Friday afternoon odds and ends.

It's gameday here at the Special Events Center. And fans throughout the region are gearing up for a big weekend of Pac-12 action. Here are a few links to get you up to speed on things:

• A lot of coverage from ESPN.com's Pac-12 blog today. First, it picks Arizona to defeat Marshall Henderson and the Ole Miss Rebels in the Diamondhead Classic. It also lists Jahii Carson and Shabazz Muhammad among the nation's best freshmen.

• The PacHoops.com blog has awarded Utah the distinction of being the Pac-12's Most Improved team. It's the first of many Pac-12 basketball awards for the Utes, I hope.

• It was a great game that ended in a bad loss for the Ducks. UTEP's defensive scheme changes kept the Ducks off balance all night.

• The biggest loser of the whole NCAA investigation of Shabazz Muhammad: the NCAA investigator. What a mess.

• USC hasn't had a lot of wins this year. But they haven't had any bad losses either. Until now. And J.T. Terrill is MIA.

• Jon Wilner recaps the Pac-12's non-conference season so far and explains why RPI is so important at this point in the year.

• Some people remain hopeful the Pac-12 can get more tournament bids this year (note, this article was posted before the Oregon loss to UTEP on Tuesday). Meanwhile, Colorado's Xavier Johnson is trying to keep up his aggression but cut back on the fouls.

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Halftime ceremony planned for the game tonight. From utahutes.com:

Halftime Ceremony. The Utah athletic department will be honoring the 1944 team at halftime as part of the NCAA's 75th Anniversary of March Madness. Artist Opie Otterstad will unveil a painting of Head Coach Vadal Peterson to the team after a video commemorating their accomplishments.