The Pac-12 basketball season is fully immersed in nonconference play right now. The conference season begins just after Christmas, so teams have a little more than a month to collect important wins outside the league. It’s a time for the conference to build NCAA Tournament resumes and give its teams a cushion before conference play begins.
So, how are things going in the Pac-12? USC has that big win over Kansas State and two important contests coming up in San Diego against power conference opponents. Arizona looks great, having already defeated Duke. Oregon hasn’t faced a significant test just yet, but the Ducks are unbeaten and are better than they were last season.
Two particularly noteworthy events have taken place this week in Pac-12 hoops. UCLA lost to Marquette on Monday at the Maui Invitational but looked like a good team. The Bruins are young and have a dramatically different roster this season compared to previous years. Veteran stalwarts such as Jaime Jaquez are gone, and a new crop of European players are in. The new-look Bruins had a 45-33 second-half lead over Marquette in that Monday Maui game before the Golden Eagles rattled off 17 straight points and rallied for a 71-69 win. UCLA didn’t get a huge result to post on its resume, but the Bruins showed enormous promise for the road ahead. They face Gonzaga in their last Maui game on Wednesday night.
The other big Pac-12 basketball story not involving USC is that Colorado lost to Florida State in overtime on Tuesday. Florida State lost to Florida earlier this season, so the quality of that loss is not great for Tad Boyle’s Buffaloes. It will be important to follow Florida State and see if CU’s loss gets better or worse as the season moves along.
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