WE’RE NUMBER ONE (hundred and one)!

The University of Central Florida is dancing after all. But while the NCAA Tournament is considered the Big Dance, maybe the College Basketball Invitational Tournament is more like a barn dance in Mizzura. But hey, it’s still postseason play. There are 212 Division I teams that have absolutely nowhere to go and would love to still be on the court vying for something more than bragging rights. So buck up, UCF; put on your best pair of scootin’ shoes and get out there!

(Speaking of dancing, kudos to the women’s team for representing. It has quite a challenge ahead, playing in Ohio against the Buckeyes.)

UCF fans probably weren’t looking toward the CBI after the Knights began their season with a cool 14 consecutive wins; I now I wasn’t.  All of those wins weren’t against pushovers as the Knights got the better of three teams in the current championship tournament: Florida, Princeton and Alabama State. They also put Miami and South Florida up on the walls of their cabin. The Knights garnered a top-20 ranking in the national polls and an absurd seed in an early projection of the field of 68.

Day 4 At The Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament: Washington Huskies Are Deserved Top Dog

It took the Washington Huskies about 20 minutes to find their game in this year’s Pac-10 Conference Championship. Then they became the most impressive team of the week. Sitting firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble prior to this tournamnent, the Huskies needed a good showing and they left no doubt at weekend’s end. They deserve to be called Pac-10 champions.

The Huskies opened the tournament with a somewhat disappointing half against Oregon State, but you have to credit most of that to the Beavers just being absolutely on point from 3-point range. Then the Huskies employed the press defense and blew right past OSU. They dominated Stanford from start to finish the next night.

But we got our money’s worth during Saturday’s game. It began like a mid-80s NBA game, where neither team could miss. It was a lot of fast-paced action as both teams had more than 30 points with more than five minutes remaining in the first half. Both squads turned a mixture of cold from the field and sloppy with the ball to finish the half and the Huskies held a 41-37 advantage.

Both teams staged big runs in the second half, which set up an ultimate six-minute finish with Washington trailing, 66-63. The Huskies then hit six of their final seven shots and all four free throws. Meanwhile, the Huskies’ defense stifled Cal, which made just two of its final six shots. They forced a couple of critical turnovers late and took away the Golden Bears’ strength from 3-point range,  where they made just 5-of-19 shots Saturday. In the end, the Huskies made the plays to become champs. They did it for the majority of the tourney and certainly did it Saturday. They didn’t run into any luck. They just performed better than everyone else. They looked like the most athletic team in the Pac-10 and shot better than 45 percent. Maybe the greatest news for UW fans is that only one player — Quincy Pondexter — won’t be back in for the 2010-11 season. The Huskies have eight underclassmen, none of whom have the ability to become the next Kevin Love or O.J. Mayo and ditch the Pac-10. They’ll be sticking around. But they do have the ability to make the Pac-10 exceedingly difficult for the rest of the league for the next couple of years.

• Other than the game, the most important thing from Saturday was stomachs. Media row for college basketball games is often right in front of the cheerleaders. That position gives you a lot of time to pick out your favorites. Mine at UCF was this girl who had a well-defined eight pack of abs. It was memorizing — and a bit intimidating. With that being said, I’m pretty sure I could fall in love with all of Washington’s cheerleaders. Six-pack abs must be a requirement for that group. Their stomachs are incredible. You can grate cheese off those things. I’m willing to try.

• Isaiah Thomas was named tourney MVP, but I would have given the award to Pondexter. He contributed about the same amount of offense and didn’t experience the dreadful quarterfinal game that Thomas had. Plus, he’s the team’s only senior. He deserved it enough. But it’s also his last go-around. Just give it to him.

• You might remember me complaining about the Washington band’s rendition  of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from Thursday. Well on Saturday, the PA system played SLTS with a disco/electronica remix that made the Huskies’ band look like grunge kings. I’m glad Kurt Cobain is already dead because he surely would have killed himself after hearing that.

