They weren't going to beat a Western Conference champion with him.

The Seattle Storm finished the regular season as the Western Conference champion with a 28-6 record.

The Bulls siphoned every last bit of hope out of the Western Conference champions and their fans.

And the defending Western Conference champions have yet to play their best basketball.

Or will the Western Conference champions be exhausted from surviving the wild West?

And then Dallas, the defending Western Conference champion, promptly began this season with another four consecutive losses.

The Dallas Mavericks, the defending Western Conference champions, are also out.

Iowa's next game was against Michigan, the 1898 Western Conference champions, in Detroit.

But when Martin scores 15 points less than his series average, a victory over the Western Conference champion is unrealistic.

Johnson, Pierce and Benjamin have not been together long enough to challenge defending Western Conference champion.