Three very exciting games on the men’s side last night, including Arizona pulling out a sloppy win over Washington. Don’t let the headline fool ya, though; this was an entertaining game that wasn’t decided until the final 20 seconds. I’m tired of hearing people say scoring is down in basketball… So what? There is more to a game than points put up.
So the ‘Cats beat the Dawgs in men’s action – will the same hold true for the women? Washington sure hopes not, as they play at Arizona tonight at 6:00 p.m. PT. The good news for Kevin McGuff and Co. is that Jazmine Davis has been medically cleared after she suffered a concussion against the Cougs. Why is this good news? Well, her 20.4 points per game leads the team, for starters (she’s also from San Jose, which never hurts anybody’s cause).
After Arizona got a nice roadie, Cal posted a thrilling win at home over Oregon State. The Beavs have sort of had the Golden Bears’ number in recent years, so ’twas a nice comeback dub for Cal – especially so because it gave Monty his 100th victory since taking over in Berkeley.
A tough loss for the Robinsons, but maybe the Ruecks can pick up the slack? It’ll be another tough game, though, as Oregon State women’s basketball is focused for a Friday visit from No. 6 Cal.
The final game last night? Another thriller – this one in Pullman, where Jahii Carson led a rally past Washington State by scoring 21 of his 25 points in the second half and icing the game with a layup with 11 seconds left to give Arizona State a four-point victory over the homestanding Cougs. As I said on Twitter last night (@kevo408), this was perhaps the biggest victory of the season for the Forks – not because of the opponent, but because they backed up a huge home victory and great start with a gritty road W. These Forks are real players in the game they call the Pac-12 regular season.
Well how about this – Arizona State played Wazzu in men’s hoops last night, and the women’s basketball Cougars open up their road trip at Arizona State Friday night as the Cougs and Sun Devils try to climb their way back up the Pac-12 women’s basketball standings. You should also know that outfielder Jason Monda was named to Baseball America‘s preseason All-America third team.
Preseason All-America honors, you say? Stanford’s got three of them – on the first team, no less! Those guys being Mark Appel, Brian Ragira and Austin Wilson. The four first-team selections for the Pac-12 (Cal catcher Andrew Knapp being the other) gives the conference the most out of any D-1 league. All in all, there were nine Pac-12 selections on the Baseball America presason All-America teams. There’s also a question lingering for the Stanford women’s basketball team: Are they really the No. 4 team in the country as the ranking suggests? Because the Card have been No. 1 four weeks running by RPI. Unlike some other teams, they don’t need to get revenge for their men’s team when they face Oregon tonight in Eugene (remember Wednesday night?).
So you’ve probably heard about this Marshall Henderson dude on Ole Miss by now if you’re a follower of college basketball. He has been a lightning rod for his team and national conversations because of his on-court antics (I think he’s awesome, personally), but did you know he started out his collegiate career at Utah? The Deseret News writes that ex-Ute Henderson is the imperfect poster boy for the upstart Rebels. Also, Utah will retire Rick Majerus’ sweater on Saturday when the Runnin’ Utes host the runnin’ Buffs.
But back to women’s basketball for a second. With a tough non-conference slate out of the way, USC has done much better in conference, and the Women of Troy stay at home to set up for two more visitors - Utah Friday, Colorado Sunday.
Let me tell you something – Linda Lappe and Friends have had a very tough Pac-12 schedule to start off the conference slate, yet they stand at a respectable 4-4. It doesn’t get any easier tonight though, as another road test awaits Colorado with a trip to No. 18 UCLA.
The Bruins shot under 40 percent from the field in Wednesday’s loss to the Men of Troy, so UCLA is seeking to correct its offensive woes. The Hustlin’ Howlands also shot just 35 percent in their previous game, a loss at Arizona State.
Lastly, Oregon has named Scott Frost its offensive coordinator. He was most recently the wide receivers coach in Eugene and a quarterback at Nebraska in his playing days in the ’90s.