Roundup: Pac-12 men's hoops descends upon Sin City
The Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament gets underway Wednesday in Las Vegas, and since the first game to tip off will be Arizona State-Stanford, let’s give you an Arizona State-Stanford game preview courtesy of our Alex Espinoza.
Good news for the Cardinal, as Stanford men’s basketball big man Reid Travis says he’ll be back next season on The Farm, according to Tom FitzGerald.
The Wildcats aren’t playing Wednesday, but Arizona knows that a good Pac-12 Tournament could pay dividends in the NCAA Tournament, especially since only one of UCLA, Oregon and Arizona will be able to play in the West Region.
Washington State forward Josh Hawkinson was named Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced Wednesday. Also, I didn’t realize the drought was this long, but Jacob Thorpe writes that Washington State is looking for its first Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament win in eight years when the 10th-seeded Cougs take on No. 7 Colorado Wednesday night.
Are we witnessing the last games for Ivan Rabb in a Cal uniform? That’s that question Rusty Simmons poses. Rabb is projected to be a mid-to-late first-round pick if he leaves after his sophomore year.
Percy Allen examines why Washington faltered this year despite Markelle Fultz more than living up to the hype. It sure didn’t help Lorenzo Romar’s cause that Dejounte Murray and Marquese Chriss are playing in the NBA now.
Wowsers- Russell Westbrook scored a career-high 58 points Tuesday night in Oklahoma City’s loss to Portland. Also, LaVar Ball had some harsh words for Charles Barkley, as Lonzo’s father said, “if Charles thought like me, maybe he’d win a championship.” This was in response to Barkley talking about LaVar saying Lonzo would be better than Steph Curry. I need more LaVar in my life at all times.
Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports points out that USC kicker Matt Boermeester is not on the team’s spring roster. Boermeester, who kicked the game-winning field goal to lead USC to a 52-49 win over Penn State in the Rose Bowl, was suspended last month for a “code of conduct” issue.
Get an “All Access” preview by taking a look at Colorado men’s basketball seniors reflecting on their careers in Boulder ahead of senior day.
Oregon State football is adding Fresno State and Montana State to its future schedules, notes Gina Mizell. The Beavs will play a home-and-home series with the Bulldogs in 2022 (Fresno) and 2024 (Corvallis), while Montana State will come to Reser in 2022.
Kyle Goon tells us how former Utah football players fared at the NFL Scouting Combine. The Utes had the most alums with top-3 drill performances for their positions, Goon notes. Isaac Asiata doing work on the bench, yo (I can do eight reps of 135, FWIW).
Oregon football coach Willie Taggart said he wants his team to “learn to like each other,” as he wants his guys to spend more time together in the players-only lounge instead of going immediately home after practice or workouts are over for the day.