Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Pac-12 conference tournament

This is part 26 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament.  These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.

The standings:
Arizona 15-3
UCLA 12-6
Arizona St 10-8
California 10-8
Colorado 10-8
Stanford 10-8
Oregon 10-8
Utah 9-9
Washington 9-9
Oregon St 8-10
Washington St 3-15
USC 2-16

Tournament format:
Las Vegas is your neutral site host.  March 12-15.  Typical bracket setup.

The matchups:
8) Utah (20-10) vs. 9) Washington (17-14)
5) Colorado (21-10) vs. 12) USC (11-20)
7) Oregon (22-8) vs. 10) Oregon St (16-14)
6) Stanford (19-11) vs. 11) Washington St (10-20)

1) Arizona (28-3) vs. 8/9 winner
4) California (19-12) vs. 5/12 winner
2) UCLA (23-8) vs. 7/10 winner
3) Arizona St (21-10) vs. 6/11 winner

The stakes:
Arizona's gonna be on the 1 line.  UCLA could use a quality win or two to help with seeding, and the chance at Oregon early qualifies for that.

Arizona St and Oregon are the two teams that recently got off my bubble and into the lockbox.  Oregon still only has the two wins over lock tourney teams, but they'll be fine.  A loss early would massively hurt seeding, though.  Same deal for Arizona St.  In fact, on second look, I'm not so sure they shouldn't be on the bubble...but I don't think they can fall enough spots to miss the tournament.

Colorado is probably OK.  Since the Dinwiddie injury, they've basically shown they're a bubble team.  One marginal loss at Utah...other losses on  the road and excusable, and to Arizona...beat Stanford at Stanford, beat Arizona St...mediocre profile.  However, combining that with a sterling profile pre-injury, they'll be fine.  Just beat USC to be sure.

Stanford.  First off, beat Washington St.  Is a win over Arizona St mandatory?  A loss likely puts them literally on the cutline.  That's the tipping point.

California is on the outside for now, and probably needs to beat Colorado.  If they do that, absorbing a loss to Arizona doesn't hurt.

We'll revisit Utah if they beat Arizona.  I don't see enough there.  Them and Washington are NIT locks.  Based on resume, Oregon St is a bubble NIT team, but as the 10th team in the Pac-12, it's too crowded; they'll have to settle for the CBI.

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