February 18, 2012

Pac 12 Notebook: Is the league deserving of more postseason attention?

Ken Cross, Pac-12 Columnist

With just under three weeks until the Pac-12 Tournament commences at Staples Center in Los Angeles, there are five teams – Cal, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado - that are within one game of the Pac-12 lead as the conference has put on one of the more competitive regular seasons in recent memory.

The Golden Bears and Huskies set atop the standings at 10-3 while the Buffaloes, Ducks, and Wildcats are 9-4 and very much alive.  With all of the competition, the negatives continue to be espoused about the league being down or nothing is said about it at all.

Part of the problem stems from computer ratings that tab this conference as the eighth best in the nation. The computer may take into consideration an upset loss early in the year, but they can't factor in team improvement throughout the year or possibly injuries that hamper any squad.  So, just how much should computer ratings matter if teams pass ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes’ famed eye-test.

California looks like the favorite, but hasn’t been able to differentiate itself from the other four teams.  The Bears have been the recipient of stellar point guard play from senior Jorge Gutierrez and the gritty determination of steady Harper Kamp.  Cal has won four road games, which is an anomaly in any conference.

“We have two seniors who are two good ones in Jorge and Harper,” explained Bears coach Mike Montgomery, “We have four road wins in the conference and we had a neutral court win vs. Georgia in Missouri.  Having guys that are tough-minded helps wherever you play them (road games).”

Washington looked like it might take a year to rebuild back to where the Huskies were a year ago, but freshman guard Tony Wroten has been a major catalyst in UW’s 10-3 ledger.  He is third in the league in scoring at 16.4 ppg. and seventh in assists with 3.5 per game. 

The Huskies have been relentless on the boards again with a plus-5.6 margin and Romar continues to employ his same relentless running game as Washington has averaged 75 ppg., second in the conference to Oregon State.

“You want to be yourself and take good shots and play hard against Washington,” said Arizona coach Sean Miller, “We had 15 turnovers at home and they had 18 offensive rebounds.  When the shot goes up, you have to keep them from getting second shots.  They are tops in our conference in getting second shots.”

Miller has seen his Wildcats show some inconsistencies, but as of late, the ‘Cats have won four in a row to get to 18-8 with a defensive attack that seems to have stabilized Arizona as the team that could override the Bears and the Huskies and capture the regular season championship. Like Cal, Arizona has played well on the road.

"It’s very important that all of us defend our home court,” noted Miller, “We take a lot of pride in that because of the great crowd, environment, and surroundings. We have to have equal poise on our end.”

That leaves Oregon and Colorado as the two surprise teams which sit one game behind Washington and California as the Buffaloes are making the initial voyage in Pac-12 play while the Ducks are only in the second season of the Dana Altman regime.

The Ducks have tremendous chemistry and play well as a unit under Altman as Oregon has won seven of it's last nine to put itself in position to not only win the league, but get into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.  Oregon is 14-1 when it has more assists than the opponents and outscores the opponent by 9.7 points in those games.

"They're a really good basketball team," commented Montgomery, "They’ve got a lot of weapons and are more comfortable with themselves than they were the first time we played them. They are just a solid basketball team."

Finally, Colorado may be the biggest surprise of the group as the Buffaloes roamed the prairies of the Big 12 with little success. Upon entering the Pac-12, Tad Boyle's team has mixed veterans and youth together to illicit a 17-8 overall record which has put it on the brink of a possible league title and NCAA berth.

"A lot of credit has to go to our seniors who have given us great stability and great leadership," explained Boyle, "Nate Tomlinson and Austin Dufault have been through the Big 12 for three years and Carlon Brown, through Mountain West wars, so to speak, and it's a heck of a league.  Our three seniors who have proven themselves."

Boyle noted that as seniors, Dufault and Tomlinson had stepped into new roles and had provided the kind of leadership that youthful players like Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker could benefit from.  Andre Robertson has averaged a double-double as well, so the foundation of the Colorado program in the Big 12 is strong, going forward.

Twitter: kcrossizballin

Pac-12 Newsstand: From Tempe to Seattle

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek references Tim Tebow's as a role model for his struggling Sun Devils.

Practice even wavers in epically tough year at USC.

Why Washington is facing must wins, even at 17-8.

JUCO product Carlos Emory is spearheading the Oregon Ducks’ march to March.

Stat of the Week

Brock Motum of Washington State continues to unfortunately garner little notice despite averaging 25.2 ppg. over his last five games. He has shot 68-of-115 from the floor over his last nine outings.

Pac-12 Whip-around: Every dribble from LA to the Bay

El Norte: Devon Collier has scored double figures in 10 straight games for Oregon State, averaging 14.6 ppg. and shooting 51-of-83 during the stretch…Cal is 20-6 which is the Bears’ best start since their 21-6 start in 2001-02…Washington State freshman Davonte Lacey is another Cougar who has not received enough attention this season as he has started 19 games for Ken Bone and averaged 9.3 ppg., third on the WSU team…Having a stellar year, Washington guard Tony Wroten is one of five finalists for the Wayman Tisdale Award, which is given to the nation’s top freshman.  His competition includes Austin Rivers from Duke, Indiana’s Cody Zeller and a pair of Kentucky Wildcats in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis…Stanford’s road win at USC last week gave the Cardinal it’s first sweep of the Trojans since 2005.  It was also the first regular season road win in six years against either USC or UCLA…Oregon is 10-2 in games where the Ducks block four or more shots.

