ferious dunk on the head of seven footer Luke Nevil in overtime. Nevil followed with two massive dunks of his own. The last one made the difference in an 82 to 80 Utah victory. Giddens scored 28 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in the loss. By the way, who would you take if you had one pick and your life depended on it…J.R. Giddens or BYU’s Lee Cummard. The two shared the Mountain West player of the year award. I would take Giddens.
The evening session of the Mountain West tournament was awesome Thursday. UNLV and TCU played a street ball like shootout. The game was wonderfully called until the final play. Wink Adams tied the game on a drive to the basket. He leaned in on a guy who was clearly planted in the lane. The next sound was the referee’s whistle. We were all stunned that there was a call. Too bad. Overtime would have been better. It ruined what had been a well played and well called game. Larry Johnson of grandma-ma fame even attended the game. Johnson played his college ball at UNLV.
On the women’s side of the bracket, coaches are predicting that the Lobos will win it all. The women must first get past Colorado State. The Rams will probably start the game with plenty of confidence. When the Lobos start putting the smackdown on, confidence will fly out the window like a fly trying to escape the swatter. The Lobo women like to eat at the buffet in Las Vegas. They said it helped them win last year. Guess where coach Flanagan is taking his team to eat this year…..Yep…the buffet. I ran into Dionne Marsh at the Garden Buffet at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino. I think we can all relate to a good meal. It does make your day go well.
March 13, 2008 – 12:11 am
Just like we thought, the Lobo Women’s basketball team go to the mountain west tournament quarterfinals and quickly administer a 59 to 41 beatdown to BYU. Lobos coach Don Flanagan knew his team would show up. They always do at the tournament. The Lobos have won four of the last five tournament titles. It doesn’t hurt that 12th ranked Utah is now out of the mix. How could the Utes lose to a team that failed to win a conference game all season. Colorado State pulled off the shocker by beating Utah and setting up a date with the Lobos. The game is 1 p-m Friday. At a Colorado State press conference coach Jen Warden brought up the fact that her team suffered two poundings at the hands of the Lobos during the regular season. She went on to joke that coach Flanagan should buy her flowers. Afterall, Warden led her team to an upset of Utah to set up a semi-final meeting with the Lobos. Can you imagine what Utah coach Elaine Elliott was thinking after the loss. Utah won 27 games this year. Colorado State lost 27. That is straight up crazy.
Like the Colorado State women, the men also lost all of their conference games only to upset Wyoming in the play in game. Wyoming will get top seed BYU in the quarterfinals. Cinderella’s carriage is getting ready to turn into a pumpkin. The Lobo men’s basketball team practiced at a local high school in preparation for their highly anticipated meeting against Utah. J.R. Giddens appeared loose and very excited about getting it on with the Utes again. The Lobos swept the Utes during the regular season. Coach Steve Alford also looked like he was having fun when the team came to the Thomas and Mack center to do interviews. Alford grabbed sunglasses off of Giddens’ face and put them on his own grill. It was a playful move.
Lobo fans are back in full force. Expect to see more when the Lobo Men play Utah Thursday night at 9:30 p-m. We will show you pictures and keep you up to date. You should see us setting up to do live interviews for the tournament. We have to run like a three football fields from the press room to the live truck. It is crazy. Speaking of crazy, San Diego State just beat Wyoming on the Women’s side of the bracket. What in the world! The Aztecs get TCU next. I think it is going to be a wild rest of the tournament. Put on your seatbelts.
The 2008 MWC takes place this year in Las Vegas, NV March 11-15.
The #4 Lady Lobo’s are set to play #5 BYU Wednesday March 12th 1:30 p.m. PT/2:30 p.m. MT
The #3 Lobo Men are set to play #6 Utah Thursday March 13th 8:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. MT
Check here for the latest news, behind the scenes, the Lobo’s and Alford coverage and more as we blog this year from the MWC.
