Monday, December 30, 2013

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

As I see it, this is how the conference stands as we head into league play this week. From here on out, the only rankings that matter are the conference standings ...

1Arizona (13-0) | Last week: #1: ... still, it will be interesting to see how long Arizona can remain on top of the national polls.
T2Colorado (11-2) | Last week: T-#2: Last year at this time, the Buffaloes were still hurting from a blowout loss to Kansas. This year, things seem much more optimistic.
T2Oregon (12-0) | Last week: T-#2: If the Ducks can survive the "ski trip" through Salt Lake and Boulder this week, it'll be the most impressive thing they've done all year.
4Arizona State (11-2) | Last week: #4: The Sun Devils have become a different team since Shaquielle McKissic hit his stride.
5UCLA (11-2) | Last week: #5: It remains to be seen whether Steve Alford was the right hire. But his son Bryce is fitting in quite well already (6.8ppg, leads league in asst./to ratio).
6Stanford (9-3) | Last week: #6: The loss of Aaron Bright will test the Cardinal depth.
7Utah (11-1) | Last week: #7: Despite the weak schedule, Ute fans have to be very pleased with the 11-1 record. But we'll know a lot more a week from now.
8Cal (9-4) | Last week: #8: Richard Solomon averages a double-double (11.3ppg/10.3rpg).
9Southern Cal (9-4) | Last week: #10: The Trojans have UCLA on upset alert this week. I imagine a Trojan win might stir things up a bit in LA.
10Oregon State (8-4) | Last week: #9: Unimpressive showing in Hawaii.
11Washington (8-5) | Last week: #11: Continue to struggle against mediocre competition. But we're beginning to see what that lineup of Wilcox, Blackwell, Anderson, Andrews and Williams-Goss may be capable of one day.
12Washington State (7-5) | Last week: #12: The Cougars lead the conference in 3PT attempts (307), but have the second-worst 3PT shooting percentage (.316).

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Week 9 TV Schedule

It's finally here, my friends.

DateTime
MST
GameChannelComcast
Salt Lake
Dish
Jan. 2nd6:00Oregon at UtahPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Jan. 2nd6:00Washington at Arizona StateESPNU755 (HD)141
Jan. 2nd7:00California at StanfordFoxSports1691 (HD)150
Jan. 2nd8:00Washington State at ArizonaPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Jan. 2nd8:00Oregon State at ColoradoESPNU755 (HD)141
Jan. 4th12:00Washington at ArizonaPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Jan. 4th2:00Oregon State at UtahPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Jan. 5th1:00USC at UCLAFoxSports1691 (HD)150
Jan. 5th3:00Oregon at ColoradoFoxSports1691 (HD)150
Jan. 5th4:00Washington State at Arizona StateESPNU755 (HD)141

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Which Would Be The Greater Miracle?


Which would be the greater miracle?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

Friday, December 27, 2013

Friday Links

Working hard through the holidays to keep you informed and ready for conference play next week (yipee!)

 Arizona State is on the rise as the preseason winds down. Lots of respect for Utah right now too.

 Jahii Carson is one of the best guards in the country (plus power rankings, league leaders and dunk stats).

 Washington State's newcomers: Ike Iroegbu, Que Johnson and Jordan Railey, have made an impact this season.

 A scouting report on the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils, who play at Washington and Washington State this weekend.


 Kaleb Tarczewski is expected to be back in the lineup when conference play begins. On that same subject, be sure to cast your vote on pachoop's poll this week.

 The Wildcats are focused on staying on top and getting "a lot" better.

 Preview of tonight's San Diego State-St. Katherine game, including more background on the Firebirds' incredible story (55 3PT attempts against Hawaii-Pacific?!?  Plus, I love the bit at the end about washing the away jerseys).

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Ohio State Game

I don't remember any game being as highly anticipated as the time we hosted #2 Ohio State in the Nielsen Fieldhouse. The place filled up so quickly that by the time the marching band arrived to take its place, there was no room left. Somehow they managed to squeeze themselves into the student section. The crowd, officially announced at 5,910, exceeded capacity.

They all came to see the great Jerry Lucas. He was a sophomore then, I believe, and the Buckeyes were simply unstoppable with him in the middle. I don't think he'd lost a game since he was in High School.

