Here’s a question for you: How does a conference that is so clearly a one-bid league improve to a league that might get as many as FOUR bids, without playing anyone outside of said league? I can’t stand it. After the non-conference schedule (when the league went 0-458 against Top-50 RPI teams), everyone was in agreement that this league didn’t deserve a single at-large bid. Now, after two months of just playing each other (ya know, just like 20+ other one-bid leagues), they all of a sudden have four potential at-larges? “Washington has to get in – they won the Pac-12.” Well, the Pac-12 SUCKS. Wins over Oregon aren’t that impressive when you look at Oregon’s actual RESULTS. Ugh…
The Pac-12 CTC is as wide open as I have ever seen a conference. No one team has more than 6 people picking them to win the title, with 5 teams receiving multiple backers. One entry, in particular is hoping for total chaos. J has none of the top 4 seeds in the semifinals. In fact, if he hits his bracket perfectly (which includes UCLA beating Stanford for the title), he will get 635 points. Now, that is…Onions!
Championship Picks
6 for #1 Washington
4 for #2 California (Bry, Dave, Mac, RSmith)
5 for #3 Oregon (Lil Lohse, Lohse, Lynch, Teddy, Waters)
2 for #4 Arizona (Doogan, Gross)
2 for #5 UCLA (J, RDoc)
Biggest Upsets
R1 – #12 USC (Dave, Primm)
QF – #9 Oregon St. (RDoc)
SF – #7 Stanford (J)
Previous CTC Champions
2011 – Lynch
2010 – Stri
2009 – Alexi
2008 – Doogan
#8 Washington St. vs. #9 Oregon St.
Both of these teams are boring, middling, irrelevant teams that I don’t want to waste time on. The winner here gets #1 Washington in the quarters. We’re essentially all split on this one, as 9 people have the mild upset of OSU (Bry, Dave, Doogan, Gross, KA, Mac, Rikey, RDoc, Waters). Someone is going to lose a semifinalist here as, RDoc has OSU beating UW tomorrow, and J has Wazzu doing it.
#5 UCLA vs. #12 USC
It’s almost not fair to count Pac-12 teams as part of the “major conference” contingent, so I might not be able to claim USC as the worst major conference team. So, let’s just say that they are really, really bad. They would have trouble finishing .500 in any more than 6-7 conference in the country. UCLA is a mess, but I would still hire Howland in a heartbeat. The winner of this game gets Arizona tomorrow in the quarters. This game could make some real impact on the CTC, as two people (Dave and Primm) have a huge 80-point upset here, while two other people (J and RDoc) have UCLA winning this entire tournament. A slew of others have the Bruins reaching the semis, while Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have them reaching the finals, but losing.
#7 Stanford vs. #10 Arizona St.
The fact that ASU finished ahead of two other teams in this conference is probably the most damning evidence of this league’s atrociousness of all. Suprisingly, I don’t mind this Stanford team, so I’ll leave them out of my anti-Pac12 ire. #2 Cal awaits the winner of this game in the quarters. Surprisingly, in such a wide open conference, that no one took a shot at Arizona St. in the upset here. Alexi, J, Lohse, and Lynch, though, have Stanford in the semis. J has them reaching the finals.
#6 Colorado vs. #11 Utah
I think Utah would finish in last place in at least a dozen conferences in America, so the fact that they didn’t in a “major” conference is a joke. Colorado – the other new team to the conference – looked pretty good all year…at home. They were terrible out of the altitude. If I hear anything about their “bubble chances,” no matter what happens in this tournament, I might vomit. The winner will face #3 Oregon in the quarters. RSmith is the only one that took Utah here in a nice upset pick. Dave, Gross, J, Mac, and Scoot all have Colorado reaching the semis, though none of them took them to the finals.
