The Sports Brewery

Should anyone in the Pac-10 get a tournament bid?

Posted on 22. Jan, 2010 at 8:00 am by SKI in NCAA Basketball, PAC-10 Basketball

As of right now the only way a team from the Pac-10 should get into the NCAA tournament is whoever wins the the Pac-10 tournament. And even then the lucky team that manages to win this glorified rec league tournament should be treated the way they treat mid-majors by giving them a 11-15 seed.  Now your gonna say that i’m blowing this way out of proportion and yes a team could go on a tear and just crush the rest of the teams but let’s take a look at the teams right now.

Oregon: After last years performance going 2-16 in conference they couldn’t do worse. They stared 2-0 in conference with big wins at the Washington schools, then proceed to drop 3 straight at home ending what  fans thought could be a big year and probably will cost Ernie his job.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Prediction: If they get back to form the NIT is in reach

Oregon st: There was some hype for the Beavs before the year started with there starters all being returning upperclassmen, but that hype disappeared after game 1. First game of the season the Beavers lost at home by 24 to Texas A&M C.C. Then dropped another at home to Sacramento St and on the road to Ill Chicago.  Beat Oregon and Arizona but then scored 35 points at Stanford to remind us why they are the n laughing stock of the conference.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Prediction: Can you say back to back CBI champions

Washington: Entered the season as the Pac-10 fav and was thought highly of to be ranked 14th. Behind senior Quincy Pondexter and last years freshman Isaiah Thomas they looked poised to runaway with the conference. But with the start of conference play they dumped 3 of 4 and fell out of the top 25. Still has the players to be ok but 3-4 now has a lot to do to get in.                                                                                                                                                                                                    Prediction: If they can win 7 of there final 11 the committee will put them in, to not look so foolish ranking them 14th preseason.

Washington St: Not much expected out of the Cougs this year but went 10-2 beating-up on JV teams before conference play. A tough loss at home to Oregon to start play and not very good efforts against ASU and Cal has them needing to finish strong to get wins to make up for the weak schedule they have.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Prediction: Hasn’t beaten a team in the top 50 and has a SOS of 147. There gonna need to finish top 3 in the Pac to even get a look. I’m seeing the NIT.

Arizona: A new coach in Sean Miller, only one returning senior in Nick Wise, the standards were not set high for this Wildcat team. A positive for this team is they have the 5th hardest SOS, the negative there 0-5 against the top 50. 3-3 in conference, 9-9 overall just an average team.

Prediction: Nick Wise will get this team to 8-10 and with there SOS they will be playing for the honorable NIT title.

Arizona St: They lost their best player in James Harden, but returned a lot of decent upperclassmen so top 3 in the Pac-10 seemed likely. They lost 3 preconference games all to the 3 best teams they have played so far. Terrible start to conference play dumping games to the sanctioned USC and the wish they had the excuse they were sanctioned UCLA. But sweeping the Oregon and Washington schools has them atop the conference and looming to be the only team deserving of an invite to the big dance.

Prediction: With 12 games left and getting to play Oregon st, Oregon and UCLA again getting to 20 wins and winning the Pac-10 seems likely. With that being said they wont get a top 5 seed though.

Cal: Cal looked to be a threat to take the Pac with a high powered offense lead by 4 seniors all who can score the ball. Their offense has lived up to expectations averaging almost 80 ppg and their 4 seniors have also being the top 4 on the team in scoring. With tough losses to Syracuse, Kansas and Ohio st and one bad loss to UCLA has Cal in the fight with Washington and ASU as the 3 possible teams to get a bid.                                                                                                                     

Prediction: 4-2 in conference and 12-6 overall has them right behind ASU, with 12 games to go getting 20 wins seems pretty doable and with how bad the rest of the conference is getting into the tournament is almost locked. But with no real size a run in the tournament is unlikely.

Stanford: With probably the best player in the Pac-10 Landry Fields (21.5, 8.7, 3.1)  and sophomore Jeremy Green (17.4) they have the 1-2 punch to be a good team. But after recruiting these 2 players it looks like the recruiter got tired and just went to the closest park and picked up enough guys there to fill the rest of the team. All that leads to Stanford being 9-9 overall and 3-3 in conference, and when I say Stanford i’m referring to Fields and Green only.              

Prediction: Fields and Green will continue to keep this team at .500 but if one goes down so does the team and even if they don’t their gonna be CBI bound where they will probably be the favs of it.

UCLA: What can you say about the most storied school in college basketball, they just pump out winners and only recruit winners so let’s just pencil them in at the top of the Pac-10 where they belong. Ok so their two best players are Michael Roll and Malcolm Lee no worries they will crush the bad teams they play early. Ok so you lose 7 of your first 10 no worries you just got to crush the Pac. Ok so you start 3-3 with your 3 wins by a total 4 points were UCLA they will put us in. Well sorry to say but this UCLA team is an absolute joke. I wouldn’t pick up any of their players to play in a rec-center game.

Prediction: Gonna battle the Beavers to see who gets that CBI invite and i’m giving the Beavs the slight edge.

USC: SC is the wild card. They can’t play in any postseason tournaments thanks to OJ Mayo induced sanctions so I can only see them playing spoiler and that’s if the players just don’t throw in the towel at any point.                                                  

Prediction: I see O.J getting a knock on his door in March with 4 angry seniors wondering if the car and cash he got was worth screwing them  over. They might break a bone for every game they win.

So there you have it. The elite conference of the Pac-10 in all their glory. So will they only get 1 team in? No. Should they get more than 1 team in? As of now no. But they will get at least 3 teams in because hell they’re the Pac-10, you don’t screw around with a major conference when there is lots of money involved.