As the level of competition starts to heat up, it becomes more important to be able to make plays come crunch time. Our Burning Question of the week addresses that issue, as we ask:

Eight ticks left, down a deuce, whose hand do you want the ball in?

Adam Butler: Get that ball to Solomon Hill. I’ve seen him do it before, making clutch plays at Florida and against Washington, and he’s not afraid of the moment. He’s been there and he’s done that and, as the eldest, most experienced statesman on a good team, he knows he’s good. Additionally, he’s smart. He can beat you from the outside if you give him that (39% from deep last year, 38% this year), and he can get you on the dribble – attacking the rim or getting to the line. Options, as it were, allow this dynamic talent to win a ball game. And I haven’t even mentioned his passing. He’ll find the open guy to put the game away if it isn’t an option for himself. And just who is that other guy? Well it could be Mark Lyons, Nick Johnson, Brandon Ashley, Kevin Parrom, or any of the other talented Wildcats. Among all those pieces, however, Hill brings the most broad set of talents and the experience and wisdom to put those skills to dagger-esque efficiency.

Solomon Hill is One Person’s Mr. Pac-12 Clutch…

Parker Baruh: I want California’s Allen Crabbe with the ball. He’s a great shooter and already off to a scorching start this year by scoring 22.o points per game, good for 11th in the nation. He has experience being a junior and I want the ball in someone’s hands who can shoot from anywhere on the floor which Crabbe can do as he has shot 40% from behind the arc and 44% from the field for his college career. Yes, Crabbe has had stretches of inconsistency, but he’s also had games where he couldn’t stop making shots such as last year’s game against Oregon on the road. He had 14 points in three minutes last year against the Ducks in the second half which essentially ended the game. And if Crabbe were to get fouled shooting or going to the rim, he was 84% from the line last year, which would undoubtedly help. Crabbe’s start this year albeit in a small sample size has been full of scoring and what looks to be improved confidence and as long as the Cal guard has that lethal stroke, I want the ball in his hands at the end of the game.

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It was a wild weekend around the Pac-12, with some bad, some good, and plenty of interesting. We’ll deal with all the bad as time permits, but let’s start the week off on a positive note, handing out our second round of weekly honors.

Team of the Week – California

The Golden Bears got off to a slow start in Anaheim, needing a late run to survive an opening round scare from Drake at the DirecTV Classic, but once that wakeup call was received, they looked pretty good in getting past Georgia Tech and Pacific to take home the crown. Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe led the way, with each earning all-tournament honors, but head coach Mike Montgomery got contributions from all of the guys in his normal seven-man rotation, including a promising 12-PPG and 7.3 RPG average from the weekend out of mercurial junior big man Richard Solomon.

Justin Cobbs Led His Cal Team To The DirecTV Classic Title, Earning Himself RTC Pac-12 POTW Honors As Well (credit: Tony Avelar)

Player of the Week – Justin Cobbs, California

It was his teammate, Crabbe, who won our inaugural POTW last week, but Cobbs is the no-brainer this weekend. He averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game, a pair of steals on 16-28 field goal shooting, and he did it all while playing under control, recognizing his role with the team, and getting as many good looks for his teammates as he did for himself. While plenty of backcourts around the conference have earned accolades in the lead-up to the season, at this point the Cobbs/Crabbe combo at Cal is clearly the pre-eminent guard duo in the league.

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Andrew Murawa is an RTC correspondent and a Pac-12 microsite writer. He filed this report after attending the DirecTV Classic over the weekend in Anaheim.

The field at the DirecTV Classic in Anaheim this weekend was anything but classic. The play was ragged at times, there were more than a couple of teams working through the growing pains of major roster overhauls, and so coming up with a coherent all-tournament team was no easy task. But, in the end, we come away with what looked like the most likely outcome going into the holiday weekend – a California win. It wasn’t always easy for the Golden Bears and it certainly wasn’t always pretty, but they leave Anaheim with a 6-0 record on the year with three serious tests ahead of them in the coming weeks. Below, we’ll run down some brief takeaways from each team that participated here this weekend and, at the end, give you what I came up with for my DirecTV Classic all-tournament team.

Justin Cobbs Averaged Better That 19 Points, Five Rebounds and Four Assists On His Way To Earning Tournament MVP Honors (Getty Images)

