Tag: Pac-12 Conference

UCLA a 5-seed in Pac-12 tournament

UCLA is a 5-seed in the tourney.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team needs a miracle if they want to play in the NCAA Tournament. After beating Arizona State in the season finale. the Pac-12 Conference tournament bracket is officially set.

Arizona, Washington State, Colorado, and Oregon are the top four seeds, respectively, and all don’t play until Thursday.

UCLA is a 5-seed and plays Oregon State with a quarterfinal matchup likely coming against Oregon, assuming Mick Cronin’s team can get past the Beavers on Wednesday.

The Bruins are in the same portion of the bracket as Arizona, so it will be a difficult road for them if they want to stun everybody and win the title.

The tournament begins on Wednesday with four games and continues on Thursday with four more games. It’s an unlikely road for the Bruins, and they were so close to getting a first-round bye.

The title game is on Saturday night and Selection Sunday will be on March 17.

UCLA locker room focused after win over Utah

Cori Close’s team was FOCUSED after beating Utah.

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team began its Pac-12 Conference tournament with a 67-57 win over Utah on Thursday night.

It was expected, and the outcome that should’ve happened for a Bruins team hoping to get a 1-seed, as they were in the latest bracketology.

After the Bruins moved by Utah for the second time in the past month, Cori Close’s team was nothing but focused in the locker room. It is the right way to act, especially with JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans on tap for the third time this season, this time on a neutral court with a trip to the Pac-12 title game on the line.

It was all focus for the Bruins after the game and a tough matchup against two top-10 teams on Friday night with the winner of Stanford and Oregon State awaiting.

All eyes will be on USC-UCLA Part 3 with the winner moving on, and UCLA looked as focused as ever.

Pac-12 Women’s Tournament Watch: Quarterfinal round

Pac-12 quarterfinal round is set.

The Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball tournament began on Wednesday and everything went as expected. All four teams that were favored got victories and moved on to the quarterfinal rounds.

Colorado crushed Oregon in a non-contest, 79-30. Yes, the Ducks really scored just 30 points.

Cal beat Washington State in another blowout as the Golden Bears won by 21 points, 65-44.

Arizona and Washington was the closest game of the day with the Wildcats winning by eight points in a 58-50 final. The last game of the night, which is most important to UCLA fans, was Utah defeating Arizona State, 71-60.

Now the quarterfinal round is set and is as follows:

  • Colorado vs. Oregon State: 12 PM PST
  • Cal vs. Stanford: 2:30 PM PST
  • Arizona vs. USC: 6 PM PST
  • Utah vs. UCLA: 8:30 PM PST

No surprises as of yet, but Pac-12 columnist John Metcalfe had a surprise choice with Oregon State and UCLA in the title game.

The Bruins face Utah for the third time this season in what could be a terrific game, and there are two games with top-25 matchups, including Oregon State and Colorado.

Latest ESPN bracketology has just two Pac-12 men’s teams in Big Dance

The Pac-12 could have just two teams in the Field of 68. Ouch.

The Pac-12 Conference might have just a couple of men’s basketball teams heading for the NCAA Tournament. It has been a disappointing year all around with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and others not living up to expectations.

With the regular season ending this weekend, the latest ESPN bracketology by Joe Lunardi has just two pac-12 teams in the fold: Arizona and Washington State. The Wildcats are a 1-seed and the Cougars are a 5-seed.

There are some bubble teams in the Pac-12, but everybody needs help and likely will need to earn an automatic bid by winning the Pac-12 Conference tournament.

Utah is a First Four Out team and right on the cusp and Colorado is a Next Four Out team and needs even more help, so it is not a good look for the conference.

UCLA had an outside shot recently before crashing back down to Earth. All in all, barring somebody other than Washington State and Arizona winn ing the Pac-12 Tournament, just two teams in the Big Dance seems like the likeliest outcome.

Oregon pegged as loser in latest USA Today Bubble Watch

Oregon needs to do some work ahead of the Pac-12 tournament.

The Pac-12 Conference might just have three teams from the men’s side in the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Arizona and Washington State are locked in and a couple of teams are on the outside.

Colorado and Oregon are two Pac-2 teams on the bubble, but the Ducks were mentioned as a loser in the latest bubble watch by Jordan Mendoza of USA Today.

Oregon may have quickly risen into NCAA Tournament consideration, but it may fall just as fast after the shellacking it took from Arizona.

One of the first teams projected to miss the tournament, the Ducks stood no chance against the Arizona buzzsaw Saturday, falling behind early and unable to pull itself out of a hole in a 103-83 defeat.

It was a tall task for Dana Altman’s team to go into Tucson and beat a Wildcats team that has only lost at home three times in the past three seasons, but a win was necessary when Oregon just entered the conversation as a fringe tournament contender. It only took 10 minutes for Arizona to build up a 17-point lead, and at one point, the Wildcats led by 28.

Not all hope is lost for Oregon; it has another Quad 1 opportunity against Colorado next week. But what happened against Arizona might hurt the Ducks too much to recover from.

Oregon is 19-10 on the year and they finish the year with games against Colorado and Utah this weekend. If they do well and make a run in the Pac-12 tournament, that could help their case.