Day 3 At The Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament: And The Band Played On. And on. And On, And On. And On. … OK, We Have To Leave Now

Me and my friend Matt posing with some of the UCLA squad. I'm still not sure why I approached Bruin mascot and asked, "How are you, sir?" Why I am trying to be so formal with a guy in a bear suit???

Friday’s semifinal round of the Pac-10 Tournament wasn’t exactly filled with excitement. Maybe lined. Better yet, sprinkled. But certainly not filled. Case in point: The most entertaining action of the night came after all the basketball was done.

I’ve always been taught to get to sporting events early and stay until the ushers start pressing you to get going. The more time spent at the stadium the better, right? But we just couldn’t leave on Friday. After Washington finished thrashing Stanford, each school’s band routinely played their fight songs, alma mater and chants. It was pretty obvious they were trying to play louder than each other from opposite baselines. The playing went on for a few minutes. It would subside soon, I thought.

It didn’t.

The bands kept playing. When one stopped, the other would burst right into tune. It became a series of musical one-upmanship. Let’s see who can play the longest. The first one to pass out loses.

They kept going and 10 minutes in, now it was getting out of control for as much as how 40 pale band nerds can get out of control. Stanford’s band began to spread like roaches from light. A couple of trombone players made their way the stairs to the second deck. The flutes took base in the wheelchair section to the left. Others played as they walked through aisle by vacant aisle.

Of course, Washington followed suit and started to disperse. As its band was on our side of the court, we tried to get their attention to come play around us. But they were locked in. Screw winning and losing. A new game had formed. The Huskies were in a fight for pride and the Cardinal weren’t giving an inch — or a note. Fifteen minutes after the game had ended, the only people left in the building were our party of three, security guards, ushers telling us to leave and two college bands spread out from the floor to the rafters. Just playing. Anything. Just make a sound. Prolong the battle. It was one major geeky jam session all over Staples Center. The NCAA rendition of “In-Da-Gadda-Da-Vida”. I guess it’s appropriate that the Stanford Tree mascot never stopped dancing. He was feeling the colors, man.

When we finally left, both bands were still going strong. I felt bad that we couldn’t stick around and give the bands a deserved round of applause, but the ushers were complaining about wanting to go home or something insignificant. And who knows when the music would stop? Maybe it never did. Maybe Stanford will take the place of California’s band in Saturday’s final. Stanford’s kids have end-of-quarter exams next week, but who cares? They go to Stanford; they’re plenty smart already. They need to settle this score!

Now that I’ve covered the after party, here is what happened before and during Friday’s action:

• This day was just one big mess for me. It was one thing for the games to be sub-par and for the teams that I wanted to win do otherwise. Five minutes before the first game of the night, we were told that the retractable bleachers behind us needed to be pulled out so people could sit there. One problem: Those bleachers make that handicapped section inaccessible to the handicapped. Smooth. For the second time in as many days, we were uprooted from our seats because of these stupid bleachers. There are 5,000 other empty seats in the damn stadium. Go sit there!

• The late notice caused us to miss the first few minutes of the UCLA-California game and when they did re-seat us, they gave us a spot much closer to the court but behind the basket, which you can see below. I like sitting with the enthused crowd, but there is no more annoying seat in any basketball arena than those behind the basket. Some love it, but it’s an obstructed view. It’s gives you no sense of depth toward the other end of the floor and you have to keep moving your head around to see the action. I’d much rather sit up in the nose-bleeds.

• Then, somehow, my camera ran out of battery. I charged it in the morning, but apparently not enough. It crapped out during the first half of the UCLA game. Thus, I couldn’t get any pictures of the Bruin-Golden Bear mascot dance-off or of the 76 Gasoline mascot. It is what you think it is. A mascot designed as a 76 pump. I got a photo of it from the 2009 tournament, but I wanted a new one. I want it! I want it!

