This week in Pac-12 Men's Basketball - March 10, 2021

COMPLETE RELEASE | PAC-12 TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE:

1 - OREGON claimed the 2021 Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 1 seed by virtue of winning the regular-season title with the league’s best win percentage. It marked the Ducks’ fourth regular-season crown (three outright, one shared) in six years and their third No. 1 seed in that span.
• USC’s Evan Mobley became the first player in Conference history to be voted Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year & Freshman of the Year in the same season. He is only the second major conference player to accomplish the feat (Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, 2011-12).

4 - According to BracketMatrix.com, an aggregator of bracketologies, the Pac-12 is currently slated for four NCAA Tournament bids (5-USC; 6-COLORADO; 7-OREGON; 10-UCLA), which would be the most for the Conference since also securing four bids in 2016-17.

5 x 17 - Five Pac-12 programs have reached 17 overall victories through March 9 games, 1-of-3 conferences in the country with as many teams with 17-or-more wins (Big 12 - 6; Big Ten - 5).
• The Pac-12 is also 1-of-7 leagues to have multiple 20-win teams, including 1-of-3 major conferences (OVC - 3; Big Ten - 2; CUSA - 2; MVC - 2; SEC - 2; WCC - 2).

#23 & #24 - The Pac-12 boasts two teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for just the third time this season (Weeks 2 & 9) as #23 COLORADO was joined this week by #24 USC.
• Should the Buffaloes and Trojans advance to Friday’s semifinals, it would mark the first meeting between ranked Conference teams this season.

83.4% - COLORADO is currently shooting 83.4 percent (381-457) from the free throw line as a team, which ranks first in NCAA Division I.
• Not only is Colorado’s free throw rate the best in the country so far, it is currently ahead of ARIZONA’s Conference-record rate of 78.6 percent (511-650) set in 2003-04 as well as the NCAA Division I record of 82.2 percent (535-651) set by Harvard in 1983-84.

PAC-12 TIPOFF

TRACKING LEAGUE PLAY: Through 116 regular-season league games, the average scoring margin was 10.9 points.
• 60 games were decided by single digits
• 24 games were decided by one possession (3 pts. or less)
• 5 overtime games (8 OT periods)
• 9 decided on team's final possession
• 4 games canceled

NON-CONFERENCE: Pac-12 programs combined to post a .732 win percentage (52-19) in countable NCAA Division I non-conference contests in 2020-21.
• The .732 win percentage is the second-best for the Pac-12 over the past five seasons, just behind the .739 posted in 2019-20 when the league was projected to earn as many as six NCAA Tournament bids.

KEY NON-CONFERENCE VICTORIES:

POWER 6 OPPONENTS (5-9)
at Oregon State 71, California 63
Colorado 76, at Kansas State 58
Stanford 82, Alabama 64 (Asheville, N.C.)
#21 Oregon 83, Seton Hall 70 (Omaha, Neb.)
at UCLA 69, Marquette 60

PRESEASON CONFERENCE FAVORITES (5-4)
at Washington State 56, Texas Southern 52
at Washington State 71, Eastern Washington 68
at Arizona 70, Eastern Washington 67
at Oregon 69, Eastern Washington 52
at USC 91, UC Irvine 56

PAC-12 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA
PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA: Evan Mobley, Fr., F, USC
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA: Evan Mobley, Fr., F, USC
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA: Evan Mobley, F, USC
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA: Jaiden Delaire, Jr., F, STANFORD
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR, PRESENTED BY NEXTIVA: Jordan Brown, R-So., F, ARIZONA
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Oscar da Silva, Sr., F, STANFORD
JOHN R. WOODEN COACH OF THE YEAR: Andy Enfield, USC

Click here for the complete Pac-12 All-Conference Teams

PAC-12 NATIONAL AWARDS CANDIDATES:

NAISMITH MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR
LATE SEASON TOP 15 WATCH LIST
Andy Enfield, USC

WOODEN AWARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
NATIONAL BALLOT TOP 15
Evan Mobley, USC

NAISMITH TROPHY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
TOP 10 SEMIFINALIST
Evan Mobley, USC

NAISMITH TROPHY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
TOP 10 SEMIFINALISTS
Evan Mobley, USC

NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME AWARDS
TOP 10 CANDIDATES/FINALISTS

Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year
McKinley Wright IV, Colorado (Top 10 Candidate)

Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year
Chris Duarte, Oregon (Finalist)

Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year
Ziaire Williams, Stanford (Top 10 Candidate)

Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Oscar da Silva, Stanford (Top 10 Candidate)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year
Evan Mobley, USC (Finalist)

SENIOR CLASS AWARD
TOP 10 CANDIDATE
Oscar da Silva, Stanford

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

*Ineligible for Pac-12 & NCAA Tournaments due to self-imposed postseason ban.

2021 PAC-12 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE  (All games, tip times & TV broadcasts are subject to change)
T-MOBILE ARENA, LAS VEGAS, Nev.
* Approximate tip time

PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

NATIONAL HONORS