If you look at the Pac 12 overall, it's a down year for the conference I'm not sure there's a team -- even Washington -- that deserves a #4 seed or higher. I've watched a lot of Pac 12 games -- and they just don't pass the eye test. There have been some ugly games. They're on late here in the east, so I don't think a lot of folks watch them.
I don't think the Pac 12 teams in the NCAA Tourney will fare very well this year, unless they get some easy matchups. Mid level teams in the SEC and ACC are going to eat their lunch.
But let's look at the Pac 12 "contenders."
Outside of its conference, Washington has played only two teams in the Top 50. They beat a Mizzou team that had just come into the season losing two of its top six players to injury. Mizzou would also lose to Ga Tech and to IUPU by 28 points before righting their ship and have gone 13 – 6 since then.
Then they lost to Notre Dame. The rest of their OOC schedule? EWU, CSU, Idaho, Seattle, Portland, GCU, Fresno, CSUN,BSU, SAV, and BYU. How many of those teams have you seen play this year? And nine of their 13 games were at home.
Plum is a good player – but she takes about 45% of WA's starting team's shots – but doesn't score 45% of their points. She also plays 35 to 39 minutes against all the cupcakes Washington plays. (36 mins against Savannah State in a 41 point win, 39 mins in a 26 point win over BSU, 37 mins in a 31 point win over Fresno, 35 mins in a 52 point blowout of Idaho.. Etc. Obviously, the goal at Washington this year is to build up Plum's stats.
Stanford caught Texas early (second game) and shot 55% – and a lot of the early rankings of Pac 12 teams derived from that. Since then, Stanford has had no Top 50 OOC wins – but losses to Tenn and Gonzaga.
Oregon State is probably the next best team in the Pac 12, and their signature win, LOL, was a one-point home win against Marquette and a victory over 14 -12 OK St. I guarantee that those are the only two teams they played that you might possibly have seen play this year.
UCLA? You're kidding, right? This team is as unpredictable as Tenn. The high points in their OOC season came when they only lost by a couple touchdowns to Baylor and South Carolina. They did beat Michigan at home – but don't get me started on the Big 10 this year! Still, when they play their best game and they're on their home court, UCLA is probably the best team in the Pac 12. When they don't, and they're not, they can be very average. We'll see how they do on a neutral court in the post season. They might be the only Pac 12 team with a shot at beating a higher seeded team.
I know their isnt that much of a difference between a #2 and a #3.... and I do like seeing the Duke blue uniforms as opposed to the white ones.
