You might’ve read my Pac-12 preseason predictions. If not some of them here then if you were traveling in the early November time frame you might’ve seen them featured in USA Today’s College Basketball Special Edition/leaflet. My friend bought me a copy en route to a wedding in Mexico and left it in the hotel shuttle. I have the best friends!
If you didn’t click the above link, here’s how I had things shaking out: Continue reading
The highlight of my weekend was the Oreo’s I bought for my Super Bowl watch. What was yours? Was it when Tyler Dorsey didn’t miss a three? Maybe it was when Jabari Bird dunked away the Utes? Could it have been Lonzo’s outshining of Markelle (kind of)? Perhaps Colorado’s first conference road win in a year (1/23/16 was their last)? You could even be from Massachusetts or simply not from Atlanta?
For me, the Oreo’s were really good. And here’s our podcast on the weekend (not the cookies).
It’s not decided and Spencer, Cody and I discuss as much on this week’s podcast. You should give it a listen (it’s also linked at the bottom meaning you can simul-consume: podcast + these power rankings) – flop into it if you will (Is that a saying?).
Of course it has to be noted that no Pac-12 (or 10) team has ever achieved in-conference perfection. Stanford, Arizona and UCLA have accumulated 17-1 seasons. It’s hard to do. Saturday projects to be fantastic theater and it is one of just 10 marquee games (remember, marquee = Arizona, UCLA, and Oregon are playing one of each other) we’ll be delighted to this season. Can’t
Rankings:
Heading to an opposing arena in contrarian attire has its innate allusions to being an ass. But what if you don’t want to be defined by the clothes you wear? Spencer headed to Haas and got curious about how not to be a jerk in an opposing arena. His strongest stance? Don’t wear non-participating gear to the game. Not exactly a parallel to cheering for your squad but there’s more. It’s a 52-minute podcast. And to that point we also hit: Oregon-UCLA, the pursuit of a zero win Pac-12 season, Arizona vs. Oregon vs. WSU as team of the week, and more.
I got credentialed to last year’s Pac-12 tournament. It was awesome and in that wonderful first day of basketball, USC knocked off the fifth seeded Sun Devils. It was USC’s sixth win over a conference opponent in two years and it came at the hands of my behated (word?) Devils. I don’t know if you “have” schadenfreude or wish it or feel it but knowing what the German word translates to, that’s what I have/feel/wish for ASU. Until I had to go into that presser and listen to sixth-year senior Shaq McKissic talk about the game. To listen to Bo Barnes explain how the shittiest team in the Pac-12 could erase a 14-point lead in the game’s final ten minutes was miserable. All the ill I’d have ever wished on the Sun Devils was manifesting but the moment’s cruel reality was that I had to see what my schadenfreude created. I wanted nothing to do with it. It looked awful. They answered their questions with red eyes, barely audible, then left the stage. I felt for them. It wasn’t the stakes of the Super Bowl but those red eyes suggested otherwise. Josh Norman. Cam didn’t answer a few questions. I’m pretty much OK with it.
Power:
It took the ending of a 49-game home win streak to avoid having a 6-way tie for first place. It’s that kind of year in the Pac-12. Yet as far as I can tell, no one in Eugene cares. We’re halfway home and despite all the crazy talk this one feels pretty wrapped up. Maybe I’m crazy but Oregon seems the best, Utah seems the hottest, and WSU seems the worst. Maybe those are my mid-season superlatives with a hat-tip to Andrew Andrews.
Power:
Here’s a goal of mine, let me know if you can assist. I want to see The Interview. I don’t believe this makes me unique but if there’s a will there’s a way. But I also think UCLA had the will to score against Kentucky, there just wasn’t a way. Happy Holidays everyone.
Oregon lost to Michigan on Monday night as I continued to pretend that the ‘random’ program on level 15 of the LifeCycle would suffice for a workout. And while you’re maybe not impressed with my workout regimen, I was impressed with Oregon in the battle of Nike vs. Adidas; the battle of Yellows.
Let’s talk about why. Continue reading