PAC12 Basketball

duckboy33 · Jan 15, 2021

Utah beats Stanford on ESPN2 last night. Good win for the Utes after back-to-back crushing losses vs. CU and Oregon. Tough loss for the Cardinal as they try to improve their tournament resume.

The rest of the PAC 12 games went as expected. UCLA over Wazzu, Colorado over Cal, USC over Washington and Arizona over Oregon State. UCLA improves to 6-0 in conference play for the first time since 1994.

duckboy33 · Jan 20, 2021

Bad loss for USC last night against Oregon State

ericd7633 · Jan 20, 2021

Holy shit what an awful loss for Colorado.

duckboy33 · Jan 21, 2021

ericd7633 said:
Holy shit what an awful loss for Colorado.

UW probably has the best talent for the bottom tier teams in the PAC. They shouldn’t be as bad as they’ve been. I think they might have figured some things out. They nearly beat UCLA last week as well. They are going to mess up some teams resumes

ericd7633 · Jan 21, 2021

duckboy33 said:
UW probably has the best talent for the bottom tier teams in the PAC. They shouldn’t be as bad as they’ve been. I think they might have figured some things out. They nearly beat UCLA last week as well. They are going to mess up some teams resumes

Oh I agree, there is definitely some talent on that team. But they have been atrocious thus far this season. Washington is 206 in the NET. They are playing better than they were in the beginning of the year, but I doubt they'll climb above like 180 in the NET. Most likely stays as a Q3 loss on the resume.

duckboy33 · Jan 21, 2021

ericd7633 said:
Oh I agree, there is definitely some talent on that team. But they have been atrocious thus far this season. Washington is 206 in the NET. They are playing better than they were in the beginning of the year, but I doubt they'll climb above like 180 in the NET. Most likely stays as a Q3 loss on the resume.

I agree. On paper, it's going to be a bad loss. It was unacceptable for UW to start the season as badly as they did, given the talent on their roster. It's peak PAC 12 for a team like Washington to play horrible for half the season and then start to play better, just in time to ruin some tournament resumes.

ericd7633 · Jan 21, 2021

duckboy33 said:
I agree. On paper, it's going to be a bad loss. It was unacceptable for UW to start the season as badly as they did, given the talent on their roster. It's peak PAC 12 for a team like Washington to play horrible for half the season and then start to play better, just in time to ruin some tournament resumes.

Agree. Pac 12 always has weird shit happen. Kinda similar to UCLA last year, although not quite as drastic, if UW were able to string together a little streak here. UCLA was awful in Non Con last year. I still think Colorado will get in the tournament, but this is definitely a drop in seed line, probably 2/3 seed lines.

duckboy33 · Jan 21, 2021

ericd7633 said:
Agree. Pac 12 always has weird shit happen. Kinda similar to UCLA last year, although not quite as drastic, if UW were able to string together a little streak here. UCLA was awful in Non Con last year. I still think Colorado will get in the tournament, but this is definitely a drop in seed line, probably 2/3 seed lines.

Unless CU tanks, they will be a tournament team. It's a bad loss but they are clearly a team that belongs in the tournament.

As for UW, I don't see how Hopkins can remain the coach. Last year he had two first round picks in the NBA draft and they finished in last place in the PAC 12. This year they should have a decent team and they've been awful until their last two games. Seattle is a very underrated basketball city so UW should always have a good roster.

Hitman Hart · Jan 21, 2021

looking at Mike Hopkins' record at Washington, I'm kinda bummed that he'll never coach @ Syracuse

duckboy33 · Jan 22, 2021

Hitman Hart said:
looking at Mike Hopkins' record at Washington, I'm kinda bummed that he'll never coach @ Syracuse

Here's the insane part, he actually won PAC 12 COY in his first two seasons at UW. Because of that and the contract extension that followed, I’m not sure UW will be willing to buyout his contract

duckboy33 · Jan 22, 2021

PAC 12 Weekend Preview:

Saturday:

#24 UCLA at Stanford - 2:00 PST on FOX - Stanford has dropped a few games in a row and appear to be on the wrong side of the bubble. This is a golden opportunity to get on the right side of the bubble. UCLA is limping in after nearly losing to Washington and California.

USC at California - 5:00 PST on PAC 12 Network - Cal is starting to play better after beating Utah on the road and playing UCLA close. USC is coming off a road loss to Oregon State and need to rebound to stay in the PAC 12 title hunt.

Colorado at Washington State - 5:00 PST on ESPN2 - Colorado needs to bounce back after a bad loss to Washington. The Cougs are a great opportunity to do just that.

Oregon State at #21 Oregon - 7:30 PST on PAC 12 Network - Oregon is down to 8 scholarship players and is playing without 4 potential starters (2 to injury, 2 to COVID guidelines). If it weren't for the COVID issues, I think Oregon would run away with this. But without Dante, Richardson, Duarte and Figueroa and the fact they haven't been practicing as a unit for over a week, this could end up being a good game. I wouldn't be shocked if the Beavs pulled it out.

