Four volleyball teams from your favorite conference have made it to the Sweet 16 – er, regional semifinals. The Paction begins at 2 p.m. PT with Oregon taking on BYU in the Omaha Regional. The Ducks are led by outside hitter Alaina Bergsma – the 2012 Pac-12 Player of the Year and former Miss Oregon.
One hour after first serve from Omaha, the sixth-ranked USC Trojans will square off against Wichita State in the Austin Regional (3 p.m. PT).
(Approximately) one hour after first serve from Austin, it’s time to head on back to Omaha, where Washington will take on Nebraska for like the millionth time in the NCAA tournament. And by millionth, I mean fourth in the last eight years. Should be a great battle.
The second-seeded Stanford Cardinal provide you with a 7 p.m. PT nightcap in Berkeley, where the Card will face Iowa State in a regional semifinal. Remember the last time Stanford went up against Iowa State in a regional in Berkeley?
In the world of football, the Pac-12 was well represented on the Walter Camp Foundation’s 2012 All-America Team. Marqise Lee, Zach Ertz, Kenjon Barner and Ka’Deem Carey made first team offense, Star Lotulelei and Jordan Poyer made first team defense, “The Mayor” Johnathan Franklin made second team offense and Will Sutton made second team defense.
Speaking of the Devil, that second team All-American nod made Will Sutton a consensus All-American, the 15th in Arizona State school history.
Unfortunately for the Buffs, Butch Jones has turned down Colorado’s offer to be its next head coach. Despite that, Chancellor Phil DeStefano says the Buffs aren’t deterred in a search for a new coach.
Meanwhile, Cal did get its man in Sonny Dykes, who talked about his goal of getting Cal to the Rose Bowl at his introductory press conference.
Over in Westwood, UCLA has signed head baseball coach John Savage to an extension through the 2017 season. Savage has led UCLA to back-to-back Pac-12 titles for the first time in school history while also taking the Bruins to two College World Series appearances in the last three years. I’d say that’s worth an extension.
Let’s talk some basketball now. Here’s the video tribute Utah made to honor Rick Majerus for Wednesday night’s game against Boise State, which Utah won handily.
After receiving approval from the Arizona board of regents, the Wildcats can move forward with the planned McKale Center renovation by looking for an architect to help spruce things up.
Even though the Cougars lost to Gonzaga Wednesday night, the stars (Brock Motum and DaVonte Lacy) came out for Washington State.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a game to watch. It might not sound like the most exciting one, but as president of the unofficial Joe Burton Fan Club that I haven’t started yet, I encourage you to check out the Oregon State Beavers in action against Grambling State this Saturday at 1 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks. JB Long and Lamar Hurd are on the call, so in case Oregon State ends up with a 30-point lead halfway through, at least you’ll have some good broadcasters on the game. Plus, who doesn’t love watching someone (Burton) shoot a true hook shot? Like, I mean, start from the hip and throw that thing up there… and it’s accurate!