PAC 12 thread

[Floridaduck]

Okay... I’ll take a shot at the end of 2020 Pac-12 rankings:
Stanford
Oregon
Arizona
UCLA
WSU
ASU
OSU
USC
Colorado
Utah
UW
CAL

 

[nwhoopfan]

Curious what our OSU/UW fan thinks-what say you sage of the Northwest WCBB hoop seen? What say you? @nwhoopfan

I saw the cancellation notice yesterday. I figured the good news is one of them would get a W, but the bad news is the other would get an L. I wasn't prepared to make a bold prediction about the outcome. But hey, suddenly that OSU loss to WSU isn't looking nearly as bad as it did on Saturday.

 

[DefenseBB]

Hey @Floridaduck one minor correction is I do think Utah is better than Colorado but at that far down in the standings, does it really matter?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Hey @Floridaduck one minor correction is I do think Utah is better than Colorado but at that far down in the standings, does it really matter?

I would've said the same before Colorado beat Utah by 30. Kinda hard to make that claim at the moment.

 

[Plebe]

This is a feisty Washington State team. It's a shame they lost Murekerete to foul trouble early, but....I'm loving how they're playing so far this season despite losing two all time leaders in Hristova and Molina.

I found very questionable the block call that went against Bella early in 1Q (thought it should've been a charge). But hey, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make those calls.

Still, can't really blame the loss on her foul trouble, as WSU led for the entire first half while she was in the foul trouble box.

 

[DaBball]

I think Ethridge may end up throwing a few more parties in the front yard if they can keep the momentum going. They’re a fun team to watch.

I’ll be interested to see how the top-4 shakes out.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Incidentally, as a result of the Stanford-UCLA game, Stanford is now #1 per Massey, and UCLA is #10. And to the degree anyone thought it was a messy, defensive slugfest, it was: Massey says Stanford is #1 defensively and UCLA is #7. Both programs are stronger on D than O (#6 for Stanford, #24 for UCLA), so a low-scoring, low shooting percentage game is exactly what we should and did get.

Also notable: even though Oregon won, it dropped to #2, and even though WSU lost, it's now up to #20 from #25. Indeed, the Cougars are ranked #12 defensively in the country. I'm super eager to see if they can maintain this trajectory over the season, because if they can they may be the sleeper team of the season. And there are few programs and coaches that deserve it more than Ethridge and the Cougars.

 

[Lorcan]

So, a few things here. I'm surprised that Ohio State is ranked as highly as it is by Massey. A weird quirk given that their best win is over Kent State (?). It is interesting that Massey indicates that the Pac-12 has 5 of the top 10 defensive teams in the nation. Stanford, Oregon, Arizona State, Arizona, and UCLA are all in the top 10, with Washington State and Washington not far behind in the Top 21.

The other quirk? Princeton is rated as having the 19th toughest schedule, despite not having played a game this year and having their season cancelled.

 

[TheFarmFan]

The other quirk? Princeton is rated as having the 19th toughest schedule, despite not having played a game this year and having their season cancelled.

Massey automatically imports some data from the end of last year's season at the start of a new season to weigh the relative strength and expected performance of teams early on. The import of those old games diminishes rapidly as new games replace them and the ratings have enough datapoints to rank based solely on play from this season. I suspect what happened with Princeton is its SOS is based purely on those legacy games from last year that haven't dropped off because it hasn't played any games this year. For everybody else, this season's performance serves as the lion's share of their ranking composition. I suspect Ohio State is similarly benefiting in part from last season's performance (and especially its three late-season neutral court wins over Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota), but Massey also factors in Margin of Victory and Ohio State has won all its games in decisive fashion, so that probably helps.

(And before you critique that approach, it's the reason why Massey's ratings are so much more reliable than RPI from the outset - RPI is often extremely wonky until well into the start of conference play, given how imbalanced a lot of teams' OOC schedules are. And personally, I find RPI a close to useless gauge.)

 

[azfan]

ASU games against Washington schools are postponed. ASU announcement said pac-12 will try to reschedule at a time it meets the needs of both schools. I wonder what the chances of that will be.

I appreciate the abundance of caution. ASU said the postponement was due to covid issues within their program.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Stanford rearranged the order they play Washington and Washington St. the following week, they will now play the Cougs twice in Pullman before going to Seattle. This is to make up a previously postponed game.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Now the Arizona-Washington game on Friday has been postponed. Add UW to the list of teams pausing activities.

 

[azfan]

ASU postponed this weekend's games against Oregon schools due to Covid concerns.

 

[Lorcan]

Colorado dropped their game against USC, despite USC still being without Pili. Unsure of what to make of Colorado this season or moving forward. Was Emma Clarke THAT big a loss?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Colorado dropped their game against USC, despite USC still being without Pili. Unsure of what to make of Colorado this season or moving forward. Was Emma Clarke THAT big a loss?

I think Colorado and Utah both are definitely not moving forward this year and in fact are falling further behind the top half of the conference. Utah in particular seems disappointing to me.

Cal, Washington, Utah and Colorado all gotta be wondering how Washington St. has made such a quantum leap this year while those 4 are all stuck at the bottom.

 

[Dwilliams02]

Welp. Stanford got Lauren Betts.

 

[eebmg]

Welp. Stanford got Lauren Betts.

Undersized in the PAC-12?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Couldn't find the non UConn news thread, so putting this here. Sounds like Talia von Oelhoffen is the latest high schooler to jump ahead and enroll in classes, will be available for Oregon St. soon.

 

[azfan]

Pac-12 is having a fabulous early start in both the men and women NCAA.


The teams are 14 and one

Six Pac-12 Women’s Basketball teams selected for 2021 NCAA Tournament

2021 NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET (PDF)

pac-12.com

Pac-12-Heavy Men’s Sweet 16 Is Weird, Yet Fitting for 2021

The conference has locked down 25% of the Sweet 16 while the Big Ten has just one team still dancing, which is somehow fitting for this strange season.

www.si.com

The Pac-12, a football doormat with dysfunctional leadership, has surged to the forefront of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In glorious, emphatic and unexpected fashion, the league has locked down 25% of the Sweet 16. In order of least surprising to most: No. 7 seed Oregon, No. 6 USC, No. 11 UCLA and No. 12 Oregon State. Only Colorado, the highest-seeded Pac-12 team of them all at No. 5, has been dismissed.

No other league has more than two teams. The lordly Big Ten, universally considered the premier conference in the country, advanced exactly one of its nine teams, in what has to be the most embarrassing performance by a league.

Saturday Night One: Pac-12 unbeaten through first round, in range of record-breaking NCAA cash haul

The conference advanced all five teams to the second round and is in range of a record total for NCAA units, which are worth millions of dollars to the campuses over time.

www.mercurynews.com

 

[CompSci87]

Couldn't find the non UConn news thread, so putting this here. Sounds like Talia von Oelhoffen is the latest high schooler to jump ahead and enroll in classes, will be available for Oregon St. soon.

That certainly turned out well.

 

[azfan]

First look at BYU, Arizona’s Round of 32 opponent

The Cougars upset Rutgers in the first round

www.azdesertswarm.com

 

[jake0414]

Pac-12 is having a fabulous early start in both the men and women NCAA.


The teams are 14 and one

Colorado men and Washington State women lost. Combined record of 14-2 I believe: (5-1 wbb and 9-1 mbb not including Oregon's 1st round bye)

 

[nwhoopfan]

Colorado men and Washington State women lost. Combined record of 14-2 I believe: (5-1 wbb and 9-1 mbb not including Oregon's 1st round bye)

Colorado has a really good reason to explain why they might not have been focused on the game. I'll give them a pass.