Roundup: Arizona, UCLA and Utah are sweet

Mar 23, 2015

Well I’d say 7-1 with three teams heading to the Sweet 16 is a pretty good start to the NCAA tournament on the men’s side, eh? Arizona was impressive in a 73-58 win over THE Ohio State University (coached by Sean Miller’s former boss) and now a date with Xavier looms in the Sweet 16. Seeing as he coached at Xavier, Sean Miller is facing a lot of familiar foes, writes Bruce Pascoe. A potential Elite Eight rematch with Wisconsin is also a juicy thought.

The Bruins are back in the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, and Jack Wang points out that UCLA faces Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 nine years after erasing a 17-point deficit to defeat the Bulldogs in a 2006 Sweet 16 matchup. Also, former UCLA hoops coach Ben Howland has reached an agreement to coach Mississippi State, according to ESPN.

The Runnin’ Utes are still dancing after a strong second half against Georgetown, and Kurt Kragthorpe opines that this Sweet 16 run is reminiscent of Utah’s 2005 trip to the second weekend. Top-seeded Duke is up next.

Great effort from Oregon in the round of 32 against Wisconsin, but the Badgers outlasted the Ducks 72-65 after the Ducks tied it up late in the second half. Ken Goe now ponders where the Oregon basketball program goes from here.

In the women’s tourney, No. 3 Arizona State meets 11^th-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line (6 p.m. PT, ESPN2). Jeff Metcalfe has the story for us.

Stanford faces Oklahoma in the round of 32 (3:30 p.m., ESPN2), and coach Tara VanDerveer is facing her rival, Oklahoma head honcho Sherri Coale. A tad bit of contentious history between the two. I’ll let Elliott Almond explain.

Bad news: Oregon State women’s basketball lost to Gonzaga in the second round Sunday. Good news: Oregon State pitcher Drew Rasmussen threw a perfect game against Washington State Saturday (first in Beaver history).

Ton of important stuff happened in Berkeley – Cal women’s swimming and diving won the NCAA championship over the weekend, Missy Franklin turned pro and hired an agent and Cal women’s basketball lost to Texas 73-70 Sunday. For a women’s hoops link, Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group wrote about a fitting ending to Brittany Boyd’s career at Cal despite the loss.

Colorado men’s hoops faces Seattle in the quarterfinals of the CBI Monday night in Seattle, and Brian Howell calls it a “unique” road trip for the Buffs. Colorado and Seattle will be playing in close quarters, as Seattle’s gym only has room for about 1,000 spectators.

It’s been too long since we’ve linked to Bob Condotta, but the former Husky football beat writer has a nice story on former Washington QB Keith Price keeping his NFL dream alive.

Time for some Washington State trivia, courtesy of CougCenter. The school turns 125 on Saturday, so be sure to send your happy birthday cards to Pullman.