Deadspin Confessions: We At STF Had Access

The College Basketball Closer is written by the gang at Storming the Floor.

You probably already know that the motto of this site is "Sports News without Access, Favor, or Discretion." This credo is generally understood to mean that the site will look at sports from the viewpoint of a fan, rather than that of a jaded VIP. I tacitly accepted that motto as my own when I signed on to write for Will. But today I must confess: I still have no favor or discretion, but I did have, briefly, Access.

Attending the CAA Tournament with the CAAZone crew, I was given a media pass that would allow me to interview athletes, wander around the locker rooms, and eat free pretzels from the press buffet. In practical terms, this offered the following advantages:

• Listening to a TV announcer complain about how sick he is of basketball. While standing at a urinal. • Seeing VCU players give sincere bro-hugs to William & Mary players despite being knocked out of the tournament and onto the bubble by those same men. • Watching John Feinstein eat pretzels. • Watching Dan Steinberg eat pretzels. • Realizing that Washington Post writers love free pretzels just as much as I do. • Having a damn fine view of the various dance teams from the "blogger ghetto" section of press row. • Did I mention the free pretzels?

So, I hope you can forgive me this breach of Deadspin etiquette. Because really, if you think about it, all I did was eat free food, watch basketball and ogle cheerleaders. And then I wrote about it. Any one of you would do the same. (Ed. Note: Not all of us.) I promise, I'll never do it again. Unless we're talking Pac-10 cheerleaders. Because you-all are nice, but damn.

Championship Week Recap: Monday Night

WCC Final: San Diego 69, Gonzaga 62. Playing at home in the Jenny Craig Pavilion, the San Diego Toreros overcame an early deficit to beat Gonzaga to win the auto-bid, just one day after also knocking St. Mary's out of the semifinals. Their second-half run was keyed by 15 points from Rob Jones, grandson of Jonestown leader Jim Jones. What the hell is this, a Michael Chabon novel?

SoCon Final: Davidson 65, Elon 49. Sorry, folks. No Elon-gate. But then again, they probably angered the lord by changing their name from Fighting Christians anyway. With Davison and Curry safely in the NCAA tournament, we're all going to have to find some other potential bubble team to argue about. I'm guessing one of the above WCC tournament dropouts will do very nicely.

MAAC Final: Siena 74, Rider 53. Go Tay, it's your birfday, gonna party like it's your birfday. Siena's Tay Fisher dropped 21 points on his 22nd birthday to propel the #1 seed Siena Saints to a big win over the Rider Broncs. Rider forward Jason Thompson put up 22 points and 12 rebounds in the losing effort. Thompson is said to be NBA-ready, but he may have to make a detour to the NIT first.

CAA Final: George Mason 68, William & Mary 59. Guess who's coming to dinner? Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas, that's who. You may remember them from their roles as Final Four participants in 2006. The tournament-tested veterans made damn sure the William & Mary Tribe didn't add a fourth miracle-shot finish to their repertoire by knocking down every shot they took with ruthless precision. Oh, and that's a sliver of their dance team at the top of the page, too. Hubba hubba.

Summit League Semis: Oral Roberts 58, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 42. This one was like the Snopes Monkey Trial all over again. As a strict interpreter of the Bible, I'm assuming Brother Oral doesn't even believe in Mastodons, so his team's quest to eradicate them from the Summit League tournament takes on some serious social overtones. The Golden Eagles advance to face...

Summit League Semis: IUPUI 80, Oakland 65. Just when you thought we had run out of Indiana/Purdue hybrid teams, here comes another one. In 2005, Oakland made the NCAA tournament with a 12-18 record, so I guess, all things considered, we should thank the Jaguars for making sure a 20-win team will come out of the Summit. You may remember that IUPUI's coach took to the sidelines barefoot earlier this season to raise money for charity. Jaguars ace George Hill had 32 points in the win.

Sun Belt Semis: Western Kentucky 70, Arkansas-Little Rock 50. Western Kentucky got Courtney Lee (20.9 ppg) into the final. Too bad they won't be facing...

Sun Belt Semis: Middle Tennessee State 82, South Alabama 73. Mid-major-heads were really rooting for the WKU/USA final. Ain't gonna happen, so we get to debate the Jaguars' place on the bubble as well. Ain't no flies on MTSU, however. Four players finished in double figures.

Cornell (Ivy), Winthrop (Big South), Belmont (Atlantic Sun), Austin Peay (Ohio Valley), Drake (Missouri Valley), George Mason (CAA), Siena (MAAC), San Diego (WCC), Davidson (SoCon)

Tune in this afternoon for a preview of another night full of conference tourney action.

Eric Angevine writes about college basketball at Storming the Floor and CAAZone. He can be reached at [email protected].