- Game of the weekend. Oregon @ #7 Vanderbilt, 11/11/11, 7pm PST . Can the under-the-radar Ducks make some early national noise in Tennessee? It’ll be tough. Some have Vandy doing big things this year, returning five starters and all.
- SI cover jinx? Reeves Nelson is gracing the west coast version of SI’s college hoops preview (if they’d only been more creative). Nelson busted his ankle in practice and is now questionable for tonight’s game. Coincidence?
- Parrom practices. Kevin Parrom is back to practice which is great news for a great kid and a growing Arizona team. He’ll return to NYC next week where he was shot a month ago.
- ASU Pre-Party. Coming in at 17th on the Princeton Review’s top party schools, it’s no surprise ASU scheduled their season opener for 2:30pm on a Friday. Better double check those Nalogenes.
- You’re welcome, east coast. MSU and UNC travel west to play outdoors on a ship. At tip-off: East Lansing 35 degrees, Chapel Hill 37 degrees, San Diego 65 degrees. Nuff said.
- The house Jorge built. I’ve long felt Cal’s Jorge Gutierrez is the quintessential player you hate on their team and adore on yours. He confirmed that in a recent interview, “This is my court, and you play the way I want you to play.” Yeah.
- Gershon weighs in. Scout’s west coast recruiting guru (dude knows his stuff) Josh Gershon tells us about the Pac’s recruiting class. He ranks it second amongst all the conferences and really just has a lot to say about Sean Miller’s class.
- Mmmm, cupcakes. The twelvers, other than Oregon, will kick their respective seasons off with some pretty easy opponents, most notably Colorado who takes on Ft. Lewis. I don’t know Ft. Lewis and they don’t even have linkage on ESPN. Ouch, but CU could use a few of these.
- Dead horse beating. It’s been awhile since anyone has said “Pac-12” and “good” in the same sentence but they’re trying real hard now. I love Larry Scott and he’s trying hardest. This conversation, however, has become a beaten horse and probably a cozy excuse. Here’s a nice read on the conference’s relevancy efforts.
- Terrence Ross > You. I think I might post this with every Twelve Pac but he was just recently listed on the Naismith Preseason Watch List. He’s one of three Pac-12 players (Josh Smith and Reeves Nelson) but I’d most prefer to watch T.Ross play so I’ll give him the most love.
- Dunkless. I’ve watched two Arizona games and they have yet to dunk. But wait! Nick Johnson and Jesse Perry have both grabbed rim (NJ linked). Perhaps this guy dunked them out?
- 131 games today. Seven will be played by Pac-12 teams. Be excited. In fact, let’s: