USD: The best there is in San Diego

At least there is one success story this baseball season in San Diego.

The University of San Diego is a sure bet to advance to the NCAA Regionals for the second straight year.

This comes after both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at USD made the NCAA Tournament; with the men pulling off a huge upset of the University of Connecticut.

Across town, San Diego State can’t even get into an NCAA Tournament postseason event. Gee, which school has a better athletics program?

The USD baseball team (39-15) will host the West Coast Conference Championship Series for the second consecutive season this weekend against Pepperdine. This will be a best-of-three series to determine who will get the WCC's automatic bid into the NCAA postseason.

Friday's game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. inside of Cunningham Stadium. Saturday's game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and if necessary Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m.

Win or lose, USD is going to be in postseason play. There seems to be a trend here!

USD Basketball: Powerhouse in the Making?

The University of San Diego didn’t quite make the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, but the Toreros definitely did make an impression.

Not only are they the first San Diego team ever to win an NCAA Tournament game with Friday’s overtime victory over heavily-favored Connecticut, but look what the future holds in store.

These Toreros, believe it or not, are a team of entirely underclassmen ... meaning everybody on the roster can come back next season.

Center Gyno Pomare and guard Brandon Johnson, the team’s mainstays, still have one year of eligibility remaining.

For starters, they will likely be joined in the line up next season by the likes of De’Jon Jackson, Rob Jones and Trumaine Johnson.

And to think that Jones and Trumaine Johnson have three years remaining ... and Jackson, the hero of the 70-69 overtime win vs. UConn, has two years to go.

The Toreros won’t get a shot at UCLA in the Sweet 16 after losing Sunday to Western Kentucky, but this team has a great future ahead under coach Bill Grier (assuming a bigger school doesn’t swoop him away one day with a better financial offer.)

Loyola Marymount dominated the West Coast Conference for awhile in the 1980s; then Pepperdine had a decade of dominance; followed by Gonzaga.

Who will have the next decade of dominance in the WCC?

Don’t be surprised if it’s the USD Toreros.

USD has outside shot vs. UConn

All eight favored teams won in the opening session of the NCAA Tournament.

Does that bode poorly for the University of San Diego?

Let’s hope not.

The Toreros will be among the eight teams expected to lose during the second day’s early session of the tournament Friday.

Not only is the University of Connecticut an 11 to 12-point favorite over USD; the Huskies are a No. 4 seed playing the 13th seeded Toreros.

Not good!

USD really has one chance to win: the 3-point shooting of guard Brandon Johnson.

If he’s on, the Toreros have an outside chance (pardon the pun.) If not, hopefully the Toreros will come closer than San Diego State did in its 24-point loss to Florida in the opening round of the NIT Tournament.

USD will certainly be dominated inside by All-Big East Defensive Player of the Year Hasheem Thabeet, a 7-foot-3 sophomore center who averaged 4.5 blocked shots a game this season.

So Johnson, maybe with a little help from Rob Jones, will definitely need to keep shooting and succeeding!

Prediction: UConn 73, USD 64

USD capable of pulling off NCAA upset

You know what?

The University of San Diego may have an upset in the making coming in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday vs. the University of Connecticut in Tampa, Fla.

Why?

These Toreros don’t seem to be intimidated on the big stage.

They went on the road in December and won at Kentucky, arguably one of the top four all-time national programs.

They won back-to-back games … albeit at home … against Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Tournament.

UConn will be a tall task in more ways than one. The Huskies feature All-Big East Defensive Player of the Year Hasheem Thabeet, a 7-foot-3 sophomore center who averaged 4.5 blocked shots a game this season.

Albeit the Huskies (24-8) have won 13 of their last 16 games, they’ve also lost three of six since a 10-game winning streak. And they were defeated by West Virginia, 78-72, in last week’s first round of the Big East Tournament.

USD (21-13) must try to offset Thabeet inside with 6-8 center Gyno Pomare, who has averaged 13.7 points and 7.4 rebounds.

As one might expect, the Toreros are a virtual unknown to UConn. Huskies coach Jim Calhoun mainly knows a little about Pomare.

“He's had some very good games. It's going to be an interesting battle, because we have a big guy, too,” Calhoun told the Connecticut media.

San Diego State? The Aztecs travel to Florida on Wednesday to play the two-time defending NCAA Champions in the NIT Tournament.

Say goodbye to the Aztecs!