• California – We knew about Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs coming into this tournament, and while each had their bumps and bruises along the way, their strong performances in Anaheim were no surprise. The bigger questions for this team involve their frontcourt play and their depth, and Mike Montgomery got some promising answers this weekend. Up front, the trio of David Kravish, Richard Solomon and Robert Thurman were largely solid all weekend. Solomon had 12 points and nine boards against the biggest and most athletic team the Bears played all weekend, Georgia Tech, and was very good in the other games. And, he can get better. Kravish and Thurman each had their moments as well, but it is Solomon who has the ability to transform the Cal front line from merely acceptable to an actual team strength. As for depth, Monty definitely has gone with a solid seven-man rotation now, with point guard Brandon Smith and versatile freshman wing Tyrone Wallace seemingly taking turns manning that third perimeter spot. Throw in Ricky Kreklow when he returns from his foot injury, and there’s plenty of talent here for the rigors of the Pac-12 schedule. Cobbs and Crabbe are the established stars here, but there is plenty of upside potential too in Solomon and Wallace.
• Pacific – The surprise team of the tournament, the Tigers, in the midst of head coach Bob Thomason’s retirement tour, sent Xavier to the consolation bracket on Thanksgiving, then handled Saint Mary’s before running into a Cal team that was too much for them. There are a lot of nice pieces here – the Tigers played 11 players in each game of this tournament – but more than one opposing coach this weekend attributed at least some of their early success to Thomason’s coaching, especially with the extra practices the team got this summer as a result of their international trip. As Randy Bennett put it, “they’ve just got more stuff put in than the rest of the teams here.” With no one standout talent on this squad, this team is going to be tough to game plan for on a nightly basis, but this is still probably a team that winds up in the middle of the Big West standings this season. Read the rest of this entry »

For college basketball fans, Thanksgiving has quietly become a smorgasbord of fun. It wasn’t all that long ago where Thanksgiving week maybe meant the Preseason NIT, the Maui Invitation, the Great Alaska Shootout and a couple of other one-off games interspersed throughout the schedule. Nowadays, from Monday to Sunday, the whole week is jampacked with wall-to-wall hoops, from the Bahamas to Alaska and plenty of fun places in between. As we gorge ourselves on all the meaty matchups around the land, we here at the Pac-12 microsite take some time to list just what each program around the conference should be most thankful for this holiday weekend.

Arizona – When Lute Olson’s storied tenure in the desert came to a stilted and surprising end, the Arizona basketball program stumbled along for a couple of seasons in search of its new direction. But now, in the fourth season of the Sean Miller era, it is clear that UA has their next great coach to be thankful for. Even in the midst of missing out on the NCAA Tournament twice in three seasons, he’s kept the fan base engaged, he’s killed it on the recruiting trail and he looks like he’s got the Wildcats back to where they expect to be: contending for Pac-12 titles and deep March runs on a regular basis.

After A Bumpy Transition From Lute Olson, Sean Miller Has Arizona Back On The Track To Greatness (credit: Pat Shanahan)

Arizona State – Okay, the Sun Devils probably aren’t very good right now. But with Jahii Carson running the point for the team and with head coach Herb Sendek turning him loose, this is a team that is going to be fun to watch all year long. Though not big in stature, Carson’s elite speed and athleticism make him huge for the ASU program. Last year while Carson looked on, the team struggled without a true point guard on the roster. But now it’s his team and he’s more than capable of leading it. His presence makes the rest of the guys around him better and when everything else breaks down, he’s more than capable of getting his own, something ASU fans and his embattled head coach will be thankful for throughout the year.

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1. Top recruit Aaron Gordon has cut his list down to Washington, Arizona, and Kentucky, but Washington continues to make an appealing case. Gordon’s mother, Shelley-Davis Gordon, is from Seattle and has gotten to know Lorenzo Romar very well, and Gordon’s father, Ed Gordon, grew up in the same area as Romar. Although Gordon would be the focal point of the Washington program if he were to commit there, that’s not something he is unwilling to do. Gordon isn’t going to pick a school anytime soon, and no one puts players in the NBA better than Kentucky coach John Calipari, which is Aaron Gordon’s ultimate goal; still, don’t count out the Huskies just yet.
2. Although Shabazz Muhammad is now finally playing, don’t expect him to have the impact he was supposed to have right away. Muhammad has admitted that it’s been difficult dealing with the eligibility investigation as well as overcoming injuries and some added weight. Muhammad was the leading scorer in UCLA’s victory over Georgia with 21 points, but he said he’s added 10 to 15 pounds and an injured shoulder and an ankle are certainly not easy to deal with for an explosive athlete. However, Muhammad isn’t making excuses and understands the pressure that comes with being a top recruit and going to arguably the most prestigious college basketball school in the country. Whatever happens as the season continues, you can count on Muhammad working to improve and doing the most he can.
3. In this short season, Cal’s Allen Crabbe has certainly stood out. Averaging a fifth best in the nation 26.7 PPG, Crabbe has helped Cal overcome some sluggish starts to games and has put it upon himself this year to be more consistent. He knows he has to be more aggressive and score at will. Crabbe admitted he disappeared in games last year, but with the loss of Pac-12 player of the year Jorge Gutierrez, and the possibility of the NBA looming either this year or the next, Crabbe can no longer afford to be inconsistent. Credit to the Bear junior for understanding that he needs to pick up the slack and he has certainly done so this year by posting a career high 33 points against Pepperdine and also games of 27 and 20 points. Obviously, Crabbe won’t be able to keep up this scoring barrage all season, but if he continues to stay aggressive, he should be able to keep Cal in the Pac-12 hunt all year long.
4. The Arizona Wildcats are in the middle of an eight-day break until its next game, but Sean Miller’s team won’t be doing any resting. Arizona was lucky to have this past Tuesday and yesterday off after their latest victory over Long Beach State, but it’ll be right back to work on Thanksgiving as the Cats will practice in the morning and again on Friday and Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (they’ll take a day off on Sunday). Sean Miller believes this time of the year is crucial and he has the resume to back it up. It was only two years ago that Arizona came one win short of the Final Four and he believes the team’s increased practice early in the year was a big reason for that.
5. USC hasn’t got off to the greatest start as the Trojans finished in sixth in the Maui Invitational, but they’re doing well off the court. USC recently landed the best player in Nevada according to ESPNU in point guard Julian Jacobs. Jacobs is a 6’2″ player who is explosive and can drive to the hoop or hurt you with his great passing. He is now the third guard in the 2013 USC class, adding to Kendal Harris and Kahlil Price. Originally, Jacobs was a Utah commitment, but he changed his mind in August and now has a chance to form a very strong and athletic backcourt at USC in the future.

