"I just looked up WSU and apparently they were auto-qualifiers. How they got auto-qualification by losing in they quarter final of the Pac-12 Tournament by 30 points is beyond me but whatever."

The WNIT selection process states: "Thirty-two (32) spots in the Postseason WNIT will be filled automatically by the best team available in each of the nation’s 32 conferences, after the NCAA Tournament committee makes its picks." http://www.womensnit.com/event-info1.html

WSU finished tied for 7th with Cal. Cal had a significantly better overall record http://pac-12.com/sport/womens-basketball and only lost thier quarterfinal game by 18 to OSU, while WSU lost by 30 to Stanford. http://pac-12.com/womens-basketball/womens-basketball-tournament

Seven Pac 12 teams including Cal were invited to the NCAA's, leaving WSU as the auto-bid.

Further,(same cite): The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc.

This should provide some incentive for our road warriors.

Go Ags!

Not even in the fine print towards the rear of the sports section*. Not even one of their crack investigative journalism capsules that reads "according to the UC Davis website."

*They do however include the first leg schedules for the quarterfinals of the European Champions League (soccer) for games to be played on the 11th and 12th of April.

Wanna go 2 outta 3?

It was fun. Wish we could have kept it in the 20 point range, but Kansas is Kansas. Enjoy the ride.

I was going for the cheap laugh...you said "his MO" and he went to Missouri.

Kind of coincidental that the Bears stunk up the NIT and before the ink was dry on that story he had left Cal and signed with Mizzou. Think this has been in the works for awhile.

Gotta think Cal will make another pitch for Randy Bennett at St. Mary's.

"He didn't last long at Tennessee and didn't last long at Cal. I think this is his MO." aggie6thman with the hiddden news scoop...Martin signed with Mizzou....

Intersections in front of Chem and Olson at class break.

Beat the Eagles!

NIT first round final from Berkeley: Cal State Bakersfield 73, Cal 66. It was not as close as the score would suggest.

, aggie6thman -

That is really a dissappointing article. My dog could have come away with a better feel for the campus than did this writer who was kind enough to venture out of the rarified air of the City and come to the backwoods that is the valley. Wonder if he turned off his car or just left the motor running.

Slightly off topic, but CSU Bakersfield is taking it to Cal; 49-29 with under 13 minutes to go in the 2nd in an NIT opener.

I wonder what Fox Sports would say if THEY had the NCAA Tourney broadcast contract?

Much rather see a play-in/"First Four" game with two comparable teams, a likelihood of a close game and a chance for a win than to jump right in against a one or two seed.


EDIT:
It's an odd commentary. The writer seems to take all sides of the issue and never really land.

Oddly enough, his bio says he is a graduate of Wake Forest, which is playing in a First Four/play-in game.

Fox News, Fair and Balanced:

http://www.foxsports.com/college-basketball/story/ncaa-tournament-first-four-worst-event-unfair-history-usc-wake-forest-kansas-state-2017-031417

They dropped all of the "U"niversities, so Univ. of North Carolina is under N, as are the other NC schools like UNCCentral, and UNC Wilmington. The Univ. of Kentucky is under K. Even "the U," Miami, is in the M's. USC comes in as SC, and "the other USC" as South Carolina.

Somehow Virginia Commonwealth is listed as VCU so Vermont and Villanova snuck in between Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia, (which is followed by Virginia Tech.

There are two Aggies, two Gaels, two Gamecocks, two Trojans, two Eagles, two Rams, five Wildcats, and I'm sure I am missing some.

Looks like winner of UCD/Utah plays winner of Colo. St./St. Mary's. Not sure how the NCAA is seeding the WNIT, or picking sites. We beat the Gaels by 2 in the regular season so we could make a pitch for a home game if Ags and Gaels both pulled the road victories.

Wonder why the WNIT has 64 teams, but the men's NIT has only 32? Maybe I could come up with some irreverent answer if I had another hour of sleep.

This is only the Eagles' sixth season in D1 but this is their second trip to the NCAA's (2014, 2017) and they've been to the NIT once (2015).

Just my two cents on the broadcast....when you get to the late night Saturday championship game for a mid-major conference, and one that is not known for basketball, you get to the bottom of the barrel with broadcasters. I won't claim to know enough about the intricacies of the game to criticize their knowledge, but the delivery, particularly as they went into commercial breaks, was annoying to at least one old guy sitting in front of a TV in northern California.

"But their worst loss, which happened during the last regular season game, came against N.C. A&T,..."

That would be the N.C.A&T Aggies. Just sayin'

Not showing any love for the Big West. UCI goes into the NIT as an 8 seed and has to travel to Illinois. Cal State-Bakersfield, also an 8 seed and an auto bid, only has to travel to Berkeley.