Time for an update on our favorite college basketball teams at tournament time.
The
Cowboys saw their season come to a close Monday night when they
lost 74-64 to the
Washington State Cougars in the
National Invitational Tournament. Despite 17 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward
Matt Pilgrim, the Cowboys came out on the short end of the score, as the Cougars limited OSU's leading scorer,
Marshall Moses, to just two points.
The
Cougars played the
Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday, March 19 in the second round of the
NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga has family ties for Elliot, since his dad lived in Spokane for several years as a kid. Elliot's uncle
Don still lives there and does some work for Gonzaga. And
John Stockton, a Spokane native who played for Gonzaga and whose son
David now plays for the Bulldogs, is a long-time favorite of Elliot's brother Keith. But Elliot and his family bleed Cougar blue so there was no doubt about which team to support. The game was reasonably close through the first half but the Cougars pullled away in the second half, winning by a
final score of 89-67.
Jimmer Fredette had another spectucular game, scoring 34 points, including seven 3-pointers, some from the next area code. (Jimmer is also
a finalist for the
2011 Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award.)
Noah Hartsock made all five of his shots, including three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points, and
Jackson Emery tossed in 16 points. Next up for the Cougars is the number two seed
Florida Gators, Thursday evening in New Orleans.
And after the jump, you can watch a great video: "We Are BYU."
Five days have passed since the Cougars played the Florida Gators in the NCAA Tournament. After 32 wins, a conference championship, and a trip to the sweet sixteen, the magic finally ended as the Cougars lost 83-74 in overtime. Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points but was an uncharacteristic 3 of 15 from three-point land. No other Cougar scored more than 9 points. My philosophical side says it was a great season and the team was extremely fun to watch, but my other side imagines how great it would be to have made it to the final four and maybe even win the whole thing. But only one team can win it all, and this year it will not be the Cougars. So life is good. And the awards keep rolling in. The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Jimmer as the winner of the 2010-11 Oscar Robertson Trophy, annually presented to the National Player of the Year. He was also selected to The Associated Press All-America team and the 2011 Lute Olson All-America team. The list of personal honors for Jimmer goes on. And in recognition of the team's dedication to academics, DegreeeSearch.org conducted its own postseason tournament for college basketball called the Student-Athlete Championship and declared BYU men’s basketball the champions.
So what's the Oklahoma connection? BYU coach Dave Rose has decided not to pursue the head coaching job at the University of Oklahoma. Great news for the Cougars; not such great news for the Sooners.
