Roundup: Utah looking for resume-boosting win at Oregon
Larry Krystkowiak and the Runnin’ Utes are in Eugene for a Thursday night showdown on ESPN (6:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. MT), and Kyle Goon believes this is Utah’s last chance to boost its NCAA Tournament résumé.
Take some time to read this New York Times feature on Oregon basketball’s Dillon Brooks written by Tal Pinchevsky. With the Utes and Ducks squaring off, there’s a lot of flop talk inside the link, if you know what I mean…
Fifth-ranked Arizona men’s basketball starts its road trip at Washington State Thursday night in Pullman, and here’s the Associated Press write-up on the outlook for the Wildcats, who have a one-game lead over Oregon for first in the Pac-12 standings.
If Arizona is heading out to Pullman, that means Arizona State will be on the other side of Washington, and Jeff Metcalfe writes that the Sun Devils are “wary” of the Washington schools, even if the Huskies and Cougars are a combined 0-9 since last playing Bobby Hurley’s boys.
In a similar vein, Pat Rooney writes that Colorado men’s basketball is not overlooking Oregon State, its Thursday night opponent, despite the Beavers being winless in conference (the Beavs nearly knocked off the Buffs in Boulder last month).
Stanford women’s basketball forward Erica McCall is a finalist for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award. Other Pac-12 nominees are Kelsey Plum and Sydney Wiese on the women’s side and Josh Hawkinson on the men’s side.
Adam Jude reports that Washington wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Bush Hamdan will join the Atlanta Falcons, where he will work as the quarterbacks coach.
No surprise here, really – LaVar Ball, father of UCLA guard Lonzo Ball, said his son will be better than Steph Curry once he gets to the NBA (Henry Bushnell, Yahoo Sports). LaVar has always been one to hype up his kids.
Picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 preseason poll, USC baseball is out to prove the Pac-12 coaches wrong, writes Joey Kaufman for the Los Angeles Daily News. Of course, we saw last year how incorrect the preseason poll was for Pac-12 baseball (picked to finish last, Utah won the league).
Jon Wilner spends this article talking about Cal’s deal with Under Armour and how the Golden Bears aren’t concerned about the company’s bad credit rating and the recent Donald Trump controversy.
Read this Slam Magazine feature of Klay Thompson, whose numbers with the Golden State Warriors haven’t dipped at all despite the addition of Kevin Durant to the lineup. Credit to Peter Walsh on the piece.
Chantel Jennings believes that junior college transfer quarterback Jake Luton can be an instant-impact recruit for Oregon State football. The Beavs had all sorts of quarterback issues last season.