Pac-12 Tournament Day One Review

Published: 8^th Mar 12 10:02 am

by David LaRose
University of Colorado Writer

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Courtesy- David LaRose

Day one of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament is in the books and this is what I took away from it while covering the event from the Staples Center:

1) Stanford looked like the most complete team on day one. Granted, they played lowly Arizona State but they got out to a 20 point halftime lead and sustained it throughout the second half to shut the door on any comeback chances that ASU might have had. Cardinal guard Chasson Randle practically outscored the Sun Devils himself in the first half putting up 27 points on 6-8 from the field, 5-6 from beyond the arc, and 10-12 on free throws. Coming into the tournament I said that Stanford was pretty much the only team that I was really afraid of and this backs up my thought. They now move on to face their arch rival Cal in the second round just days after beating them in Palo Alto so this will be the game to watch tomorrow.

2) Six Pac-12 teams now have 20 wins on the season. The thought around the college basketball nation is that the Pac-12 is a weak major conference and there aren’t any quality teams. However, besides the Big East and the Big Ten, the Pac-12 is the only other conference with six teams that have 20+ victories. You can say that those most of those wins have come from beating up on each other in conference play but a win is a win and six teams is an impressive number no matter what conference it is. There hasn’t been a ranked team from the Pac-12 since November and that’s put a damper on the view of the conference around the country. With that said, they probably will get three teams in the tournament at most but it’s still a quality major conference that deserves some recognition for it’s achievements, after all it’s still called the “Conference of Champions”.

3) Not that many people in LA are interested in Pac-12 basketball. Even when the two “home” teams were playing each other (as the picture above shows) there was a small turnout. Larry Scott is aware of this and plans to do something about it next season in order to revitalize interest in the event. Walking around outside the Staples Center today was like walking through a ghost town, a sunny, warm one at that. There weren’t a lot of fans in the LA Live area or the ESPN Zone, both of which are right across the street from Staples, and it was pretty bare inside throughout the concourses as well. I know that it’s the middle of the day on a Wednesday and it’s mostly lower seeds playing but to not even average over 6,000 fans each game is sad.

With all of the high seeds advancing, it sets up quality match-ups across the rest of the bracket. Day 2 will be one of the most entertaining days of the tournament in my mind due to the number of teams still competing for that Pac-12 title. Here’s what the schedule looks like for Day 2:

Game 1: #1 Washington vs. #9 Oregon State 12 noon PT

Game 2: #4 Arizona vs. #5 UCLA 2:30 p.m. PT

Game 3: #2 Cal vs. #7 Stanford 6 p.m. PT

Game 4: #3 Oregon vs. #6 Colorado 8:30 p.m. PT

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