Portland State Vikings in CIT tournament

By Gregory Crawford, Managing Editor of the East West Hoops

Congrats to the Portland State Vikings for making the CIT tournament. The Vikings will match-up in the first round on Tuesday, March 18th against the San Diego Toreros of the West Coast Conference. 

The winner of the Tuesday night contest in San Diego, will take on the the winner of the Pacific Tigers/Grand Canyon game.

Some sources have indicated to the East West Hoops, that instead of playing San Diego on Tuesday night, the Vikings more than likely would have been playing U of Portland, but the Pilots finished the season one game below .500 and CIT rules are that a team to be eligible for the CIT needs to have at least a .500 or better record for the year.

What a match-up that would have been in Portland, Oregon, Vikings/Pilots in postseason. It would have created quite the buzz.

Sigh of relief in Portland, Oregon

By Gregory Crawford, Managing Editor of the East West Hoops

A big sigh of relief went over Portland, Oregon and beyond on Friday night, when the Blazers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans.

Not only was it a great come from behind road win, but it also stopped the Blazers' losing streak, counting four straight on the road. The win comes at the end of the Blazers' five game road trip, they now come home for three straight starting on Sunday. After that, it is no road rest as Portland heads out on their final long road trip of the year, another five game trip

Since we always love to hear from our readers, where do you think Portland will wind up as a seed in the Western Conference and how far will they advance in the playoffs?

Bracketology: NC State upgrades their resume in ACC Tournament

T.J. Warren is the ACC Player of the Year

If you haven't heard about the NC State Wolfpack this season, you will hear about them a lot more after tonight's victory over the Syracuse Orange in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

The Wolfpack are now 21-12 on the season and they don't have great resume wins but they did beat Florida Gulf Coast earlier in the season. The Eagles of FGCU are the regular season champs of the Atlantic Sun conference and will most likely be in the NIT.

Then they have another good resume win against Eastern Kentucky out of the Ohio Valley Conference. Last week, the Colonels of EKU won the OVC Tournament and will be going to the NCAA Tournament. You can now add tonight's win over Syracuse to give them that great resume win.

With the Wolfpack advancing to the semifinals it at least puts them in the conversation for the NCAA Tournament. Let's not forget they also have the ACC Player of the Year in sophomore forward T.J. Warren. Warren is averaging 24.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

In tonight's big win over Syracuse, he had 28 points and 8 rebounds and played all 40 minutes. With Selection Sunday only being two days away it will be interesting to see where NC State ends up.

Phil Jackson era starts in New York

By Gregory Crawford, Managing Editor of the East West Hoops

Lots of fanfare, lots of plaudits for the New York Knicks hiring of Phil Jackson. Reputation deserved in one area of basketball does not always carry over to the other areas.

My take on Jackson is that after two years, he will become bored with the front office and move onto another area of basketball. You have to give Jackson credit for his competitive fire, but this time around he will not be on many road trips, he will not be at every practice and he will not be in the huddle with his famous glare of players and motivational tactics.

Yes, I give him two and done. In addition, I do not think he will be successful in his new role, being able to translate from the greatest NBA coach of all time to a great front office guy. It is just very hard to do and few people have succeeded at the job.

Per usual, in the East West Hoops, what are your thoughts on this subject? Thank you.

NCAA Postseason Tournaments: Blah, Blah, Blah and more Blah

By Gregory Crawford, Managing Editor of the East West Hoops

How about really sprucing up NCAA D-1 basketball. I mean really sprucing it up. Simple way, do away with all postseason conference tournaments. Conference tournaments only cut it with the true basketball junkie.

For sure the game needs to add new fans and develop a new base. There is no better way to do so than to make the regular season count, really count.

Can you believe what kind of games we would get. And on top of that, add on a balanced schedule for every single team. It would work, it just has to have someone have the guts to make the decision.

Per usual, we always want the East West Hoops to be interactive. What do you think about the above comments ?

Wichita State, For Sure Number 1 Seed

By Gregory Crawford, Managing Editor of the East West Hoops

It is shocking, that some people do not think the Wichita State Shockers belong as a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Of course they do, completing the regular season at 34-0 they have to be a lock to be the number 1 seed.

What do you think, are they a deserving number 1 seed and how far will they go in the NCAA tournament? Please comment below and thank you very much.

CAA Tournament: Delaware Blue Hens outlasts Hofstra

(Photo: Mark Jordan/Bluehens.com)

In the first game of the CAA quarterfinals, the number one seed Delaware Blue Hens took on the eighth seed Hofstra Pride. The Blue Hens would go on to win 87-76.

Hofstra started out the game early on fire giving the Blue Hens a run for their money. At the half, The Pride had a 40-37 lead. But then the Blue Hens woke up and had a 50 point scoring outburst in the second half.

The scoring outburst was led by guards Davon Usher and Jarvis Threatt. Usher scored a game high 28 points and was unstoppable for the most part in today's game. Usher also had eight rebounds and shot 4 of 7 from the three point line.

His teammate Jarvis Threatt was the closer down the stretch scoring 22 points in the game and making 6 out 10 free throws from the line.

Still give credit to Hofstra as they only played seven players as they were shorthanded. They got a lot from their players and they definitely did show "Pride."

Delaware now sits and waits for the winner of the 4/5 game between the Drexel Dragons and Northeastern Huskies.