Now we weren't exactly chopped liver; we happened to be a top-10 team as well. And we were excited about a sophomore of our own who cracked the starting lineup a week earlier -- Billy McGill.

So the stage was set. The crowd ... the noise ... the atmosphere ... before we knew it, we were fifteen minutes into the game and we held a 40-26 lead. But then the jitters were over and both teams got down to business. I almost didn't think we should try to run with the Bucks; but we decided to try -- and am I glad we did! Lucas and McGill battled back and forth all night and neither one could clearly outplay the other. Lucas finished the game with 32p/17r; McGill finished with 31p/17r.

Billy McGill (12) shoots his patented hook shot;
Jerry Lucas (11) can only watch in awe.
Our 14-point lead didn't last long. Ohio State went on a 20-6 run to cut our lead to two and set the stage for an intense second half. We managed to maintain our lead, but could never get it back to a comfortable margin. In addition to Lucas, the Buckeyes had a guard named Larry Siegfried who couldn't seem to miss a shot and who finished with a couple dozen points. Thank goodness for Gary Chestang and Allen Holmes who made major contributions for our side! Chestang had 22 points; Sweet Al finished with 21.

In the end, we played better than we thought possible. We had to in order to beat the Buckeyes that night. The final score was Utah 97, Ohio State 92. The 189 total points set a Fieldhouse record. Suffice to say, the crowd was rewarded with an amazing performance from both teams and a landmark win, which not only set the tone for the 1959-60 season -- but introduced the great Billy McGill to the world.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Utah vs. St. Katherine College

This is a fascinating story.

So someone establishes a tiny bible college in San Diego. After three years, enrollment is barely over 100 students. But they want an athletics program. So they find a guy named Scott Mitchell to start up a basketball team.

Mitchell had played some level of professional basketball internationally. But what makes him particularly qualified for this job is he spent the last several years in sales and marketing at yp.com. He buys into the school's vision and takes the job.

St. Katherine College is located at a business park in Encinitas. Since it doesn't have a gym, Coach Mitchell arranged for the school's home games to be played in a local high school. Practices are held after-hours at a Boys & Girls Club ("after-hours" meaning between 10:00p and 1:00a).

Next, Coach Mitchell has to fill out a roster. He finds several kids who have always dreamed of playing college basketball. Then one day he meets a 34-year old man who also dreamed of playing college hoops, but never did. Since the man was technically eligible, Coach Mitchell signed him up. You read that right: St. Katherine's basketball team has a 34-year old freshman player.

And then there's the issue of funding a college basketball program. So Coach Mitchell finds a bunch of Division I and II teams to play. This gives his players an exciting opportunity to play under the lights of major college basketball arenas. It also brings in a paycheck to help pay the bills.

...which brings us to the Utah-St. Katherine game this Saturday at the Huntsman Center:

The St. Katherine Firebirds are led by Dante Miller (12.4ppg/4.2rpg) and Wade Shugrue (13.8ppg). Freshman Dale Austin is their 6'8"/250# big man who averages 12p/8.7r per game. Did I mention Austin is 34-years old?

The Firebirds have already played two D-I schools -- both from Utah: Utah Valley and Weber State. The Wolverines beat 'em, 89-37; and the Wildcats beat 'em, 107-36. This Friday, before they make the trip up to Salt Lake, they'll play San Diego State at Viejas Arena. Kudos to the Firebirds for running this gauntlet. I hope it eventually pays off for them.

But as for the game Saturday, the only question I have is this: Will Utah's margin of victory be greater than or less than St. Katherine's total enrollment (102)?

