PAC-10 Tournament Thread

[Renz]

PAC-10
At Staples Center
Los Angeles

FIRST ROUND
Wednesday, March 12
Game 1: No. 8 Washington vs. No. 9 California (6 p.m.)
Game 2: No. 7 Arizona vs. No. 10 Oregon State (8:30 p.m.)

QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 13
Game 3: No. 4 Southern California vs. No. 5 Arizona State (12 p.m.)
Game 4: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 9 California (2:30 p.m.)
Game 5: No. 3 Washington State vs. No. 6 Oregon (6 p.m.)
Game 6: No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 7 Arizona (8:30 p.m.)

SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 14
Game 7: No. 4 Southern California vs. No. 1 UCLA (6 p.m.)
Game 8: No. 3 Washington State vs. No. 2 Stanford (8:30 p.m.)

CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 15
Game 9: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 Stanford (CBS, 3:15 p.m.)

 

[Skkorpion]

I'll be watching. Nothing like home court for UCLA and USC, huh? Chances of any other team breaking through vary between zip and none.

And last time I checked, the Howland groupies, aka PAC-10 refs are calling the games. Maybe Lute was right -- there may be no good reason to hold this tournament.

 

[abomb]

Went a few years ago. So much fun.

 

[Russ Smith]

I'll be watching. Nothing like home court for UCLA and USC, huh? Chances of any other team breaking through vary between zip and none.

And last time I checked, the Howland groupies, aka PAC-10 refs are calling the games. Maybe Lute was right -- there may be no good reason to hold this tournament.

Didn't Oregon win last year at Staples over USC in the final?

UCLA has lost their first game 3 of the last 4 years in the tournament, UCLA fans are actually complaining that Howland doesn't take the tournament seriously enough and his teams have letdowns in it that impact NCAA seeding.

 

[Skkorpion]

Didn't Oregon win last year at Staples over USC in the final?

UCLA has lost their first game 3 of the last 4 years in the tournament, UCLA fans are actually complaining that Howland doesn't take the tournament seriously enough and his teams have letdowns in it that impact NCAA seeding.

Sheesh. Don't ruin a good rant with facts.

Also, Syracuse losing today gave Oregon and/or ASU a fighting chance at the big dance.

 

[Russ Smith]

Sheesh. Don't ruin a good rant with facts.

Also, Syracuse losing today gave Oregon and/or ASU a fighting chance at the big dance.

IF ASU beats USC they're in. They might get in without it but to be safe they ought to win.

I'd like to see it just to get another Pac 10 team off the bubble.

That said my gut says USC is going to win, they looked REALLY good against Stanford.

 

[Russ Smith]

UCLA up 16-4 early on Cal! Go thugball.

Don't get FSN at work.

It's early but UCLA has been slow start strong finish all year so this bodes well for UCLA the fast start.

 

[Russ Smith]

32-19 UCLA. It's amazing how good this team is when they make shots. They were up 10, went cold Cal got back to 4, and then UCLA ran out to 13 in a flash with some good shooting.

Best news is Shipp 2-2 field 2-2 FT 1-1 on 3's.Maybe that fluke ending against Cal gave him back his confidence right when UCLA needed it.

Cal was down 12 last night in the 2nd half and won they're very explosive but at least UCLA is playing much better in the first half than they did the last 2 games.

 

[Russ Smith]

Bruins beat Trojans in the rubber match but lose Mbah a Moute to another left ankle injury.

Mixed feelings don't really care about what happens tomorrow night just hoping Luc heals in time to play in the 2nd round of the NCAA's. Same ankle he blew out earlier in the season I think he missed 2 games that time, didn't look good big bag of ice and crutches.

Huge gutcheck win they were down 6 at the half and went on a 15-2 run to start the 2nd half, won 55-52. Westbrook didn't shoot well but really made Mayo earn his points shut him out most of the 2nd half. Jefferson had 12 in the first half and didn't score in the 2nd half, Keefe was huge on defense for UCLA.

 

[Skkorpion]

Enjoyed the game. The better team won.

Watched a lot of the games. Most were played in a cavern with few spectators. The only games anybody showed up to watch involved UCLA.

The UCLA cheerleaders looked every bit as good as USC's. I'm an equal opportunity lech.

 

[Russ Smith]

THe injury curse continues, Love playing with back spasms has been out 3 times stretching the back, clearly in pain. UCLA is 1-9 from the FT line and Mata-Real has the only make, somehow it's 32-32 at the half.

Skkorp's favorite Bruin Collison had 13, kept UCLA in the game. Shipp had a nice half too only 4 points but he realized Stanford was overplaying his outside shot and started to attack the rim, helped draw some fouls. If only they could make the FT's, even Shipp and Collison missed one.

The bigger question is Love's back. They're saying Luc expects to be able to play in the NCAA opener, but Love's back is not looking good, you worry it'll stiffen up at the half.

Boy whoever teh bigman coach is for Stanford he's really good, Robin Lopez looks like a completely different offensive player the last 10 games or so, I thought it was hilarious people called him a lottery pick but he's playing his way into a future one.

Forgot one point on the USC game, I guess Floyd must have called it but whoever decided to have Mayo dribble down to 3 seconds before shooting is on the hook. AS shipp said if you miss, there's no chance for a second shot, Mayo said he did it consciously and I assume Floyd wanted it that way but it made no sense to me, down 3 with 23 seconds left and the go for the last shot?

Go thugball.

 

[ajcardfan]

This is usually the boringest conference tournament ever since it started back up. We have yet to see a run at the title from the bottom half of the league, ala Georgia and Illinois this year. As an ASU fan, that's why I wanted the tournament instituted.

 

[Skkorpion]

This is usually the boringest conference tournament ever since it started back up. We have yet to see a run at the title from the bottom half of the league, ala Georgia and Illinois this year. As an ASU fan, that's why I wanted the tournament instituted.

That's true. Never really paid much attention because ASU sucked so I ignored the tournament.

 

[Russ Smith]

This is usually the boringest conference tournament ever since it started back up. We have yet to see a run at the title from the bottom half of the league, ala Georgia and Illinois this year. As an ASU fan, that's why I wanted the tournament instituted.

I hate the tournament always have for 2 reasons. One is the possibility of injuries as happened this year to UCLA, the other is that the team that wins the round robin regular season proves they're the best over 18 games, but if they lose in the tourney they lose the auto bid. I know the one and done format prepares you for the NCAA but I think too often teams look at the tourney as something they don't want to play but have to?

It's for marketing and tv plain and simple.

 

[Renz]

It's for marketing and tv plain and simple.

Cha Ching!!!