So maybe it’s a little late to still call it Midnight Madness, but season-kickoff events are still happening across the country. In the Pac-12, Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona introduce the 2012-13 versions of themselves to the fans with a trio of scrimmages over the weekend, along with slam dunk contests for the Cardinal and Wildcats. In light of what is happening in Palo Alto, Tempe and Tucson, here are three predictions for each of the three schools on what will happen.

Gabe York will put on quite the show at the Red-Blue Game this Sunday in Tucson.

Stanford’s Friday Frenzy Cardinal-White Scrimmage (October 19, 5:30 PM)

1. Dwight Powell will throw down the nastiest dunk: Last year, Powell threw down a dunk off a side-of-the-backboard pass from Aaron Bright (it’s at the 0:54 mark- you really won’t want to watch the first 30 seconds). It didn’t win the competition as Josh Huestis won last year’s dunk contest, but Powell will take home the crown this year.
2. Aaron Bright will make the biggest “wow” play of the night: Bright is the closest thing Stanford has to a showman, and he will be in all his glory later tonight. Behind-the-back passes, no-look passes, deep threes; Bright will put it all on display.
3. White will defeat Cardinal: Johnny Dawkins doesn’t put his projected starting five all on the same team for the scrimmage, so it’s not key players vs. reserves. Cardinal has won the last two years, so it’s time for white to take home some early-season bragging rights.

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The USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll, released yesterday, revealed two Pac-12 teams ranked in the Top 25: Arizona at No. 11 and UCLA at No. 13. While the Pac is the only power conference to have as few as two teams in the top 25, Pac-12 followers should not feel slighted in the slightest.

The Bruins and Wildcats give the Pac-12 the best chance to restore the conference to what it was a few years ago. (Photo credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images).

The major reason for the top-15 rankings for UCLA and Arizona is pretty clear — stellar recruiting classes that feature three five-star talents and one four-star guy for each. With names like Shabazz Muhammad (assuming he plays), Kyle Anderson (assuming he plays), Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley, there is no dearth of talent coming into Westwood and Tucson this year. And surely, with the No. 2 and No. 3 recruiting classes in the country (in addition to high-profile transfers Larry Drew II and Mark Lyons), the Bruins and Wildcats are deserving of preseason recognition. No. 11 and No. 13, however, might be a little high for two teams relying heavily on players who have yet play in a collegiate game. High preseason rankings for super-frosh-dominated teams are nothing new in college basketball; after all, Kentucky was No. 5 in the 2009-10 USA Today preseason poll because of a John Wall-DeMarcus Cousins combination that had yet to play in a game led by a coach who hadn’t yet handled a power conference school as the head man. And certainly, the expectations and hype surrounding the 2012-13 Bruins and Wildcats are more modest than that Kentucky team three years ago. All signs are pointing to these freshmen being great, but until they step on the court in November, you don’t really know what’s in store. And it’s not like these teams haven’t had to deal with a flamed-out recruit or two in recent years…

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Probably to the dismay of many college basketball fans who are more than curious to find out which school he will attend next fall, reports came out yesterday that Jabari Parker has no plan to sign with one of his final five schools in the early signing period this November, instead likely making a decision in December. So now Duke, Michigan State, BYU, Florida and Stanford will most likely have to wait an extra month to find out where the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2013 will take his talents (though he can’t officially sign with a team until April), barring a sudden change of mind.

Top recruit Jabari Parker Will Wait to Make His Decision (AP)

While I’m sure a similar case could be made for every school still remaining on Parker’s list, this news could be especially good for Stanford. While the Cardinal have had some recent success in the last 10 years, the success Duke, Michigan State, Florida and BYU have had is much more immediate and in most cases, longer lasting. Stanford, by comparison, hasn’t made the Big Dance in the last four years; in that span, the other four schools have combined for a 15 of 16 possible NCAA Tournament appearances (only Florida didn’t make it all four years), three Final Fours (Michigan State twice, Duke once) and one national championship (Duke). Duke, Michigan State and Florida are established national powerhouses, while BYU is very much settled in to being one of those non-power conference schools that are regularly in the spotlight.