Sunday:

Utah at Washington - 1:00 PST on ESPNU - It will be interesting to see if Hopkins and UW have turned the corner or whether their upset of Colorado was just a fluke. Utah is coming off a win over Washington State.

Hitman Hart · Jan 22, 2021

duckboy33 said:
Here's the insane part, he actually won PAC 12 COY in his first two seasons at UW. Because of that and the contract extension that followed, I’m not sure UW will be willing to buyout his contract

yeah, he looked great his first two years. Last year was ugly but forgivable. The product he has put out this year is unacceptable.

ericd7633 · Jan 30, 2021

Colorado with another awful loss. Team to keep an eye on. Metrics suggest they are a lock, resume does not. Only 1 Q1 win, and now 2 Q3 losses.

duckboy33 · Jan 31, 2021

ericd7633 said:
Colorado with another awful loss. Team to keep an eye on. Metrics suggest they are a lock, resume does not. Only 1 Q1 win, and now 2 Q3 losses.

They are still ranked 20th in the NET rankings. They are fine

ericd7633 · Jan 31, 2021

duckboy33 said:
They are still ranked 20th in the NET rankings. They are fine

I'm just saying, keep a look out for them. Their metrics will be much better than their seeding will be. If they are capable of losing to Washington and Utah, they can certainly take on another 4/5 losses with that schedule. If they do that, they aren't getting in.

duckboy33 · Jan 31, 2021

ericd7633 said:
I'm just saying, keep a look out for them. Their metrics will be much better than their seeding will be. If they are capable of losing to Washington and Utah, they can certainly take on another 4/5 losses with that schedule. If they do that, they aren't getting in.

I think we are a long way away from that conversation.

I agree that if they lose 5 down the stretch, they won't be a lock. I just think it's too early to star the "they're faltering" narrative.

ericd7633 · Jan 31, 2021

duckboy33 said:
I think we are a long way away from that conversation.

I agree that if they lose 5 down the stretch, they won't be a lock. I just think it's too early to star the "they're faltering" narrative.

I don't necessarily think they are faltering, I just don't think their metrics have aligned with where they might be seeded. Now you add a couple bad losses, it just highlights all the more of their resume being so so.

dhoey · Jan 31, 2021

Hitman Hart said:
yeah, he looked great his first two years. Last year was ugly but forgivable. The product he has put out this year is unacceptable.

I could make a million excuses for the team, they lost 90% of their scoring, had no time to find consistency before conference play, Hop is still a young coach and doesnt have experience dealing with this shit. Bottom line, he isn’t going anywhere this year or next. A full shitty 21-22 and his seat will be hot.

duckboy33 · Feb 4, 2021

PAC 12 action tonight 2/4:

Arizona at Utah - 4:00 PST on FS1 - Utah is coming off a comeback win at Colorado. I still expect the Wildcats to win this game. Just a better team all around. Zona is a good offensive team and Utah doesn't defend particularly well.

Washington at Oregon State - 6:00 PST on PAC 12 Network - Not a ton of national implications but should be a competitive game. I'll take Oregon State at home.

Stanford at California - 6:00 PST on ESPN2 - Stanford let a golden opportunity slip against USC earlier in the week. They can't afford a loss to Cal on the resume.

Washington State at Oregon - 8:00 PST on FS1 - Hard to know what to expect from Oregon. They've had 5 practices in the last 30 days. It sounds like Williams will be out for Covid protocols and Richardson will still be out with his thumb injury. On paper Oregon is the better team, clearly, but I expect they will come out rusty.

ericd7633 · Feb 4, 2021

duckboy33 said:
PAC 12 action tonight 2/4:

Arizona at Utah - 4:00 PST on FS1 - Utah is coming off a comeback win at Colorado. I still expect the Wildcats to win this game. Just a better team all around. Zona is a good offensive team and Utah doesn't defend particularly well.

Washington at Oregon State - 6:00 PST on PAC 12 Network - Not a ton of national implications but should be a competitive game. I'll take Oregon State at home.

Stanford at California - 6:00 PST on ESPN2 - Stanford let a golden opportunity slip against USC earlier in the week. They can't afford a loss to Cal on the resume.

Washington State at Oregon - 8:00 PST on FS1 - Hard to know what to expect from Oregon. They've had 5 practices in the last 30 days. It sounds like Williams will be out for Covid protocols and Richardson will still be out with his thumb injury. On paper Oregon is the better team, clearly, but I expect they will come out rusty.

Oregon State has performed much better in P12 play than I thought. Great chance to get to .500 in league play and could be right there fighting for a top 3 finish in league play.