El Sur: Brandon Lavender of Arizona has been money for the Wildcats from three this season as he has led the Pac-12 in three-point field goal percentage at 51.5%.  he did hit a dip in an o-for-5 performance against Colorado before nailing 4-of-5 in last Saturday’s win over Utah…Trent Lockett is back and playing major minutes for Arizona State even though his injured ankle keeps him at less than 100%.  Herb Sendek said he doesn’t know if he will have his normal explosiveness again this season…Tad Boyle has the top scoring combo in the league at Colorado.  The guard combo of Spencer Dinwiddie and Askia Booker average 20 ppg. to lead all true-freshman combos in the league…Dijon Farr is stepping up on the boards for beleaguered Utah.  He has led the Utes in rebounds in each of the last three games, topping out with a career high of 11 last Saturday against Arizona…UCLA knocked off USC, 64-54, in a rare Wednesday night Pac-12 game. In an oddity, the game was played at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, just a block from the USC campus and the Bruins were the home team as Pauley Pavilion has been undergoing renovations this season.  David and Travis Ware both notched double-doubles for UCLA.

Hot and Not

Hot: Oregon Ducks forward E.J. Singler has picked up his game immeasurably over the last six as he has averaged 17.1 ppg. and 7.3 rpg.  This is up from an average of 12.2 ppg. and five boards per outing prior to his hot streak.

Not: Arizona State’s ball-handling is a major reason why the Sun Devils are once again near the bottom of the Pac-12.  Herb Sendek has had to use multiple personnel on the point due to injuries which has caused ASU to average 16.6 turnovers per game, 14^th in the nation.

Ken’s High Five

Five games that could make or break the Bears, Huskies, Ducks, Buffaloes, and Wildcats in their Pac-12 title quest

* Arizona @ Washington, Saturday, Feb. 18 - This matchup features the board play and transition of the Huskies against an Arizona team that has had injury problems, but has forged it's way into contention.

* Cal @ Colorado, Sunday, Feb. 26 - If the Buffaloes can navigate their way through Utah and a home date with Stanford, the league could be there for the taking against the Bears.  The experience of the Cal guards against Dinwiddie and Booker will play a huge role.

*Oregon's schedule in general - Three straight roadies at Cal, Stanford, and Oregon State are followed by a home date March 1 against Colorado.  If the Ducks, who continue to improve their depth, navigate this, then they deserve the league title.

* Cal @ Stanford, Sunday, Mar. 4 - The Bears' championship hopes could rest on the Maples Pavilion court of their most fierce rival, the Stanford Cardinal, on the season's last day.

*Washington's last three games - The Huskies finish their home schedule this weekend with the WIldcats and Sun Devils.  Then, they hit the road for rival Washington State and the UCLA/USC trip to end the season.  The Cougars could make this a Super Bowl-esque atmosphere if UW is anywhere close to the league title.

Cross-Continental: Pac-12 reeling 

I don't think there is any doubt that too much stock is put into what the computers spit out about all 337 of the NCAA Division 1 teams, so when I hear and read that the Pac-12 only deserves two bids, I scratch my head and wonder to where the common sense of picking the tournament evaporated.

Right now, unless one of the five goes on a nose-dive, Cal, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, and Colorado should all hear their names called on Selection Sunday.

Skeptics point at "bad losses," as they call them, by league teams in the pre-conference, but if these were true basketball afficionados, they would understand how much teams can improve over the course of just a month or two. 

Some league coaches, though, think that combating that early negative perception is a must for a "power" league that gets little or no publicity east of the Mississippi River.

"November and December define the rest of the year," analyzed Arizona coach Sean Miller, "If your conference hasn't fared well on the road and in big games, you have to live with the rest of the season.  Sometimes that can be made too big of a story."

At some point, possibly, if evaluations are indeed as rigid as Miller thinks, maybe there needs to be challenges among the Top 10 conferences in a home and away format in February, similar to ESPN's Bracket Busters.  Yes, it would put another week into the season and another two games, but what is there to lose, if, say a Colorado, can prove that it has improved beyond a possible early season upset loss.

"I wish we had one this week since we have Utah," said Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle, "It's not a bye week, but I'd like to play one on Wednesday.  I think it would be good for our league with our disappointing non-conference slate.  We are a much better team than we were in November.  I'd like to have a chance to prove that outside our conference.  "We need to look into that as in future scheduling."

An option might be to move the conference challenges into February and change partners each season.  The Pac-12 partners with the Big 12 at this point.  Possibly each year, the conference matchups could be shuffled and two games played possibly during the third week of February.

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Gutierrez photo credit courtesy Michael Pimentel/Golden Bear Sports; Hill photo courtesy Luke Adams, Arizona Athletics Photography