Roundup: Oregon State, Arizona State fighting for Pac-12 women's basketball title

Controlling its own destiny to repeat as Pac-12 regular-season champions, Oregon State women’s basketball is in search of its first win at Maples Pavilion Friday night when it plays at Stanford (8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks). Gina Mizell points out that the Beavs are 0-28 all-time on The Farm.

Oregon State has company at 15-1 in league play, as Arizona State women’s basketball is hoping to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 title this weekend. Jeff Metcalfe notes that ASU has earned at least a share of the conference crown just once before in 2000-01. The Sun Devils are in Los Angeles to take on the Trojans and Bruins to wrap up regular-season play, starting with USC Friday night (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Networks).

Switching over to men's hoops, the Golden Bears are a-rollin’ – Jabari Bird propelled Cal to a 75-63 win over UCLA Thursday night at Haas with his 20-points-on-12-shots performance (Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle). The Bears, currently riding a six-game winning streak, are right in the thick of the Pac-12 race at 10-5.

Jack Wang points out that the loss to Cal guarantees that UCLA men’s basketball won’t have a winning conference record; the best the Bruins can do is go 9-9 in league. He also talks about the Bruins’ struggles during Thursday’s loss.

Here’s the Pac-12 Networks recap of Stanford men’s basketball blowing out USC 84-64. Dorian Pickens was on fire Thursday night, going for a career-high 25 points.

After demolishing Arizona State Thursday night, Utah has another shot at a signature win against Arizona on Saturday, opines Kurt Kragthorpe of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott addressed court storming Thursday in Salt Lake City in an interview with Pac-12 Networks broadcasters Ted Robinson and Matt Muehlebach. Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller spoke out publicly against court storming following Arizona’s loss at Colorado Wednesday.

Bruce Pascoe takes a look at the court-storming issue through an Arizona lens for the Arizona Daily Star. It’s simple for the Wildcats – Arizona can’t afford another court storming on the road if it wants to win the Pac-12, because another loss likely puts the 'Cats out of the race.

The Pac-12 says that the final play of the Oregon State-Washington game was officiated correctly, notes Percy Allen. It looked like the game clock didn’t start on time for the final play.

Oooh, Oregon men’s basketball was given a special edition of the Kobe 11s along with Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State. Unfortunately, Nike said that Oregon’s version “isn’t likely to actually see a retail release.”

Reid Forgrave of FOX Sports believes that Colorado should be in the NCAA tournament following its win over Arizona Wednesday night. He also thinks Wisconsin and Texas Tech have helped their cases as of late.

From a few days ago… read this oral history of Marshawn Lynch’s recruiting visit to Pullman courtesy of Jacob Thorpe. Definitely worth your time.

Check out USC swimmer Chelsea Chenault winning the 500-yard freestyle at the 2016 Pac-12 Swimming (W) & Diving (M/W) Championships. The conference swimming championship airs Friday-Sunday on Pac-12 Networks (10 a.m. PT/11 a.m. MT).