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Last year was the first season of the Pac-12, as the conference invited in a couple more teams to join the party. The number one reason far and away for expansion was football and the ability to have a conference championship game, but of course, Utah and Colorado didn’t just move their pigskin programs. The Utes’ football team nearly made the Pac-12 championship game last year while Colorado struggled mightily under a first year coach having to deal with a multitude of injuries on his roster, so one could surmise that it was a mixed bag for the expansion teams in the Pac-12 teams on the gridiron.

The Buffaloes were one of the few bright spots for the Pac-12 last season, providing the conference with its lone NCAA Tournament win.

With that criterion, you could say the same about last year’s basketball season, except flip the roles of the schools in question. Despite being picked to finish 10^th (tied with Washington State) by the media in the preseason poll, the Buffaloes were an impressive 11-7 in the Pac-12 regular season and stunned most everyone by winning four games in four days to claim the Pac-12 Tournament and snatch up the league’s automatic bid to the Big Dance. On the other hand, Utah had a poor non-conference showing with blowout losses to the likes of Boise State, Fresno State and Cal State Fullerton. The Utes didn’t have much more success in the Pac-12 slate, finishing 3-15 in conference and coming in 11^th place.

That said, it wouldn’t be fair to Utah to judge them for eternity based on last season’s performance. It was Larry Krystkowiak’s first season in Salt Lake City and the Utes were without their difference-maker on defense in David Foster (and they’ll continue to be without him this year, too).  And with such a huge roster upheaval this year — only three guys on this year’s team played in a game for the Utes in 2011-12 and six transfers are eligible to suit up — who knows how much one can really expect of the 2012-13 version, though that backcourt should get a huge shot in the arm with three of those transfers in Glen Dean, Jarred DuBois and Aaron Dotson.

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Throughout the preseason, the Pac-12 microsite will be rolling out these featured breakdowns of each of the 12 league schools. Today’s release are the Stanford Cardinal

Strengths: The tandem of junior Aaron Bright and sophomore Chasson Randle in the backcourt is shaping up to be one of the most dynamic duos in the Pac-12. The diminutive Bright has some characteristics reminiscent of other small guys who made names for themselves in the Seattle area, most notably the moxie to take and make big shots for his team. While he might not have the speed of a Nate Robinson or Isaiah Thomas, Bright can still get into the lane and distribute with some flashy passes. However, he doesn’t break down defenses as well as Randle, who may very well be the most significant guard to come through The Farm since Brevin Knight when it’s all said and done. Randle finished second among Pac-12 freshmen in scoring, behind only the NBA-bound Tony Wroten. The Rock Island, IL native displayed an ability to go into “put the team on my back” mode during his freshman campaign, highlighted by the 24 points he scored to lead Stanford in its 103-101 quadruple-overtime victory at Oregon State.

Chasson Randle did more than hold up his jersey during Stanford’s quadruple-overtime victory over Oregon State (credit: Rick Bowmer)

Weaknesses: Stanford is going to be physically light down low with the departures of Josh Owens and Andrew Zimmermann. While the Cardinal have to potential to be a good rebounding team again with guys like Dwight Powell and Josh Huestis still in town to crash the glass, Stanford will have to make up for a lot of toughness lost with Owens and Zimmermann gone. Although Owens was the better athlete, Zimmermann might end up being a bigger loss for head coach Johnny Dawkins. He was a guy who did all of the little things in the paint, including taking charges and talking on defense (he didn’t have a bad jump shot, either). As such, this group also needs to find a vocal leader. That might be tough, considering none of the major rotation players are seniors and haven’t been called on to be captains before.

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While players have been participating in individual workouts off and on since the summer, official practice begins this Friday for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball season. As always, the onset of the new season is ushered in by Midnight Madness on many campuses throughout the country. Here’s a look at what’s going down on October 12 and beyond to ring in 2012-13 in the Pac-12:

October 12 Events

Oregon will be having its Matt Knight Madness at the conclusion of the Ducks’ 6 PM women’s volleyball contest. If the past and this year’s promo video is any indication, it looks like there will be some snazzy introductions for both the men’s and women’s teams, followed by a slam dunk contest, a scrimmage and perhaps even a little dancing. As only Oregon can do, the Ducks will be raffling away custom Pit Crew Air Jordans and jackets, in addition to giving away t-shirts and autographed basketballs from both Paul Westhead’s and Dana Altman’s squads.

