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Pac-12 men's basketball 2015-16 year in review

May 17, 2016
Eric Evans Photography

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Pac-12 men’s basketball’s Centennial campaign was historic in terms of the league’s depth of successful teams. In the end though, OREGON proved dominant as it became the ninth league member to claim the regular season and tournament titles in the same year. After edging UTAH by a game for the outright regular-season crown, the Ducks rolled past the Utes, 88-57, in the most convincing title-game victory in Pac-12 Tournament history. No. 1 seed Oregon carried the banner for a conference-record seven teams to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight en route to a school-record 31 victories.

#PAC12HOOPS 2015-16 HIGHLIGHTS

1 - Conference regular-season and tournament champion OREGON received its first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the 16th all-time for the Pac-12 Conference dating to the start of seeding in 1979.

3 - Pac-12 Conference rank in the final NCAA Conference RPI for both all games (.5705) and non-conference games (.5740), trailing only the Big 12 (.5843; .5866) and Atlantic Coast Conference (.5762; .5742).

4 - Four teams in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, the most for the Conference since 2007. At least three teams finished in the final USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll for the third consecutive season.

5.3 - Average seed of the Pac-12’s record seven NCAA Tournament participants, third-best in the nation in 2016 and best for the Conference since 2007. Each of the seven teams were seeded No. 8 or better, the first time since 2006 that each NCAA team was a single-digit seed.

7 - Record number of Pac-12 programs to earn a berth in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, tied with the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten for the most of any conference.

9 - Pac-12 teams to finish inside the NCAA RPI Top 100, tied for the second-most by any conference in the country behind only the ACC’s 11. Seven Pac-12 teams finished in the RPI Top 75, also tied for second-most nationally, and six ranked in the RPI Top 50, tied for the third-most.

12 - All Pac-12 teams finished with a Strength of Schedule in the Top 100, one of two conferences in the country to have all its teams in the Top 100 (Big 12). Eight Pac-12 teams posted a non-conference SOS in the Top 100, tied with the SEC for the most in the nation.

SCHOOL FINAL RECORD FINAL PAC-12 RECORD FINAL RPI FINAL SOS NC RPI NC SOS NCAA SEED
OREGON 31-7 14-4 4 5 9 8 1
UTAH 27-9 13-5 9 9 15 15 3
CALIFORNIA 23-11 12-6 22 21 63 74 4
ARIZONA 25-9 12-6 28 96 59 237 6
OREGON STATE 19-13 9-9 48 22 43 52 7
COLORADO 22-12 10-8 49 52 57 137 8
USC 21-13 9-9 61 45 47 88 8
WASHINGTON 19-15 9-9 82 46 118 116  
STANFORD 15-15 8-10 87 16 117 71  
ARIZONA STATE 15-17 5-13 109 33 25 23  
UCLA 15-17 6-12 110 31 64 50  
WASHINGTON STATE 9-22 1-17 217 42 131 112  

PAC-12 CHINA GAME: The Pac-12 hosted the first-ever regular season game by a U.S. sports league - collegiate or professional - in China. WASHINGTON defeated Texas, 77-71, in Shanghai in November 2015.

ELITE TRIO: OREGON’s march to the Elite Eight gave the Pac-12 at least one entrant in the round for the third consecutive season, the only conference in the country to accomplish the feat.

ROUGH, TOUGH WEST: The Pac-12 was the toughest conference in the country to win on the road in 2015-16 (31-77, .287). Dating to its expansion to 10 teams in 1978-79, 2015-16 was the toughest road slate in league history. Only six times did a Pac-12 team complete a road sweep in 48 attempts in league play:
UTAH at WSU/WASH
ORE at ARIZ/ASU
ARIZ at WSU/WASH
UTAH at UCLA/USC
CAL at WASH/WSU
ORE at UCLA/USC

NORTHWEST BLOCK PARTY: WASHINGTON set a new Pac-12 record with 224 total blocks in 2015-16, surpassing the previous mark of 211 set by ARIZONA STATE in 2012-13. OREGON would have set a new record as well, but with 221 rejections finished three shy of the Huskies’ mark.

TWO-WAY WATERBOY: OREGON’s Chris Boucher became the only player in Pac-12 Conference history to amass more than 100 blocks (110) and 30 three pointers (39) in a single season. His 110 blocks in 2015-16 were the fifth-most in one season in league history.
Jordan Bachynski, ASU - 133 (2014)
Jordan Bachynski, ASU - 120 (2013)
Mario Bennett, ASU - 115 (1995)
Rodger Farrington, ASU - 113 (1997)
Chris Boucher, ORE - 110 (2016)

HOME STANDS: OREGON and CALIFORNIA became the 30th and 31st teams to post a perfect 9-0 home record in league play under the Conference’s current 18-game schedule. It marked just the fifth time since 1980 that two teams accomplished the feat in the same season (1984, 1989, 1990, 2015, 2016).

EVERY GAME WAS A BATTLE: In the combined 119 league and tournament games of the 2015-16 Pac-12 season:
>> Average scoring margin was 11.3 ppg.
>> 58 were decided by single digits.
>> 20 were decided by one possession (3 pts or less).
>> Nine went to OT, 14 total OT periods.
>> Eight decided by team’s final possession.

RANKED BATTLES: After just a combined five conference contests between ranked foes the previous six seasons, there were seven instances of AP Top 25 ranked Pac-12 teams facing off in 2015-16, the most for the conference since 10 in 2007-08.

RECORD SETTERS: One single season record and seven tournament records were tied or broken in 2015-16.

PAC-12 GAME, SEASON, CAREER RECORDS SET IN 2015-16
MOST FREE THROWS
Season: 273, Andrew Andrews, WASH, 2016

PAC-12 TOURNAMENT RECORDS SET IN 2016
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE

Tournament (min 15 made): .833 Ivan Rabb, California, 2016 (15-of-18, 2 games)

THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
Game: 16 Gabe York, Arizona vs. Oregon, Mar. 11, 2016 (7-of-16)

FREE THROWS
Most, Both Teams, Game: 53 ARIZ (32) vs. COLO (21), Mar. 10, 2016; WASH (29) vs. ASU (24), Mar. 10, 2005

STEALS
Most, Tournament: 31 ORE, 2016 (3 games); COLO, 2012 (4 games)

BLOCKED SHOTS
Most, Game: 11 ORE vs. ARIZ, Mar. 11, 2016; ARIZ vs. COLO, Mar. 10, 2016
Most, Both Teams, Game: 16 ARIZ (11) vs. COLO (5), Mar. 10, 2016
Most, Tournament (min 3 games): 19 ORE, 2016; ARIZ, 1989 (3 games)

PAC-12 NETWORKS ALL-ACCESS EXTENDED FEATURES
ARIZONA
ARIZONA STATE
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
OREGON
OREGON STATE
STANFORD
UCLA
USC
UTAH
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON STATE