With Selection Sunday in the books for the men’s basketball field, Selection Monday confirmed everyone’s inkling that four Pac-12 women’s basketball teams would make the NCAA tournament. Click the link for more info on each first round matchup and beyond for Stanford, Cal, UCLA and Colorado
As expected, Stanford earned a top seed in the Spokane Region and will face Tulsa in the first round. The most exciting thing for Pac-12 fans concerning the Spokane Region? Stanford’s potential Elite 8 opponent…
…And that would be Cal, which earned a No. 2 seed in the Cardinal’s quadrant. So if Stanford and Cal hold serve in the first three rounds of the tournament, we’ll get Gottlieb vs. VanDerveer Round 3 with the winner advancing to New Orleans. So juicy!
Cori’s Closers will be the No. 3 seed in a very tough Oklahoma City Region that includes Baylor and Tennessee. The Bruins are excited with their seeding in the NCAA tournament, getting Stetson for a first round opponent.
Colorado rounds out the group of four that will be dancing – the Buffs earned a No. 5 seed and will face Kansas in the first round in Boulder. ‘Twas just a couple of years ago that these teams were rivals in the Big 12 before Colorado made the move. It’s Colorado’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004.
Now on to men’s basketball news. Before any Pac-12 teams play in the NCAA tournament, three Pac-12ers will begin their NIT run. One such team is Washington, as the Huskies will head to Provo to take on BYU tonight. C.J. Wilcox is a Utah native, and he will battle his high school rival Tyler Haws one more time.
Oregon begins its NCAA run Thursday against Oklahoma State in San Jose. Freshman point guard Dominic Artis is a Bay Area native and, as a hooper growing up in Oakland, Artis has a longtime mentor in Damian Lillard, the favorite to win Rookie of the Year in the NBA as a guard for the Portland Trail Blazers.
There have been rumors swirling around about Craig Robinson and the Northwestern job opening, but Robinson says he has not been contacted by Northwestern.
Last weekend was the opening weekend for Pac-12 baseball, and USC was able to salvage a series against Oregon by beating the Ducks 5-3 on March 17. What made the difference on Sunday? Why, USC wore green baseball caps for Saint Patrick’s Day, of course!
We’ll dedicate the final third of this here roundup to football news. Arizona is throwing a lot of support behind the ole pigskin program with new facilities, which shows that the Wildcats are aiming high and far in recruiting.
Spring football is in the air, and spring practice begins today at Arizona State. Click on the link for the Sun Devils’ practice schedule, with things getting started today at 8:30 a.m.
If I were a football player, I think I’d be more suited for a 2:45 p.m. practice start, which is what Utah has today in its first spring practice session.
The Cougs begin spring practice Thursday but released their spring practice dates yesterday.