Roundup: High drama in Tempe

Quite the thriller in Tempe on Valentine’s Day with Arizona State outlasting Arizona in double overtime, and Doug Haller has five takeaways from ASU’s win over the Wildcats. As he details in the post, Jermaine Marshall and Jordan Bachynski are pretty good basketball players. #Blockchynski

Now let’s get the Wildcat side of things. It was a foregone conclusion a few weeks into the conference season that Arizona would run away with the Pac-12 regular season title, but now that the Wildcats have just a one-game lead over UCLA, the Pac-12 title is no longer a sure bet for Arizona. And if it’s any consolation, Wildcat supporter, the Pac-12 admitted that there was a missed call on Jahii Carson’s dunk and that he should have been hit with a technical foul for hanging on the rim.

The Ducks toppled the Beavers in the other rivalry game over the holiday weekend, and not only did they beat Oregon State, but the Ducks also beat self-doubt by closing out a tight victory. Oregon was absolutely on fire from deep to start this game, hitting its first seven threes.

On the other side of the coin, the Beavers endured a lesson they felt they didn’t need in the Civil War loss.

After watching Stanford women’s basketball beat Arizona 74-48 on Sunday, Tom Fitzgerald of the SF Chronicle ponders whether or not Chiney Ogwumike is the national player of the year. Baylor’s Odyssey Sims, UConn’s Breanna Stewart and Notre Dame’s Kayla McBride will give her some run for that title.

Kudos to Cal women’s basketball for topping a higher-ranked Arizona State squad Sunday, 74-63. Here’s video of Brittany Boyd on Cal’s big win. Boyd dropped 19 of her 21 points in the second half.

Following Colorado’s 83-74 road win at USC in the books, one could tell that Jaron Hopkins and Xavier Talton are excelling in their new roles. Replacing Hopkins in the starting lineup with Talton has worked out well for both guys. The Buffs are now 8-5 in league play – is Tad Boyle making a run at Pac-12 Coach of the Year considering how well Colorado has stayed afloat without Spencer Dinwiddie?

Steve Alford’s boys beat Utah 80-66 in a game that featured a 12-0 UCLA spurt to open the second frame, and Jack Wang notes that the Bruins are making a habit of second-half runs.

After the 72-59 home loss to Cal, Lorenzo Romar said his team has to be mentally tougher. Opposing teams have been able to string together big runs on the Dawgs in Washington’s recent losses.

In gymnastics news, walk-on senior Hailee Hansen is setting the right attitude for Utah. The fourth-ranked Red Rocks take on No. 10 Stanford at 2 p.m. PT Monday on the Pac-12 Networks.

So a Washington State flag was spotted at the Winter Olympics behind the set of NBC’s Today show in Sochi, but did you really expect anything else?

Former USC quarterback Max Wittek was scheduled to visit Texas over the holiday weekend. According to the AP report, Wittek has also heard from TCU, Louisville, Hawai’i and Virginia Tech. He is graduating in the spring from USC and will have two years of eligibility remaining.