Monday, December 23, 2013

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

1Arizona (12-0) | Last week: #1: McConnell, Johnson, Gordon, Ashley and Tarczewski. With Hollis-Jefferson and York contributing off the bench. That's a damn good lineup.
T2Oregon (11-0) | Last week: #2: Oregon didn't look so great in home win against BYU. We should see a good one in Boulder on January 5th.
T2Colorado (10-2) | Last week: #3: Colorado looked pretty good in neutral site loss to Oklahoma State. Like I said, we should see a good one in Boulder on January 5th.
4Arizona State (10-2) | Last week: #5: I don't see these guys losing again until mid-January.
5UCLA (10-2) | Last week: #4: The Bruins have just two losses but their best win was against UC Santa Barbara. In this case, there's a huge difference between 10-2 and 11-1.
6Stanford (8-3) | Last week: T-#7: It was a very impressive week for Stanford: big upset win on the road at UConn and narrow defeat against Michigan in Brooklyn. Let's see if they can keep it going into Pac-12 play.
7Utah (10-1) | Last week: #6: Holding fairly steady after sluggish performance against Texas State.
8Cal (8-4) | Last week: T-#7: Cal's non-conference season has gone much like it did last year (8-4). But maybe that's a good thing--considering Cal ended up in the dance last season.
9Oregon State (6-3) | Last week: T-#7: Roberto Nelson and Devon Collier can put up a lot of points. But what will become of the Beavers if Angus Brandt is out for any extended period of time?
10Southern Cal (8-4) | Last week: 10: Two close games this week. Exciting ending against Dayton -- but it didn't make up for the loss to Long Beach State.
11Washington (6-5) | Last week: #12: Looked really good for a while against Connecticut. But that was before UConn's 21-4 run left them behind for good.
12Washington State (6-5) | Last week: #11: The Cougars just don't seem to be progressing from week to week.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Week 8 TV Schedule

UPDATED: 12/23 at 11:30p
DateTime
MST
GameChannelComcast
Salt Lake
Dish
Dec. 23rd12:00Oregon State vs. George MasonESPNU755 (HD)141
Dec. 23rd8:00Northern Arizona at ArizonaPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 25th2:00Oregon State at HawaiiESPNU755 (HD)141
Dec. 27th8:30Mississippi Valley at WashingtonPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 28th12:00UC Irvine at Arizona StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 28th2:00St. Katherine at UtahPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 28th4:00Furman at CaliforniaPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 28th6:00Mississippi Valley at Washington StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 28th8:00Alabama at UCLAESPN2669 (HD)144
Dec. 28th8:00Georgia at ColoradoPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 29th1:00Morgan State at OregonPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 29th3:00Howard at USCPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 29th5:00Cal Poly at StanfordPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 29th7:00Hartford at WashingtonPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 29th9:00Quinnipiac at Oregon StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413

Friday, December 20, 2013

Friday Links

Things are really heating up across the Pac-12, just in time for conference play. Man, it's gonna be good.

 Brandan Kearney, the Michigan State guard who transferred to Arizona State a year ago, could make his Sun Devil debut this weekend. 

 I was surprised how Stanford shut down UConn so completely in the second half on Wednesday. But in hindsight I wonder: should I've been?

 Another second-half let down for UCLA, but this time you have to credit Jabari Parker.

 Some say Aaron Gordon will win the Wooden award. Others say he needs another year. Maybe they're both right. 

 Roberto Nelson shows some fight; OSU shows they can win with him ejected.

 Arizona's McKale Center is getting a facelift.

 Kyle Anderson may be looking to go pro after this season.

 St. Katherine College played up in Ogden this week. Weber State finished with its biggest margin of victory in school history -- 71 points.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Tom Gola and No. 1 La Salle

The 1954-55 season was my second year at Utah. We posted a 24-4, 13-1 record and won the Skyline title behind a trio of "B's": Art Bunte, Gary Bergen and Morris Buckwalter. We also earned a bid to a postseason tournament for the first time in five years.

But the highlight of the season was not playing in the tournament nor winning the conference. No, the highlight was traveling to New York City to face the La Salle Explorers in the Madison Square Garden.

La Salle's Tom Gola
La Salle was an incredible team. They were the defending National Champions and were ranked Number 1 in the country at the time. Their top player was Tom Gola, one of the greatest players in college basketball history. Gola was the reigning national player of the year and was in the midst of his fourth All-American season. Thinking back now, I'm surprised Utah was only an eight-point underdog.

I assigned Bergen to defend Gola. Unfortunately, Bergen picked up three quick fouls and I had to sit him out. Gola kept driving the ball straight up the middle and there wasn't much we could do about it. He had 17 points by halftime. Somehow we only trailed by three at the half, 41-38.

We changed our defense at halftime in order to draw some fouls from Gola's charging. He was called with two quick charging fouls and soon stopped driving down the middle. Gola only got one basket in the last half and this was the main reason we were able to build up a substantial lead. We went on a 14-0 run in a six-minute span and led 58-47 with twelve minutes remaining.

