WHAT IF WEDNESDAY: What If Both Cal Poly Basketball Teams Made the NCAA Tournament

After a Big West sweep of last week’s games, Cal Poly men’s basketball cemented itself into a 2nd place tie with Cal State Northridge. At 11-11 overall and 6-4 in the Big West, Joe Callero’s team may be playing even better than their record indicates after an 18-point drubbing of Pacific, who had been the hottest team in the conference.

While the men’s basketball team was positioning themselves for a push toward the Big West Tournament, Faith Mimnaugh’s Lady Mustangs continued to dominate the conference. After suffering a 20-point defeat at Davis, the womens’ team first Big West loss of the year, Mimnaugh’s team bounced back for a victory in Stockton to improve their conference record to 9-1 and maintain a two game lead over Davis in the standings.

There is still more than a month before the Big West Tournament in Anaheim, but it got me thinking–what would happen if both the Mustangs men and women won their respective conference tournaments, and made it into the big dance?

But Owen, could it really happen?

Sure. With the women in first place and the men in second, it’s safe to say that they both have a reasonable chance of getting hot and winning a few games in a row against anybody in the Big West. Though the women got blown out vs. UC Davis and Long Beach State has dominated the men’s standings thus far, both Mustangs teams have the ability to beat anyone in the conference. An odds-maker would give the women’s team a better chance than the men, but the men’s team is hot and they could stay that way.

What would San Luis Obispo be like in the week leading up to the tournament?

The city of San Luis Obispo would be buzzing like a beehive. Cal Poly basketball fans would come out of the woodwork. On February 5th, SLO could only muster about 2,000 fans–1,000 short of Mott Gym’s capacity–to watch the men’s team beat a good UOP squad by twenty points and move themselves into a 2nd place tie. Were the Mustangs to make the tournament, they would likely play in one of the play-in games on Wednesday night and places like Firestone Grill and The Shack would be spilling with green and gold. Were the Mustangs to win a Wednesday night game, a Thursday night celebration at Farmers’ Market would be something to behold.

A women’s birth in the big dance, which is more likely than the men making the tournament, would produce a sizable community reaction. Viewing parties and probably a big event on campus would be great places to view the game. From Cambria to Santa Maria, televisions would be tuned-in to see if the Lady Mustangs could get out of the first round in their first ever NCAA Tournament.

Tournament bids for both teams during the same week might shut the university, if not the city, down. If the men played in a play-in game–and assuming that if they made the tournament, that’s likely where they’d go–it would be either March 15 or 16 in Dayton, OH. Finals week at Cal Poly happens to be March 14-18. Perhaps the students will realize that if everyone is at the viewing party, the curve won’t be affected (go to class and study hard kids!).

The women’s tournament starts on the 19th of March, which means that with a play-in game win, the two teams could play on back to back nights or maybe even on the same day, posing questions like:

* Can/Should the band be split in two? If not, where should they go?
* Would they schedule both games at the same time? If so, how many places in SLO are equipped (Hello Firestone Grill, Woodstocks, The Shack, SLO Brewing Company, The Kilt, etc…)
* Would anyone be up for a trip to Tucson?

Long-Term Impact

For both teams, the long-term impact on recruiting might be the most important result of tournament bids. Joe Callero has already made it clear that he recruits winners to Cal Poly and Faith Mimnaugh has her team in first place while missing the reigning Big West Player of the Year for the entire season. It’s safe to say that with NCAA tournament bids, both programs would improve recruiting opportunities the effects of which may not be felt for 2-4 years.

Maybe I’m biased because I live in San Luis Obispo and grew up on the Central Coast, but if you were a player and came to visit Cal Poly, what would keep you from coming? The weather is beautiful, the academics are top-notch, and the community is becoming more and more supportive. If the main thing keeping students from considering attending school in San Luis Obispo has been lack of winning programs, a trip to the NCAA Tournament would go a long way to eradicate that dated and incorrect stereotype. There truly is no greater recruiting tool than winning.

Mott Gym may also be full more often next season. A Saturday night game versus an exciting conference foe not named UCSB might draw more than 2,000 fans to Mott Gym.

I love being able to get a good seat, but I think I’d rather be in a constantly rowdy and loud gym for a game. I think Coach Callero, Coach Mimnaugh, and their teams would prefer that also.

What do you think of the article? Love it? Hate it? Thought it was OK? – Drop me a line at owen@fansmanship.com

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   02/09/2011 at 7:30 am

   […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Owen Main, fansmanship. fansmanship said: What if both Cal Poly Basketball Teams made the NCAA Tournament? #WhatifWednesday http://www.fansmanship.com/?p=623 […]
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   03/14/2011 at 8:18 am

   […] Madness 03/14/2011By Luke JohnsonJust one month ago, writer Owen Main from fansmanship.com wrote a what-if article about Cal Poly Mens and Women’s Basketball teams making the March tournament. Main stated, “were the Mustangs to make the tournament, they would likely play in one of the […]