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Roundup: Seven straight for Stanford

Mar 11, 2013
  The Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament came to a close Sunday night in thrilling fashion, as Stanford beat UCLA 51-49 in the championship game on an Amber Orrange layup in the waning moments. A see-saw battle, UCLA had the lead for most of the second half, but Orrange (20 points) and the Cardinal were not to be denied their seventh consecutive Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament championship. Congrats to the Card.
  The Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament is coming up this week, and the No. 1 seed goes to the team that had so much hype going into the season. For most of the year, many thought UCLA wasn't living up to the billing, but at the end of the day, the "underachieving" Bruins are the Pac-12 regular season champions after beating Washington 61-54 in Seattle on Saturday.
  All in all, a very good weekend for UCLA basketball fans - the Hustlin' Howlands won the regular season crown and the Courageous Closes took Stanford to the brink in the women's tournament championship game. That back-and-forth battle came on the heels of UCLA upsetting second-seeded Cal in the semifinals, where the Golden Bears suffered a poor shooting night in the loss to UCLA. Cal was just 5-25 from the floor in the first half.
  Back to the men's game. The bracket is out for the Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas after the regular season came to a close Saturday. UCLA is the No. 1 seed and the preseason favorite to win the conference - Arizona - also earned a first-round bye. The Wildcats closed out their 18-game conference slate with a 73-58 victory over rival Arizona State, taking some momentum with them to Vegas in the process.
  That left Arizona State to play in the 8-9 game against Stanford Wednesday afternoon, so Doug Haller ponders the question, "How do the Sun Devils stack up against the Cardinal?"
  It took until the final weekend of their second season in the Pac-12, but the Runnin' Utes have won back-to-back conference games for the first time since they've joined the Pac. After beating Oregon State on Thursday, Utah took down No. 19 Oregon Saturday and Jason Washburn got rewarded in the end. It was a matchup of the winningest Duck in Oregon basketball history (E.J. Singler) against the biggest loser in Utah basketball history - Jason Washburn, who has stuck with the Runnin' Utes through a lot of program upheaval and finished off his regular season career with 20 points and 12 rebounds against the Quacks.
  It was also a perfect weekend for Washington State - the Cougs knocked off both UCLA and USC on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively, and with his collegiate career coming to a close, Brock Motum is leaving as one of Washington State's all-time best.
  I tell ya, the bottom three teams in the conference standings did pretty well for themselves. Utah and Washington State swept at home and Oregon State concluded conference play with a road win at Colorado for the program's first victory in Boulder. Take a look at Oregon State basketball by the numbers, provided to you by John Hunt of The Oregonian.
  Well Colorado didn't have a Senior Day to remember with the loss to the Beavs and without the services of André Roberson, who missed the game with a viral illness. The Buffs are going to have another crack at Oregon State in the first round of the Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament, but Colorado has some work to do before facing Oregon State again.
  How 'bout some baseball? Let's kick it back to Corvallis, where Tyler Smith's three-run home run helped beat Texas State 6-4. With the win, the Beavers improved to 15-0 on the season, making them not only the lone undefeated Pac-12 team, but also one of just four teams in the country at the NCAA Division 1 level without a loss (North Carolina, Florida State and Dartmouth being the others).
  Their rivals had a big home series against the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores this past weekend. After that team from the SEC took the Friday and Saturday games, the Ducks scored five runs in the eighth inning to beat Vanderbilt 7-5. Oregon baseball's the name, small ball's the game - the Ducks scored their first four runs in the eighth without even getting a hit.
  A little spring football to wrap this one up. The Trojans had their first spring scrimmage this weekend, and they had to go out there without the services of the injured Max Wittek and Marqise Lee. As such, there was growth and growing pains for USC football.