Midnight Madness events kick off with the start of practice on Friday.

There will be ZZUMania at Bohler Gym for Washington State with activities starting at 9 PM. Included in the festivities are a three-point contest for the women’s team and a scrimmage and dunk contest for Brock Motum and Co. If you’re a current Coug, you have a chance to win $500 for spring semester books; if not, you still have a chance to win a couple of courtside tickets to the Gonzaga game on December 5.

Colorado will be holding Buffs Madness immediately following the finish of the women’s volleyball match against Arizona, so things should get started there around 8:30 PM. In addition to the men’s and women’s team introductions, scrimmages and contests, the Buffs are giving away arguably the second best prize of any Pac-12 school: A trip for two to accompany Tad Boyle’s boys when they play at Kansas on December 8.

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The best thing about October isn’t watching football or the MLB playoffs; no, it’s all about analyzing college basketball non-conference schedules. Where are the potential RPI boosts? Trap games? Guarantee ones? So many possibilities for those ’12 or ’13 tilts!

But way out west, promise has quickly turned into embarrassment in November and December for the Pac-12 in recent years. Last season, the Pac went 9-38 against teams that finished the regular season in the RPI Top-100 and 3-28 against those finishing 50^th or above, according to realtimerpi.com. Numbers like those are why Washington didn’t get an at-large bid even as the conference’s regular-season champion. So, it goes without saying that the first two months of the season are HUGE for a conference like the Pac-12 to regain respect around the college basketball world. With that in mind, we’re ready to begin circling some dates to keep an eye on in the conference calendar. Here are my choices for the five most important non-conference games for the Pac in 2012-13, in order of appearance:

USC Will Represent The Pac-12 At The Maui Invitational This Year (Alex Prosperi, EA Sports Maui Invitational)

1. USC vs. Illinois (November 19) – Talk about the ultimate RPI-boost game. Illinois is the Trojans’ first-round opponent of the Maui Invitational, which means a certain D-II team will be lurking in the consolation bracket. If the Trojans beat the Illini, they get to play Texas, another high-quality RPI opponent. If the Trojans lose… that’s right, Chaminade is up next (assuming Texas doesn’t Oklahoma 2010-11 it). In case you were wondering, the Silverswords are not a high-quality RPI opponent. Neither the Trojans nor the Illini are coming off storybook seasons (USC went 1-17 in an extremely down Pac-12, while Illinois absolutely imploded, finishing the season 2-12 after a 15-3 start), but a little early-season karma can do a body of work good. And, we’ll get a chance to see just how much difference USC’s new faces (like Ari Stewart, J.T. Terrell and Eric Wise) and newly healthy returnees (with senior point guard Jio Fontan exhibit A) can make.

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News broke out of Pullman earlier this week that Washington State dismissed senior guard Reggie Moore from the basketball team for a violation of team rules.

Moore’s Loss Creates Opportunities For Others at Wazzu (SI/Heinz Kluetmeier)

You can take a look at his stats and see what the Cougars will be missing; their third-leading scorer (10.2 PPG), top distributor (5.2 APG) and one of their best perimeter defenders (his 33 steals led the Cougars) from last year’s 19-18 CBI runner-up squad. Beyond those numbers, however, he was a guy who the Cougars could lean on when the going got tough. In Game 1 of the CBI Championship, Moore hit what would prove to be the game-winning jumper with a little more than a minute to play. He was the second-leading scorer in that 67-66 victory over Pittsburgh, one in which the Cougars were without lead act Brock Motum (the Panthers would take the next two games to win the coveted CBI crown). He was also often the guy who would step up to the line and hit clutch free throws; his career 77 percent accuracy from the line is just the beginning of that story. In the CBI first round game against San Francisco, Moore twice went two-for-two from the line when the Dons had cut the lead down to six late in the second half. He would finish that game 12-13 from the charity stripe, including going 11-12 in the final five minutes. Going back to his freshman year in 2009-10, he went 6-6 from the stripe in the final 33 seconds to hold off a surging Stanford squad that had closed a 20-point halftime deficit down to two in the waning moments. Washington State eventually won that game 77-73.

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