I guess these seats would be an upgrade for some people, but they bugged the hell out of me

Day 2 At The Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament: Four Games, Eight Teams, Twelve Hours, Zero Counting

This is how Staples Center looked as we entered on Thursday. It looked the same when we exited, just darker. And somewhat blurry

In a perfect world, I wouldn’t just be watching this Pac-10 tournament, I would be covering it for some kind of media outlet.

In a perfect world, I would have posted this sooner than now. But you have to understand that watching basketball for an entire half of a day is tough. My dad and I left our apartment at 10 a.m. Thursday for college basketball, eager to experience four games in one day. We returned safely at midnight after this exchange began our car ride home:

“You OK to drive,” I asked.

“Sure,” my dad assured me.

“You sure? I’m scared for my life.”

“Oh, me too.”

Again, we made it home fine. But I couldn’t spend the time I needed updating this blog. So I got a few hours of sleep instead. Excuse the lack of timeliness on this post, but here is what I saw on Thursday.

• The first game of the day was No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 5 UCLA. There were some U of A fans wearing shirts with “The Streak Matters” printed on, a reference to Arizona’s 25 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. I should have gotten a photo of that. But it was obvious that streak was going to end Thursday. UCLA took control of the game early and played extremely well in terms of strong defense and steady offense. UCLA shot 64 percent in the first half. It was close throughout, but I never felt as if the Bruins were in jeopardy of losing their lead. I think they will give Cal a much better game today than Arizona.

Day 1 At The Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament: An Exhilaratingly Sloppy Open

The worst part of Day 1 of the Pac-10 Conference Championship is exactly that number: 1

There is only one game during Wednesday’s opening round at Staples Center. As soon as you are getting settled in, the ushers are telling you it’s time to go. There should have been two games Wednesday, but USC just had to have a conscience, didn’t it? How selfish of them! Screw doing what’s right! What about the fans?!

At least that one game was entertaining. Hardly anyone was there to watch it and it was hard to watch at times. But in the end, Oregon won in overtime, 82-80, with the help of a true buzzer-beater at the end of regulation. Truthfully, the Ducks sucked a little less than the Cougars. Here is my take through words and some (way-too-small) photos.

The game was a 8 p.m., so we got there at 6. Yeah, we got there a little early. I just couldn't wait to see the worst team take on the second-worst team in a horribly disappointing conference. And really, not many more seats were filled by tip-off time

• I live on the West Coast and love following college basketball, but I’d be lying if I said I was really knowledgeable about the Pac-10. I would be if it was as good as usual. But it’s not even close. I did some research prior to the game and saw that Oregon bases its defense out of the 1-3-1 zone. When I got to the game, I saw one of the big reasons why Oregon is terrible this year: They can’t play in it.  They couldn’t stop anything out of that zone and fell behind quickly, 11-5.

But I give Ernie Kent some credit because after those first few minutes, Oregon mixed up its defenses — displaying some man-to-man and a few different zones — which seemed to really confuse Washington St.

• To further display my lack of Pac-10 awareness. I didn’t know Kyle Singler’s brother, E.J., plays for Oregon. He scored the Ducks’ first five points … and then completely vanished from the court. Metaphorically at first. He returned briefly, just in time to record the overtime-forcing basket, and then honestly vanished from the court when he fouled out during overtime. He’s only a freshman, but I’m sure that Singler family is well aware of which horse to bet on.

• Washington State had the ball, trailing by two with 16 seconds left in the OT. Supposedly, here is the play they set up during the timeout: Reggie Moore brings it in and holds it. He’s 2 for 8 from the field, but he holds it. He should try to find Klay Thompson, but he holds. And holds it. HOLDS IT! With five seconds left, he makes his move. Two steps in, two steps back and the fall-away 17-footer bounces off the rim as the ultimate horn sounds.

So in case you were wondering, Reggie Moore is not Kobe Bryant. It cost his team’s season to prove it.