Roundup: Conference play kicks off in a big way with UCLA-Oregon

Conference play is under way on the Pac-12 basketball scene, and it starts off with a bang on the men’s side with undefeated UCLA visiting preseason conference favorite Oregon Wednesday night. Tyson Alger has a look at the UCLA-Oregon game from a Duck perspective.

Is UCLA men’s basketball ready for the Pac-12 season? That’s the question posed by Clay Fowler of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. This Oregon game will tell us a little something about the Bru Cru.

On the women’s side, Washington women’s basketball demolished Washington State 94-63 Tuesday night in Seattle (Pac-12 Networks highlights). The ninth-ranked Dawgs got 64 points combined from Chantel Osahor, Kelsey Plum and Natalie Romeo. Plum throws an absolute dime in this highlight package.

Kyle Bonagura gives us the recap of Washington State’s 17-12 loss to Minnesota in the Holiday Bowl. Well if it wasn’t for the first two and last three games of the season, Washington State would have been undefeated.

Utah plays Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl Wednesday, and Kyle Goon reports that Utah receiver Cory Butler-Byrd will miss the bowl game with an injury.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports thinks USC is one of 10 teams in the country that needs a résumé-boosting victory in conference play to help their NCAA seeding despite being undefeated. Oregon and Arizona also get a nod here.

Arizona women’s basketball defeated Portland State 75-52 to wrap up non-conference play with a 9-2 record. Shouts go out to Lauren Evans for dropping in a career-high 13 points on 6-6 shooting off the bench.

Building The Dam provides us with an Oregon State-USC men’s basketball game preview by scouting the undefeated Trojans. Hopefully the start of conference play brings about better fortunes for the Beavs.

GoStanford.com’s Mark Soltau gives us this feature on Stanford wide receivers Michael Rector and Francis Owusu ahead of Friday’s Sun Bowl in El Paso against North Carolina.

Brian Howell whips up this Oklahoma State-Colorado Alamo Bowl scouting report for our reading pleasure.

In the eyes of Arizona State swimming coach Bob Bowman, Cameron Craig could become the best swimmer in Arizona State history, writes Craig Morgan of theSunDevils.com.

The California Golden Blogs staff discuss what was the best moment of the 2016 Cal football season.