After their decisive win against Oregon last night in LA, Washington has all but clinched their spot in the NCAA tournament, but there is still one game between them and Selection Sunday. Washington takes on Arizona in the Pac-10 conference Tournament final and you can find all of the coverage you need right here on SB Nation Seattle.
But let's take a moment and look past today's matchup. Now that Washington is virtually guaranteed a spot in the big dance, whether it's as an at large or through winning today's game, where will the selection committee place them? In our most recent look at bracket projections from some of the most trusted sources in the game, The Huskies were seeded somewhere between a tenth seed and an eleventh seed, but this was before their wins against Washington State on Thursday and Oregon yesterday.
Today those same projections list Washington anywhere from an eighth seed to a tenth seed. The win over Oregon didn't do much for Washington's seedings, but a win over Arizona tonight could have a huge impact on it. Should The Huskies defeat The Wildcats today, look for their stock to skyrocket, maybe even as far as a sixth or seventh seed
For Washington State, it's a very different story.
Their loss to Washington on Thursday officially knocked them out of NCAA Tournament contention once and for all. Now, they have turned their attention to playing in the NIT. WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos thinks this could be a great opportunity for the school and hopes that his school will be able to host the games:
"With our record and how we’re playing right now, I think we’ve got a good chance [to be in the field]," said athletic director Bill Moos. "And, hopefully, we have a chance to host it. We want to."
It was previously presumed that, due to a substantial fee that hosting an NIT game demands, Washington State would be adverse to hosting a game while students are on spring break. Moos addressed this issue to:
"I don’t like to step over the dollars to get the nickels," Moos said. "We need to continue to play in the postseason and give our fans an opportunity to watch us. So we’re holding out hope that we first, get invited, and then that we host it."
There aren't many bracketology websites around for NIT projections, but there are some. One projection (NITology) has WSU as a one seed, two other projections (ChicagoNow and CollegeHoopsnet) have them as two seeds and one (The Bracket Project), the one that carries the most clout of the four, has them as a three seed. Should Bracket Project be right, WSU would not be able to host games, unless a higher seed declines the offer to host.
Stay tuned to SB Nation Seattle all weekend as we cover the final days of conference championship games and finally make it to the faithful day so many teams have been waiting for: Selection Sunday.


There are 0 Comments. Add Yours.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.