Roundup: Perfect Thursday for the Pac
The Pac-12 is perfect after one day of the NCAA tournament, but it didn’t look like that would be the case when the Bruins were down nine points with 4:30 remaining in the second half and down seven with 1:25 to go against SMU. Luckily, Bryce Alford saved the day and UCLA edged SMU in thanks to a controversial goaltending call on an Alford three-pointer to give the Bruins a one-point lead in the final seconds (UCLA won 60-59). How 'bout the day for Alford – nine threes. #Splash
Second-seeded Arizona was dominant in its 93-72 victory over Texas Southern, but the Wildcats feel they “have to be better” going forward. The ‘Cats have a date with THE Ohio State University on Saturday (2:15 p.m. PT/3:15 p.m. MT, CBS).
Utah held off Stephen F. Austin 57-50 in a defensive struggle Thursday night, and Jakob Poeltl played big for the Runnin’ Utes with 18 points, eight boards and five blocks. He even went 4-for-7 at the stripe.
Now it’s time for Oregon to do work against Oklahoma State (3:50 p.m. PT Friday, TBS), and The Oregonian’s Ken Goe states his case for Oregon making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. Why not, right? Upsets always happen in March.
The Golden Bears are getting ready to play their biggest game of the season (4:30 p.m. PT vs. Wichita State on ESPN2 Friday afternoon), but Cal women’s basketball is staying loose with the “Hoop-Phi-Hoop” dance. Also, Cal swimmer Missy Franklin won the NCAA 200 individual medley title at the 2015 NCAA swimming & civing championships Thursday, and that’s a link to her talking about it.
Oregon State women's hoops opens up with 14th-seeded South Dakota State (2 p.m., ESPN2) at home in its NCAA tournament opener. Gina Mizell gives us an intriguing story about how Scott Rueck’s roots are paying dividends for the Beavers.
Despite the 86-80 loss this morning to Miami (FL), Washington women’s basketball is on the rise back to where it used to be as a program, writes Jayda Evans.
Speaking at spring practice Thursday, Arizona State football coach Todd Graham said 10 wins isn’t good enough for the Sun Devils. Championship aspirations, yo.
Colorado basketball coach Tad Boyle wants his players to have fun playing in the CBI. The Buffs play at Seattle Monday night in the quarters.
Mark Soltau recaps the Stanford football pro day for GoStanford.com. All 32 NFL teams were in attendance to watch 14 recent Stanford football alums.
USC is on spring break right now, but The RipsIt Blog gives us highlights from the first two weeks of USC football spring practice.
Let’s take a gander at the Washington State baseball weekly release as the Cougars get ready for a series at Oregon State.