Scores
Thursday, January 19
Colorado 69, Arizona State 54
Arizona 77, Utah 51
California 69, Washington 66
Oregon 65, USC 62
Washington State 81, Stanford 69
Oregon State 87, UCLA 84
Saturday, January 21
Washington 76, Stanford 63
Oregon 75, UCLA 68
Oregon State 78, USC 59
Colorado 64, Arizona 63
Utah 64, Arizona State 43
Washington State 77, California 75
If there was any hint of a glimmer of a whisper of a chance that the Pac-12 Conference could sneak an at-large team into the NCAA Tournament, well, commissioner Larry Scott’s hopes and dreams died the past week. Stanford and California, the two San Francisco Bay Area schools, were part of a perfectly terrible weekend for San Francisco sports. Before the NFL’s 49ers went down to the New York Giants, Stanford and Cal lost crucial leverage – whatever they might have had to begin with – in pursuit of a rental home in Bracketville this March. Stanford was particularly roughed up. Coach Johnny Dawkins saw his team lose twice on a road trip to each of the two Washington schools. Washington State got the jump on the Trees on Thursday, smoking a listless Cardinal defense en route to a comfortable 12-point win at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Washington. Then, two days later, Stanford was similarly stymied in Seattle as it lost a 13-point decision to the Washington Huskies. If any team in the Pac-12 wants to make a name for itself, it has to stack up road wins and acquire a glittering 14-4 league record at the very worst. Because of the dearth of quality non-conference wins for just about every team in the league, 14-4 and an appearance in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game represents the absolute minimum set of standards for a possible shot at an at-large berth. Anything less will not catch the attention of the selection committee when it gathers in the war room in Indianapolis in the first two weeks of March, nitty-gritty reports and RPI breakdowns in tow.
California at least split its Washington trip, winning against the Huskies in Seattle on Thursday. However, a loss on Saturday to Washington State is going to put a dent in the Golden Bears’ resume. Coach Mike Montgomery needed his team to be brilliant and not just salvage a split in the Northwest.
The only other team that might have a slight chance to make some noise in the at-large chase is Oregon. The Ducks swept the Southern California schools – USC and UCLA – to boost their conference record and remain in the top tier of the league. Colorado beat both of the Arizona schools, but there are more bad losses on the Buffaloes’ resume than Oregon’s, so it’s the Ducks who will get their turn in the spotlight over the next few weeks.
As for the bottom of the league, Arizona State – by losing to Colorado in a 15-point contest and then scoring only 43 in a blowout loss to Utah – has probably undercut the Utes for the 12th spot in the conference. It’s really breathtaking to see how far the Sun Devils have fallen since they made the NCAA Tournament in 2009.
Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer