Yesterday is the perfect example of why I hate the way the media treats the Pac-12. Oregon’s loss to Colorado is NOT evidence of how deep the league is because Colorado is good enough to beat the Ducks. It IS evidence of how bad the league is because Oregon couldn’t win a game they absolutely needed against a mediocre team. And, I won’t even mention how Washington LOST that game yesterday (the scoreboard might say that Oregon St. won it, but anyone who watched the game – or knows anything about free throw shooting – will tell you that both teams lost). Wait, to be fair, this is just kind of my opinion because it could be the real depth of the league that is causing this, right? If only we had a way to measure these teams against teams in other leagues…if only we played NON-CONFERENCE GAMES. Wait, we do? We do get a chance to see how these teams would do against decent competition in other leagues? Okay, so, how did they do? They didn’t beat a single team in the RPI top-50 – AS A CONFERENCE?!? You mean to tell me that 12 teams in one of the richest, most advantaged conferences in the nation could not beat a single team ranked in the top FIFTY? So, why, again, does this conference deserve any real at-large consideration? Because Washington won the league? Iona won their league. Drexel won their league. Middle Tennessee won their league. Hell, UT-Arlington won their league. Washington won a mediocre conference this year and then, in their most important game of the year, they lost to the 9th-place team in said league. Okay, rant over, sorry for the tangent.
RDoc is the only one to hit the big Oregon St. upset yesterday, so he sits atop the Pac-12 CTC standings. But, he also lost his champion (UCLA) yesterday, so he needs the Beaver Madness (leave it alone…) to continue today if he’s to keep his lead.
#4 Arizona vs. #9 Oregon St.
Do you know what the awful fallout of this Washington fiasco is? The Huskies are still going to get in because “they won the Pac-12, they have to be one of the best 37 at-large teams.” And, now that Oregon St. is coming off a big, emotional win, they have to play their third game in three days against Arizona. So, the Wildcats will probably win that game, sending them to the Pac-12 finals, opening up the argument for yet another Pac-12 team to get in. So, a game that should have finally proven to the Committee (and the world) that this is a one-bid league, it is going to have the opposite effect and now add ammo to the argument of MORE Pac-12 teams. God help me if Colorado wins today, which might put them back in the discussion and it might lessen the effect of the Oregon loss in the quarters here to help their case…ahhhh.
I guess I wasn’t done the rant. Now, for the game. Arizona looked pretty good yesterday, despite the suspension to Turner (I guess sometimes when you have a prima dona point guard, you might be better without him, regardless of the talent). Then again, they were playing a mediocre UCLA team (see, this conference sucks). Oregon St. tried to give the game away, but Washington (Tony Wroten, in particular) wouldn’t take it. Have fun in the D-League after leaving WAYYY too early, Tony.
Obviously, no one has Oregon St. here, but Arizona could be HUGE for a couple of the legit contenders. Dave, Doogan, Gross, and Waters all have the ‘Cats winning here. Doogan and Gross have them winning the tournament.
#2 California vs. #6 Colorado
Mike Montgomery’s Cal Bears survived a scare from Monty’s ex-team and arch-rival, Stanford, last night, but Pac-12 POY Jorge Gutierrez was too good down the stretch, and Cal moves on to today’s semis. The Buffs of Colorado are now 2-0 all-time in Pac-12 tournament games, as Colorado won a roller-coaster quarterfinal over Oregon last night, when double-double machine, Andre Roberson, scored the go-ahead bucket with :10 seconds left to effectively end any at-large talk for the Beavers (or it should, at least – it probably won’t…they’ll probably get a 7-seed just to spite me). Now, can Colorado play its way back on the bubble with a win here (or play it’s way to an auto-bid with another win tomorrow)?
No one has Colorado winning this game, and only half of the field has the 2nd-seeded Bears making the finals (Bry, Dave, Gross, KA, Mac, Rikey, RDoc, RSmith, Scoot, Stri), with only Bry, Dave, Mac, and Stri picking them to win the tournament.
