Austin Daye's Alexis Serna Moment

Austin Daye crumbled in the final minutes of Gonzaga's loss to Davidson.

With 2:46 left, Daye took a contested three-pointer and didn't even draw iron.

With :42 left, Daye had a wide-open three from the right wing and missed it.

With :22 left, Daye--an 89% free throw shooter--missed the first of two free throws that could've made it a one-possession game. He missed the second, as well (but the play was wiped out by a lane violation).

It all reminded me of poor Alexis Serna, the Oregon State placekicker who famously missed three PATs in an OT loss to LSU, then went on to an illustrious career that included 18 career field goals against Washington (ouch!). He made second-team All America his senior year.

So, at the end, he wasn't so poor. Daye won't be either.

He has amazing skills, he put up some ridiculous numbers (specifically--19 points and 13 boards in just 15 minutes against Portland). He's a good leaper, he's tall, he's a sweet shooter, he could end up being as good or better than Mayo, Beasley, Love and the rest.

Today, though, he either was too tired or too nervous, because he made a mess of the last few minutes of that game. He'll be back, though.

Meanwhile, St. Mary's lost, and San Diego upset UConn. So the only WCC team to advance is the one that finished third in the conference, and only made the NCAA tourney because they won the WCC one.

Incidentally, here's why I picked UConn in that game: "I saw San Diego play--they don't have the height to deal with UConn." I was thinking specifically of San Diego's Gyno Pomare, their forward--he was their main inside scorer, I thought that UConn would be too tall for him to get his shot off. Well--not only did he get his shot off, he shot 10-12 for 22 points. Awesome.