Unheralded Players to Watch in the Pac-12 Tournament

Players brought out their phones to get pictures at the T-Mobile Arena, which opened last April, as they walked into the arena before Wednesday’s shootaround.

It’s exactly how the Ducks wanted it.

The UCLA Bruins are ranked number three overall in the national polls going into the Pac-12 tournament.

The No. 8 Sun Devils won 98-88 over Stanford on Wednesday to advance to face No. 1 OR in the quarterfinals at noon Thursday.

USC, which had beaten UCLA four consecutive times before losing by 32 at Pauley Pavilion on February 18, could practically ensure its inclusion in the NCAA tournament with a win over the Bruins in the quarterfinals.

But it may have come with a cost. So, all three have something major to play for.

“The more we win the better for us, so let’s look at it that way”, Arizona coach Sean Miller said Monday from Tucson as the second-seeded Wildcats (27-4) who are ranked No. 7 in the nation, prepared for their Thursday quarterfinal game against the victor of Wednesday’s game between No. 7 Colorado and No. 10 Washington State. The Ducks’ strength has been the balance that the team has. Fultz won’t be playing in the tournament (knee) and they just don’t take care of the ball well enough to be competitive without him. “We just haven’t been able to put them together for 40 minutes”.

Most recently, the Ducks looked like they were back to their dominant ways.

The Wildcats (27-4) shared the Pac-12 regular-season title with OR (27-4) at 16-2, with the Bruins (28-3) a game behind at 15-3. He is the second OR player in the last three years to take home the honor.

The Cardinal (28-5) won their 12th tournament title, the most in conference history, and took the Pac-12’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Ducks are already in and, on paper, this week is exclusively about future seeding.

The Beavers head to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament with an opportunity to show that they’ve made progress their head coach has given them credit for in recent weeks.

Tinkle said the tournament experience for his young team is a plus.

“The season moves faster when you win 27 games out of 31”, Miller said. After being outscored 18-7 over the final 9:25, it appeared that losing streak would continue as the game headed to an extra period. They are one of the best shooting teams in the conference, and if they can get hot they can hang with UCLA.

“I’ve done that before”, Altman said.

“Pretty big arena and bigger crowds, so I like that”, said OR junior Dillon Brooks, who watched on television when the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-107 at T-Mobile on October 15.

It has great teams at the top. “We will be ready for both, whatever comes our way”. “But I’m proud of the guys for their continued effort and their focus to get better”. Of ASU’s 98 points scored on Wednesday, 96 of them came from their starters.

Any concern that the Wildcats would struggle without star guard Allonzo Trier in the lineup was forgotten when Allen went coast-to-coast for the game-winning shot against Michigan State on the opening day of the college hoops season.

Oregon – Won conference outright, victories over UCLA and Arizona, no good road victories (best is @ Cal), worst loss of three (@ Colorado).