Pac-12 Men's Basketball Weekly Release - November 4, 2022

MONDAY MARATHON, INAUGURAL PAC-12/SWAC LEGACY SERIES GAMES HEADLINE TIP-OFF WEEK OF 2022-23 PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON

COMPLETE RELEASE

#PAC12MBB STARTING FIVE:

13 - Pac-12 Men’s Basketball will welcome back 13 of its All-Conference performers from the 2021-22 season, matching the most ever for the league during the Pac-12 era (2011-12).

• Four First Team - Azuolas Tubelis, ARIZ; Tyger Campbell & Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA; Drew Peterson, USC
• Two Second Team - Will Richardson, ORE; Branden Carlson, UTAH
• Two All-Defensive Team - Jaquez & Jaylen Clark, UCLA
• Five All-Freshman Team - Mouhamed Gueye, WSU; Harrison Ingram, STAN; K.J. Simpson, COLO; Lazar Stefanovic, UTAH; Glenn Taylor Jr., OSU (All five return for the first time since the inaugural season of the Pac-12)

12 - All 12 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball programs will be in action at home on college basketball’s opening day - Monday, Nov. 7.

• For the second consecutive year, all 12 programs will tip off their seasons on Pac-12 Networks with 10 hours of men’s basketball programming from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. PT.
• All fans will have access to all 12 games via the Pac-12 Now app and on Pac-12.com. The Pac-12 Now app is free to download and available via iOS, Android, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.

8, 3, 2 - Among the 35 games scheduled for the opening week of the 2022-23 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball season:

• Eight 2022 NCAA Tournament teams - ARIZONA STATE at Texas Southern, STANFORD vs. Wisconsin, COLORADO vs. #11 Tennessee, Norfolk State at #8 UCLA, Boise State vs. WASHINGTON STATE, #19 San Diego State at STANFORD, Montana State at OREGON, Vermont at USC
• Three Power 6 conference opponents - Kansas State at CALIFORNIA, STANFORD vs. Wisconsin, COLORADO vs. #11 Tennessee
• Two AP Top 25 opponents - COLORADO vs. #11 Tennessee, #19 San Diego State at STANFORD

6 - The inaugural six games of the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series will take place during opening week:

• Pac-12 home games: Florida A&M at #21 OREGON, Alabama State at USC, Southern at #17 ARIZONA
• SWAC home games: COLORADO at Grambling, ARIZONA STATE at Texas Southern, WASHINGTON STATE at Prairie View A&M
• All Legacy Series games on Pac-12 campuses will feature officiating crews consisting entirely of people of color.

3 - For the third consecutive preseason, UCLA is the favorite to win the Pac-12 title in the preseason media poll.

• Defending champion ARIZONA, which became the first program in Conference history to reach 18 league wins last season, finished second; OREGON placed third, marking the eighth straight polling the Ducks are inside the top 4, and USC came in fourth.

2021-22 REWIND

• The Pac-12 matched its league-high with six 20-win teams during the 2021-22 season, reaching the benchmark for the sixth time in the past decade.
• The Pac-12 sent six programs to the NCAA and NIT tournaments in 2022, marking the first time since 2018 that at least half its teams advanced to postseason play.
• The Pac-12 secured three NCAA Tournament bids in No. 1 seed Arizona, No. 4 seed UCLA and No. 7 seed USC, marking the first NCAA Tournament since 2017 that the Pac-12 had multiple top-4 seeds and three top-7 seeds.
• Three Pac-12 programs earned National Invitation Tournament bids with at-large selections COLORADO, OREGON and WASHINGTON STATE. The Cougars eventually became the Pac-12’s first NIT semifinalist since 2018.
• ARIZONA swept the Pac-12 by winning the 2022 Pac-12 Tournament crown as well as recording a record regular-season title in which it became the first team in Conference history to reach 18 league victories.
• The Wildcats were rewarded with an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed (overall No. 2 seed), marking the 17th all-time No. 1 seed for Pac-12 programs since seeding began in 1979, first since Oregon in 2016.
• The Pac-12 had three teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 all 18 weeks of the regular season, including each of the final 17 weeks by ARIZONA, UCLA and USC, for its longest stretch with as many teams since 2016-17. With that, there were eight Top-25 Conference matchups during the 2021-22 season, the most for the league since 2016-17.
• The Jan. 10, 2022 poll was particularly historic as it marked just the second week in 74 seasons of the AP poll (1,240 weekly polls since 1949) that the Pac-12 had three teams ranked in the top 6. (#3 UCLA, #5 USC, #6 ARIZ).
• For the second consecutive season, the Pac-12 league slate was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the entire 120-game league schedule was completed despite a total of 17 games being postponed in December and January and requiring rescheduling. Additionally, a total of nine non-conference contests were canceled, including games against NCAA Tournament finalists Kansas (COLORADO) and North Carolina (UCLA).

PRESEASON AWARDS CANDIDATES

NABC NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA

NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME AWARDS
Watch Lists

Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year
Kerr Kriisa, Arizona
Will Richardson, Oregon
Tyger Campbell, UCLA

Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year
Amari Bailey, UCLA

Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year
Pelle Larsson, Arizona
Harrison Ingram, Stanford
Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA

Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Azuolas Tubelis, Arizona

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year
Oumar Ballo, Arizona
Adem Bona, UCLA
Branden Carlson, Utah
Kel’el Ware, Oregon

PAC-12 MEDIA PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
First Team
Tyger Campbell, R-Sr., G, UCLA
Branden Carlson, Sr., C, Utah
Boogie Ellis, Sr., G, USC
Mouhamed Gueye, So., F, Washington State
Harrison Ingram, So., F, Stanford
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Sr., G/F, UCLA
Spencer Jones, Sr., F, Stanford
Drew Peterson, 5th, G, USC
Will Richardson, Sr., G, Oregon
Azuolas Tubelis, Jr., F, Arizona

Second Team
Marcus Bagley, So., F, Arizona State
Tristan da Silva, Jr., F, Colorado
DJ Horne, Jr., G, Arizona State
Kerr Kriisa, Jr., G, Arizona
Pelle Larsson, Jr., G, Arizona

Honorable Mention
Amari Bailey (Fr., UCLA), Oumar Ballo (R-Jr., ARIZ), Jaylen Clark (Jr., UCLA); Quincy Guerrier (Sr., ORE), K.J. Simpson (So., COLO), Kel’el Ware (Fr., ORE).

WEEKLY SCHEDULE (Full Schedule)