If not, it could be a slim Pac-12 watch in the Big Dance.

Pac-12 Coach of the Year: Scott Rueck should win in a tight race

The Pac-12 women’s COTY buzz is something to discuss.

The Pac-12 Conference has been a strong point for the women’s side of things this season. There could be as many as seven or even eight teams in the NCAA Tournament depending on how things go.

The race for Coach of the Year is an interesting one, and both Cori Close and Lindsay Gottlieb have been suggested as worthy recipients.

We spoke with Trojans Wire site editor Matt Zemek and he gave his Pac-12 Coach of the Year pick:

USC fans will say Lindsay Gottlieb, and they have a very strong argument to make. Gottlieb has done a spectacular job with this USC program, and so if anyone wants to make the argument for her as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, I won’t put up a fight. However, Scott Rueck has done an amazing job at Oregon State. He does not have a superstar such as JuJu Watkins, and yet has gotten the Beavers into the top four of the Pac-12 and has earned a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament. He has been extraordinary this season. It’s not that Gottlieb hasn’t been amazing — she has! — but Rueck has been (somehow) better.

Oregon State’s turnaround has been sensational, and Rueck definitely is deserving of the award. Whether or not he gets it remains to be seen.

Will a Utah-UCLA Pac-12 clash be different in Las Vegas?

What would a Utah-UCLA game look like in Las Vegas?

The Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball tournament is set to kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

With UCLA and USC both getting a first-round bye, the expectation is that Utah and UCLA will face off.

UCLA crushed Utah not that long ago. How different do you think a UCLA-Utah quarterfinal would be for the Bruins? We asked Trojans Wire site editor Matt Zemek about that:

I actually think it sets up well for UCLA. The easy instinct is to say that Utah will be very fired up and will make the game much closer. That’s probably true. The game in Pauley Pavilion was a wipeout. Utah will certainly be more competitive. Yet, I don’t think it will be a squeaker, either. Utah looks worn out and has not been playing great basketball of late. I think UCLA wins — not by a ton of points, but not by three or four, either. UCLA by 12.

It’s not a given, but it is a very real possibility that Utah and UCLA face off on Thursday in Las Vegas.

Pac-12 WBB columnist picks UCLA to win Pac-12 tourney

Can UCLA win the Pac-12 women’s tournament?

The Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball tournament begins on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

The question will be whether or not the UCLA Bruins can make a deep run and earn a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.

Jeff Metcalfe of The Mercury News (subscription required) gave his predictions and he picked UCLA to win the tournament. As far as game-by-game goes, we’ll discuss, but he had UCLA defeating Oregon State in the title game:

Yes, we’re on a bit of a limb predicting the top-two seeds won’t reach this nationally televised showcase. But it’s far from a stretch given how strong the Pac-12 has been this season and given what happened last year with the No. 5 and 7 seeds meeting in the final. UCLA and Oregon State split the season series with the Beavers winning most recently. Their 79-77 victory on Feb. 16 was arguably the best game of the regular season and featured four lead changes in the final 10 seconds. Oh, for another such finish.

The path to the title game might be tricky for UCLA, especially if they face JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans. But, Oregon State against UCLA again would be fascinating.

UCLA’s defensive ability will be a problem for Utah

UCLA’s defense could be an issue for Utah, again.

The UCLA Bruins women’s basketball team will likely face Utah in the Pac-12 Conference tournament on Thursday.

Utah faces Arizona State on Wednesday night in the final game of the slate, and they should have no problems against the Sun Devils.

So, that would set up UCLA and Utah for a third meeting, and the previous two meetings had opposite outcomes.

The Utes won the first but UCLA blew out Utah last time out by 30 points. Jeff Metcalfe of The Mercury News (subscription required)offered some insight and explained why UCLA’s defense will be an issue for Utah

It’s hard to come up with a bigger gap between regular-season results than Utah winning 91-84 (in overtime) at home over UCLA on Jan. 22 and losing 82-52 on the road to the Bruins a month later. Again, the 3-point discrepancy was defining for the Utes, who went 13-of-28 in the first meeting and 3-of-15 in the second. Plus 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts was a bigger factor for UCLA at home. Utah figures to stay close, but the Bruins right now are fearsome on defense.

UCLA is rolling right now and has a ton of momentum, and if they face Utah, they should move on and play JuJu Watkins and USC on Friday.

Trojans Wire picks Stanford over USC in Pac-12 Conference women’s predictions

@TrojansWire has Stanford over USC in Pac-12 tournament final.

The Pac-12 Conference women’s basketball tournament is set to begin on Wednesday with the top four seeds not having to play until Thursday.

The UCLA Bruins enter as a 3-seed with the 2-seed USC Trojans, 1-seed Stanford Cardinal, and the 4-seed Oregon State Beavers.

There are a number of ways this tournament can go, especially with the toughness the Pa-12 has shown this year on the women’s side.

Matt Zemek, the site editor of Trojans Wire, gave his picks for the tournament round by round and game by game. He has Stanford winning the tournament over USC in the final.