Quick Hits: Four Pac-12 Teams Reach NCAA Tournament
By Andrew Kahn
Bids have been handed out and the brackets are set. Where are the Pac-12 teams heading? Who will they be playing? How far can they go? The league has been criticized at times this year, but postseason play provides teams a chance to prove themselves.
Bubbly Bruins
There had been speculation for weeks about whether the Pac-12 would get a fourth team into the NCAA Tournament. It did, as the selection committee gave UCLA the last bye into the field, meaning the Bruins avoided the play-in round. It was a questionable decision: Jerry Palm, bracketologist for CBSSports.com, reviewed his 21 years of data and could not find an at-large team that had performed worse away from home than UCLA did this season. None of that matters anymore, as the Bruins are an 11 seed in the South Region, where they’ll face 6 seed SMU in Louisville on Thursday (12:10 p.m. PT, truTV). If they win, they’ll face the Iowa State-UAB winner.
Also Dancing
Arizona, the regular season and conference tournament champ, did not earn a No. 1 seed, but does it make much of a difference? The Wildcats received the 2 seed in the West and start the Tournament in Portland. They face Texas Southern out of the SWAC in the opener and would play the VCU-Ohio State winner in the next round. A potential Sweet 16 match-up with 3 seed Baylor awaits, and Wisconsin, which eliminated Arizona in a classic regional final last year, is the top seed in the region.
Oregon is also in the West. The Pac-12 runner-up in the regular season and tournament received an 8 seed. The Ducks will play Oklahoma State in Omaha on Friday (3:50 p.m. PT, TBS). Wisconsin would be next. Utah isn’t playing its best basketball heading into the Tournament, but the Utes’ strong résumé earned them a 5 seed. They face Stephen F. Austin, the Southland Conference champs that won a game in last year’s Tournament (Thursday, 4:27 p.m. PT, truTV).
Season Still Alive
Stanford and Arizona State received at-large bids to the NIT. The Cardinal is a 2 seed in the 32-team field and will host UC Davis, the regular-season champ out of the Big West, on Tuesday (8 p.m. PT). Stanford won the NIT in 2012 but was hoping for a return the Big Dance after last season’s Sweet 16 run. It was a step backward for the other postseason-bound Pac-12 teams as well. The Sun Devils, a 5 seed, go across the country to play Connecticut, the NCAA Tournament defending champ, on Wednesday (4 p.m. PT). They were in last year’s NCAA Tourney. Colorado, which had gone to the Tournament the last three years, had to settle for the College Basketball Invitational after a 15-17 record. The Buffaloes will host Gardner-Webb on Wednesday.
Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at AndrewJKahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.