At that point we slowed things down and coasted to a 79-69 victory. Tom Gola fouled out with two minutes left, but not before he earned nineteen points and thirty-three rebounds! 

Bergen, Buckwalter and Bunte
Our Art Bunte was the star with 23 points on the night. But I was more impressed with Morris Buckwalter, who seemed to nail shots at the most crucial times and finished with 20 points. I was also very pleased with DeLyle Condie, who played admirable defense on Tom Gola in Bergen's absence.

The win lifted us to a #2 national ranking; we would finish the season at #7. La Salle, meanwhile, got back on track and returned to the national championship game, where they fell to Bill Russell and the San Francisco Dons.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Utah vs. Texas State

This week Utah faces the Texas State Bobcats.

First off, let me just say how excited I am about getting back into the Huntsman Center to watch another game. After last Saturday, I just can't wait to see our boys take the floor and find out if we can get that place rockin' again. I realize Texas State won't attract the same attention the BYU game had last week. But still . . . I can't help but think our fans are starting to come around. In any case, Thursday night should be a lot of fun.

As for Texas State:

The Bobcats were picked to finish 8th out of 10 teams in the Sun Belt preseason poll. So far, they're off to a 3-7 start with losses at Texas, at Houston, at Oral Robert and at SMU. Their best win was an 18-point victory against Tulane.

Keep a close eye on senior forward Joel Wright. He leads the team with 14.8ppg and 6.3rpg. He did some nice things in a losing cause against Texas last week (19p/13r/3s). So this kid clearly knows what he's doing.

We beat these guys last year down at their place (San Marcos, TX), 74-69. Wright came off the bench and had 17p/11r in just 25 minutes. The Bobcats hit a couple three-pointers in the final 12-seconds to make the score look closer than it really was.

This year the Bobcats have a new head coach named Danny Kaspar. His last job was at Stephen F. Austin, where he took a team similar to Texas State and made them into a consistent winner. You may recall his Lumberjacks nearly beat Stanford in the opening round of the NIT last year (Stanford 58, SFA 57 at Maples Pavilion). His style is to play pressure defense; man-to-man and not a lot of zone.

I expect he'll have the same success for Texas State . . . just not this week.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

1Arizona (11-0) | Last week: #1: These guys are simply killing it right now.
2Oregon (9-0) | Last week: #2: Another week and another solid win. Big second half outbursts remain the theme for the season.
3Colorado (10-1) | Last week: #3: Still savoring the epic finish against Kansas. Can they do it again against Okie St.?
4UCLA (9-1) | Last week: #4: The let down against Missouri is in the past. The Bruins have a chance to redeem themselves against Duke.
5Arizona State (9-2) | Last week: #5: Now Shaquielle McKissic has started to make an impact and looks to become the latest tool in Herb Sendek's arsenal.
6Utah (9-1) | Last week: T-#6: Thumping a quality team like BYU helps legitimize the 9-1 record.
T7Cal (8-3) | Last week: T-#6: Took care of business against a couple average MWC teams. Next comes a big test against Creighton. Last year, Doug McDermott had 34p/9r against Cal; Cobbs and Solomon will have their hands full again this year.
T7Oregon State (5-2) | Last week: T-#6: Roberto Nelson and Devon Collier are a lot of fun to watch. They'll get a chance to avenge last year's loss to Towson; and then it's off to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic.
T7Stanford (7-2) | Last week: T-#6: Came back from finals and didn't skip a beat against UC Davis. We'll see if they're ready for UConn and Michigan.
10Southern Cal (7-3) | Last week: T-#6: Edged Bakersfield. 
11Washington State (5-4) | Last week: #11: Actually won a game in the paint (against Pepperdine).
12Washington (5-4) | Last week: #12: I expected the Huskies to struggle against the same Idaho State team that gave Utah fits last week. But C.J. Wilcox and co. took care of business nicely.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Utes Dominate Cougars

Despite shooting only 41%, Utah shut down BYU's fast break attack and held BYU 25 points below its per game average to beat the Cougars. I thought Utah could win this game. I didn't expect the Utes to dominate the Cougars. But dominate Utah did.

