Roundup: Blowouts abound in first round in Vegas

Mar 10, 2016

Well hopefully Thursday brings about some closer games, because it was blowout city on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. It started off with Washington demolishing Stanford 91-68, and our Kevin Zimmerman writes that Andrew Andrews spearheaded the Husky victory with his 14 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. This game was never close.

Coming off an 80-56 beat-down of Washington State, Colorado should be well-rested for its Arizona rematch (2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network), writes Pat Rooney. Nobody on the Buffs played more than 26 minutes in the win over Wazzu.

Three straight laughers for USC over UCLA now after the Trojans dusted the Bruins 95-71 in the 7-10 matchup Wednesday night, and Zimmerman highlights the performance of Chimezie Metu, who recorded his first collegiate double-double and put Gyorgy Goloman on a poster with his alley-oop finish over the Bruin reserve big.

Oregon State controlled the game from start to finish, defeating Arizona State 75-66 and surviving a couple of comeback bids in the process, so make sure you get the bald-faced truth and read John Canzano’s column on Oregon State being ready to finally make the NCAA tournament.

When it was all said and done, the Pac-12’s bubble teams kept themselves alive for NCAA tournament consideration, Zimmerman writes. Oregon State, USC and Washington all avoided bad losses – Oregon State and USC are probably in now, while Washington probably needs to at least get to the Pac-12 title game.

Tyson Alger of The Oregonian/OregonLive writes that Oregon will chase that winning feeling in Las Vegas as it gets ready for a quarterfinal matchup with eighth-seeded Washington (noon PT/1 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).

Noting how well the fan base comes out to support the ‘Cats in Las Vegas, Bruce Pascoe writes that Arizona will feel like it’s playing home games in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Kyle Goon notes that Utah will have to go up against a “dangerous” USC team. The Utes beat the Trojans 80-69 in Los Angeles in the teams’ only meeting this year behind 29 points and 13 rebounds from Pac-12 Player of the Year Jakob Poeltl (6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network).

Quarterfinal date with Oregon State set (8:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. MT, FS1), Cal men’s basketball is even-keeled heading into the Pac-12 Tournament, writes Connor Letourneau.

Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports reports that Snoop Dogg’s son, Cordell Broadus, will attempt to return to the UCLA football team this spring. Broadus signed with UCLA as a four-star recruit last year but quit the team before even playing a game.

I’m sure Arizona State fans will be very supportive of Green Bay Packers defensive back Damarious Randall’s new tattoo of a pitchfork and him in his No. 3 ASU jersey. Looks super dope.

Kevin Gemmell examines the state of the Washington State football program. It has been rocky at times under Mike Leach, but the Cougs are coming off a great 2015 and are certainly trending upwards.