Our favorite team – the Arizona Wildcats – is making its annual (or mostly annual) trip to the Bay Area. This also marks Spencer and my friend-iversary and a lot of great Cal-Arizona games. Of note, Cal has also lost to ASU on the weeknight before playing Arizona for two consecutive years.
Alas, this week’s pod isn’t all about us: USC had another statement win (how many schools have beat AZ and UCLA in back-to-back games, ever?); Washington garnered a road win; Oregon looked nice in Utah; Colorado got a home hold; Spencer promises to write about Stanford. Listen and subscribe on iTunes.
And if you’ve made it this far, I’m going to offer up a new section/experiment. Have something Spencer and I might be able to answer? Discuss? Throw me a question comment or anything via tweet. Thanks.
Great podcast. I looked it up and the last team to beat Arizona and UCLA back to back was Cal in 2013. They won @Arizona (last time Miller was beaten in McKale) and then beat UCLA at home. Interesting stuff.
There is something I keep thinking about and you guys touched on it a little. The Pac-12 is gonna be great next year. UCLA loses Parker and replaces him with 2 top 10 recruits. UW gets Fultz to pair in the backcourt with Murray, and both of those guys are projected to be top 10 picks next year. USC might not lose anyone. Oregon likely won’t lose a lot and they’ll get Ennis healthy plus whatever transfers Altman hauls in. Finally Arizona will return a good chuck of guys, has 2 5-star recruits coming in, and is the favorite to land this guy Josh Jackson. If you aren’t familiar with him you should look him up. The Pac is so deep this year with solid teams but next year it could have 3 or 4 elite teams. It’s gonna be fun.
You are totally right, 2015-16 is the Pac-12 primer coat. The depth is already here, and I think next season a number of programs will be ready to take the step from second-weekend tournament hopefuls to legitimate Final Four contenders.
Oregon does have to replace Benjamin, Cook and Boucher, but given how great Dorsey and Brooks are (and the inevitable Altmanification of the Ducks roster in the off-season) you have to assume they can be a preseason top-15.
Arizona I think we don’t need to talk too much about, but nonetheless very excited for next year. Can’t wait to see who claims all those scholarship spots.
Washington already has enough young talent to be taken very seriously for next season, let alone their noteworthy recruiting.
I wonder what happens to USC’s roster after this season. You never know with recruits, too many make poor judgements, and Enfield does have a bunch of talent that was considered NBA potential when they arrived on campus and whose stock certainly hasn’t dropped since.
I think Colorado takes a natural drop, along with Utah, while Oregon State and Arizona State will continue to build up their programs into possibly tournament teams.
Lots to look forward to, now if we could only get anyone east of Boulder to notice.
My man! – thanks for the AZ/UCLA research. Little disappointed it wasn’t something more romanticizable like 1978 but so be it.
Very familiar with Josh Jackson.
The Pac’s future is bright and yet I still am really digging this season. It’s funky – last week 11 ranked teams lost to unranked opponents. And then it all happened again tonight.
This season doesn’t feel like a year of WHO DID YOU LOSE TO so much as DIDJYA WIN? Right now, Washington is winning.