On offense, Jordan Loveridge immediately and aggressively attacked BYU's defense. He did it within the flow of the offense. Jordan's aggressive play got the Utes going and put BYU on its heels. By the time Jordan cooled off a bit, Utah had a big lead and took BYU out of its game plan. When BYU tried to zone, Utah attacked baseline and got several open shots from the corners and wings. Utah has struggled against the zone in recent games. But Utah shot well enough against the zone to force BYU back into man-to-man where Utah could exploit the Y with its superior athleticism and depth.

Utah proved to be deeper than the Y. Utah got a nice contribution from its bench. When Renan Lenz left the game early with foul trouble, Bachynski and Olsen came in and neutralized BYU's big men. Onwas and Van Dyke also gave the Utes important minutes off the bench to keep the Cougars at bay.

Utah's transition defense and half court defense was outstanding. BYU only scored a handful of points in transition, only had 10 assists and shot a frigid 33%. BYU is a good team, but the Utes completely took the Cougars off their game. It was an excellent defensive performance.

And finally, I cannot emphasize enough the amazing atmosphere at the Huntsman Center. The student section was almost full an hour before the game. The crowd was pumped and the Cougars played scared. The Utes fed off the crowd and punched BYU in the face from the get go. BYU had no response. Will the crowd show up when it matters in January and February?

While this was an important game for the Utes -- a statement game in many respects -- this game is not nearly as important as the conference games coming up. The conference opener against Oregon is shaping up to be a key conference match up for the Utes. If the Utes can get by its next two opponents and the Oregon teams on the opening weekend of Pac 12 play, it can get some momentum and make some noise in conference play. If the fans show up in January and February the way they did last night, the Huntsman Center will be a very difficult place to play.

Week 7 TV Schedule

DateTime
MST
GameChannelComcast
Salt Lake
Dish
Dec. 17th6:00Washington at Tulane


Dec. 17th8:30UC Irvine at OregonPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 18th7:00Stanford at ConnecticutESPN2669 (HD)144
Dec. 18th8:00San Francisco St. at Washington St.Pac-12 WA
5454
Dec. 18th8:00Towson at Oregon StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 19th5:30UCLA vs. DukeESPN668 (HD)140
Dec. 19th7:00Southern at ArizonaPac-12 Net410 (SD)413
Dec. 19th7:00Texas State at UtahPac-12 MT757 (HD)5454
Dec. 19th8:30USC at Long Beach StateFCS-Pac.264 (SD)436
Dec. 21st4:30Texas Tech at Arizona StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 21st6:00Stanford vs. MichiganFoxSports1691 (HD)150
Dec. 21st6:30UTEP at Washington StatePac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 21st8:30BYU at OregonPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 21st9:30Colorado vs. Oklahoma StateESPN2669 (HD)144
Dec. 22nd12:00USC at Dayton


Dec. 22nd1:30Connecticut at WashingtonESPNU755 (HD)141
Dec. 22nd5:00California at CreightonFoxSports1691 (HD)150
Dec. 22nd5:00Weber State at UCLAPac-12 Net757 (HD)413
Dec. 22nd5:30Oregon State vs. AkronESPNU755 (HD)141

Friday, December 13, 2013

McGill Drops 60 on the Y.

I often wonder what could have been for the 1961-62 season. We were coming off a Final Four appearance the year before and the great Billy McGill was coming back for his senior year. We were clearly poised for another deep tournament run.

Twenty-four games into the season we stood at 12-2. Billy McGill was scoring 30 points on a regular basis and we had some outstanding wins against UCLA, West Virginia, Cal and Arizona State. But then we got the devastating news: the NCAA had imposed a one-year post-season ban on us.

Its reasons were absolutely ridiculous. The NCAA found a former Utah football player had earned $26.30 more from his employment than NCAA rules allowed. It also found a former basketball player had failed to pay back a personal loan he received from a private lender -- I still can't figure how that was an NCAA rules violation. In short, the post-season ban was a complete joke. I can only speculate as to why we were singled out.

So that's where we stood in mid-January 1962. Of course, we played on and won eight of our next nine games. But there would not be another tournament run. This fact would have ruined other teams, but I'm proud to say we didn't let it affect our play. Which brings me to that historic night of February 24, 1962.

We traveled to Provo to play BYU in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars threw everything they had at us that night. Bob Skousen and Bruce Burton led the Cougars with 27 points a-piece. The outcome was in doubt all the way until the final whistle.

