OGDEN -- Bracketbusters? Not this year.
The only brackets Weber State and San Jose State need to bust to get to March Madness will be the ones outlining the Big Sky and Western Athletic Conference tournaments, respectively.
Neither team will have its bubble burst for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with a loss in tonight's ESPNU Bracketbusters game at The Event Center at San Jose State tonight at 8 p.m., because neither is on the bubble. The only path to the NCAAs for WSU (15-9, 9-4 Big Sky) and SJSU (12-12, 3-9 WAC) is through their conference tournaments and this simple phrase: Win and you're in.
Thinking about tourneys and March Madness is down the road for Weber State, but right now, the Wildcats have found their rhythm and it sounds a lot like rock'n'roll.
After beating Portland State 80-58 at the Dee Events Center on Wednesday, Weber State has won six straight games and clinched a fourth-place finish or better in the Big Sky standings.
Junior forward Kyle Bullinger said the reason for the Wildcats' success along the journey is that they don't stop believin'.
"The No. 1 key is we never stopped believing as a team," Bullinger said. "We had a tough loss at Portland State and then didn't show up at all in Greeley (against Northern Colorado). A lot of teams would have given in a little bit at that point in the season. You're halfway through, you've got a losing record in the league, but this is a credit to coach Rahe and our staff: They had us believing the next day."
The rematch against the Bears at home the following week has been the catalyst for Wildcats' climb to a point in the Big Sky standings where there still remains a possibility that they could share the title and host the tournament if they win out and if Northern Colorado and Montana stumble.
"Confidence comes from winning games. For us to kind of get our confidence going, our swagger going, we needed to hit a 45-foot shot as time ran out to beat the best team in the league at that time," Bullinger said. "That got us going. We kept believing."
Sophomore guard Scott Bamforth was the one who drilled the halfcourt buzzer-beater to knock down Northern Colorado on Jan. 29; Weber State hasn't lost a game since.
Rahe doesn't talk about the conference standings to his team, but he is proud of the players for putting themselves in a position to be successful.
"We've had a lot of adversity. Everybody knows that," Rahe said. "We weathered the storm and continued to fight and get better. It tells you a lot about this group of kids that they wouldn't give in. A lot of teams would have given in and they didn't. They just kept fighting to try to find a way to get better, to have a chance to have some success."
Rahe said he can't remember the last time the Wildcats had a bad practice, defined as one where the players were mentally unprepared or didn't give a full effort. The 'Cats can't control how other teams affect the standings, he said, but they can control their effort in practice and in games.
That includes tonight as WSU briefly steps out of Big Sky play for the Bracketbusters game.
San Jose State got back to .500 basketball with a 77-73 win over Weber State conference mate Montana State on Tuesday.
Spartans guard Adrian Oliver went off for 35 points against the Bobcats, the fifth time this season he's scored over 30 and 15th time in his career. The senior from Modesto, Calif., entered the week averaging 24.0 points per game and ranked third in the country behind BYU's Jimmer Fredette, another Weber State opponent this season.
Spartans guard Justin Graham averages 16.7 ppg and broke SJSU's single season steal record Tuesday. He has 54 thefts for the year.
Bamforth now leads Weber State in scoring (12.7 ppg), with senior guard Lindsey Hughey (12.4 ppg), Bullinger (10.6) and senior center Trevor Morris (10.3 ppg) all in double figures.
Tonight's game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was moved to accommodate both teams as they prepare for contests next Tuesday.
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