Commissioner's Corner with Bob Hogue - PacWest making national splash

HONOLULU, HI – The Jan. 29 national telecast of the BYU-Hawaii vs. Grand Canyon men’s basketball game on the CBS College Sports Network marks yet another milestone in this great year for the PacWest.

Antelopes Gymnasium on the campus of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, is the site of this Saturday’s (Noon MST/AZT) game that pits two premier PacWest men’s basketball contenders against each other. It marks the second time in three seasons that the PacWest has been featured as the NCAA Division II National Game of the Week - the last time occurred in January of 2009 when Dixie State hosted Chaminade.

Don’t be surprised if you see a fantastic finish in this one - as the 2010-11 season has been marked by one incredible finish after another during our conference basketball season. In the month of January alone, Academy of Art shocked Grand Canyon in the final seconds for its first-ever conference victory. Hawai‘i Hilo first edged Notre Dame de Namur in double-overtime before nipping Hawai‘i Pacific in a single overtime game. But in a battle of conference unbeaten teams on Jan. 22, the Vulcans finally fell to Chaminade in yet another overtime affair.

As if that wasn’t enough in the heart-stopping moment department, Grand Canyon beat Dixie State in the final seconds, NDNU held off Hawai‘i Pacific at the buzzer, Chaminade barely eked out a last-minute win over Dominican, and BYU-Hawaii captured a double-overtime marathon against HPU.

That’s how close the men’s basketball race is in the PacWest this season!

Meanwhile, three of the PacWest women’s basketball teams are involved in making history. Never before has the PacWest had three teams included in the NCAA II West Region rankings discussion, but Dixie State, Grand Canyon and defending conference champion Hawai‘i Pacific - will make that happen this week. Both Dixie State - who has defeated three NCAA Division I teams (two exhibition games and one regular-season contest) - and Grand Canyon also are included in the national rankings this year. That’s never happened in our conference history before, either.

Without a doubt, the chase for the PacWest women’s basketball title - and its implications on the West Region rankings and possible tournament host opportunities - will be one to watch!

The bottom line is that these incredible performances of our outstanding PacWest teams continue to make news.  The PacWest made national headlines in 2010 when Hawai‘i Pacific won the NCAA Division II College Softball World Series. Additionally in the past year, BYU-Hawaii finished as national runner-up in women’s tennis, with HPU making it to the national semi-finals in the same tournament, plus we had three regional finalists - BYU-Hawaii in men’s basketball, HPU in baseball, and Grand Canyon in men’s soccer - plus our first-ever regional host in women’s soccer when BYU-Hawaii hosted the sub-regional.

That’s how strong our conference has become in the last couple of years. And the thrilling thing to think about - there’s much more national news to come. Watch out for the PacWest!