But Billy McGill played like a man possessed. He outscored Skousen and Burton -- combined. He had 35 points by halftime, shot 71% on the night and pulled down eleven rebounds to boot. No matter what BYU tried to do, they simply could not stop him. So they tried to outscore him -- which they very nearly did. But when the dust had settled, we were the victor's behind McGill's sixty points!

The single-game scoring record stands to this day in the Utah record books. Amazingly, McGill put up 50 points against Wyoming a week later. We finished the season ranked #7 in the nation with a 23-3, 13-1 record, a 34-game home win streak and the Skyline championship. McGill scored 1,009 points that year (38.8ppg) and led the team with 15.0rpg. There would be no post-season play for our boys, but we hoisted McGill's jersey into the rafters as soon as we possibly could when the season ended.

But, oh, to think of what could have been!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Pocatello and Provo

Utah now faces a three-game stretch of feline-themed opponents.

Idaho State: Up first are the Bengals of Idaho State tonight at the Special Events Center. They are off to a decent start (3-2), which includes a solid overtime win against San Francisco. We also share a common opponent: Evergreen State. The Bengals defeated the Geoducks by 37 points the night after we beat 'em by 84 points.

Idaho State is led by its big three of Chris Hansen (16.0ppg/4.2rpg), Tomas Sanchez (15.6ppg/4.6apg) and Andre Hatchett (13.4ppg/7.6rpg). They're coached by long-time Southern Utah head man, Bill Evans.

We played these guys last year in a pretty sloppy affair. We shot poorly and couldn't seem to stop Melvin Morgan, who finished with 15p/6r/3a. Sanchez also had a good game with 6p/10r and Hansen added 9p/3s. We trailed by seven at halftime and by as many as nine early in the second half. But Dallin Bachynski saved our butts; he came through big time with 22p/16r and we won handily in the end, 57-46. We haven't forgotten he's capable of dominating like this. Maybe we'll see him do it again tonight!

Rebounding has been a key point of emphasis this season for the Bengals, and they'll be looking to assert themselves in that area against Utah.  They were picked to finish last in the Big Sky this season. Personally, I think they're more of a middle-of-the-pack squad. We'll see.

BYU: The Cougars represent Utah's last chance to earn a quality win before conference play starts. They've got a few quality wins themselves (at Stanford and vs. Texas), but they've lost to each of the three ranked teams they've faced so far. Marty Haws' boy leads the team with 23.8ppg.

It took BYU everything they had to beat the Utes last year in Provo. Granted, BYU appears to be playing much better than they were last year -- but so are we. And this year we get them in Salt Lake.

Monday, December 09, 2013

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings


1 Arizona (9-0) | Last week: #1: The number one team in the nation. And they got there with two more solid wins last week. Up next comes New Mexico State and their 7'5" Center; then they take their show on the road to Ann Arbor.
2 Oregon (8-0) | Last week: #3: Withstood everything Ole Miss and Marshall Henderson could throw at them. It took overtime, which somehow makes the win look even more impressive.
3 Colorado (9-1) | Last week: #7: Impressive road win against rival Colorado State. And then they blew the lid off the Coors Events Center with a colossal win against Kansas. Daresay it was their biggest win since defeating UNLV in the tourney two years ago.
4 UCLA (8-1) | Last week: #2: Looked good enough to break Missou's 24-game home win streak (NCAA best) in the first half. But simply couldn't keep up in the second half.
5 Arizona State (8-2) | Last week: #4: Nice win on the road against the Big East. Nice to get some payback for last year's loss too.
T6 Cal (6-3) | Last week: #5: Kudos to Cal for agreeing to face UC Santa Barbara on the road. But it still goes down as a bad loss.
T6 Utah (7-1) | Last week: #6: Beating Boise would have been Utah's first quality win; at least it shouldn't be considered a bad loss.
T6 Oregon State (3-2) | Last week: #8: Ended up taking the week off. The Beavers have played the fewest games of anyone in the conference, by far.
T6 Stanford (6-2) | Last week: #9: Took the week off too.
T6 Southern Cal (6-3) | Last week: #10: Boston College is not the class of the ACC by any means, but it was still a solid win to the Trojans.
11 Washington State (4-4) | Last week: #11: Eeked out a close win against Glen Dean and the Idaho Vandals.
12 Washington (4-4) | Last week: #12: The Huskies actually looked pretty good at times against the Aztecs.