All the talk about the Pac-12 only getting two teams into the NCAA Tournament is probably out the door. Oregon had a huge win against Utah, UCLA has three very winnable home games to come and Stanford hosts Oregon this weekend. All three teams have work to do, but you have to think one of them is going to make a move to join Tourney locks Arizona and Utah. Remember Stanford closes at Arizona State and Arizona to finish the year so this weekend’s games against Oregon State and Oregon are big. You really have to give a lot of credit to Dana Altman as his Ducks have stayed the course after a very tough offseason. The Ducks are 10-5 and in third, but do have road games with Cal, Stanford and Oregon State
ahead. They still have work to do, but were once 4-4 and are have gone 6-1 since. With Joe Young (19.8 points a game) leading the way, they have a great chance to make some noise in March. Remember this about Oregon – the Ducks shoot 75 percent from the foul line.
Mustangs Cruising
Last year SMU was “that” team everyone was talking about on Selection Sunday as they didn’t leave room for error with their non-conference
schedule. There will be no stressing this year for Larry Brown. After a January 3rd loss, SMU has gone 12-1. Its non-conference strength of schedule is ranked
tenth, and the Mustangs are 7-3 on the road. Junior point guard Nic Moore got out of Indiana and is averaging nearly 15 points per game. Larry Brown took the UCLA job in 1979, when the Pac-12 was in its second year of going from eight teams to 10. How time flies…
No panning the Friars
Congratulations to Providence. Yes, the Friars got whacked at the Pavilion by Villanova last night. But guess what? That happened to nearly EVERY team that visited Nova’s on-campus building this year – the Wildcats led by 20 or more in all but two games at the Pavilion this season (two of their their final three Big East games are on the road and the third is a home game at downtown Philly’s Wells Fargo Center.) Which brings us, in a roundabout way, back to the Friars, who have entered the Associated Press Top-25 for the first time since March 2004. Senior LaDontae Henton is averaging over 20 points per game, and Ed Cooley has continue to impress and improve. His first year the team was 15-17, then 19-15, before going 23-13 last year. Another win and it’ll be 20 again this year. Coach Cooley’s team has been a solid presence in the first two years of the new Big East, and while everyone was going crazy about Creighton last year and Villanova is this year’s talk of the league, his Friars have been quietly playing really playing well. Providence has 10 top-100 RPI wins, including Notre Dame, UMASS, at Butler and Georgetown twice. Providence will go to the NCAAs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1989 and 1990. How about that for rebuilding?
– Bill Frieder
Former Michigan and Arizona State head coach Bill Frieder is an analyst for Westwood One’s coverage of NCAA Basketball. In his weekly blog Boxed Out, Bill scours the box scores to bring you interesting stories from the world of college basketball.