Here’s a look at the power rankings that Drew, Parker, Adam, and I have compiled after the first week of Pac-12 games:

1. Colorado, 4-0 (Delta – N/A): After an opening night victory against Wofford, Colorado went to Charleston and got three great wins over the weekend. The Buffaloes dismantled a solid Dayton squad on Thursday before getting the signature win of the classic against Baylor on Friday. After a day off on Saturday, Spencer Dinwiddie and Josh Scott led the Buffs to a championship win over Murray State on Sunday night. Out of the seven remaining undefeated teams in the Pac-12, Colorado’s the only one to win four games in the first 10 days of play. Tad Boyle’s squad is now off until Sunday, when it’ll face 4-0 Air Force in Boulder. Up Next: 11/25 vs. Air Force

2. Arizona, 2-0 (Delta – N/A): Arizona successfully navigated two of its first three tests to start the season last week. Charleston Southern proved to be the toughest of the two, competing hard with the Wildcats for all 40 minutes. A 12-4 run from the 4:35 to 2:00 mark proved to be the dagger for the Buccaneers, who fell 82-73. The Cats didn’t take advantage of their height in the CSU game, but it wouldn’t be a problem in their second match-up of the year against UTEP. UA pulled down 20 more rebounds in their 72-51 trouncing of the Miners than they did against the Bucs. Xavier transfer Mark Lyons was definitely the player of the week for Zona, averaging 17 PPG and 3.5 APG in the two victories. Up Next: 11/19 vs. Long Beach State

Mark Lyons May Lead The Team In Scoring, But Heralded Freshmen Brandon Ashley Has Carried Arizona On The Glass (credit: Chris Coduto)

3. UCLA, 3-0 (Delta – N/A): After starting the season ranked in the Top 15, UCLA finds itself at the three spot after 10 days of play. They did escape the opening week unscathed, but their one point overtime win against UC Irvine (a game in which the Anteaters had plenty of chances to win), did enough for Adam and I to drop them from number one. The most impressive victory of the week was way back on November 9, when the Bruins dominated a solid Indiana State team in the second half for a 86-59 victory. Freshman Jordan Adams was undoubtedly the newcomer of the week, both on the team and in the Pac-12, by averaging 24 PPG and 3.6 RPG. Up Next: 11/19 vs. Georgetown in New York City

4. California, 3-0 (Delta – N/A): You rarely see Pac-12 teams play road games against WAC opponents, but after starting 2-0 against in-state rivals the Golden Bears went into Denver and downed the Pioneers for an 11-point win last Friday. And while Denver may not be competing for any large things in March, road wins are good wins, no matter who it’s against. The Golden Bears will continue to be tested in the coming weeks as games with Drake, Wisconsin, and UNLV are all on the schedule. They also have possible match-ups with Georgia Tech and Saint Mary’s this Thanksgiving weekend as part of the DirectTV Classic. The goal going forward for Cal will be to get more production on the offensive end from its frontcourt. Guards Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs both average in the 20s, but no other player is even in double digits. Up Next: 11/22 vs. Drake in Anaheim

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We’ve got a 10-day week of basketball in the books and, while there have been some ups and downs around the conference, it’s plain to see that the Pac-12 of 2012-13 is a far sight better than last year’s version. But, without further ado, let’s get right to our first edition of our weekly honors.

Team of the Week – Colorado

Askia Booker Led The Way As Colorado Swept To A Charleston Classic Title and Three Key Wins (Patrick Ghidossi, BuffaloSportsNews)

The Buffaloes are the easy pick after taking home the Charleston Classic title last night, knocking off Murray State to complete a perfect start to the season. Sophomore guard Askia Booker led CU in scoring in each game in Charleston and even earned a vote for our Player of the Week award, while junior Andre Roberson led the way on the boards. Given the luxury, and the pressure, of getting the toughest opening round opponent, the Buffs leave South Carolina with three quality wins already on the season, along with earning the pleasure of getting revenge on Baylor, the team that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament last season.

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David Cassilo is an RTC columnist who also writes about college basketball for SLAM magazine. You can follow him at @dcassilo.

Take a second to play out a hypothetical situation. John Doe is a top recruit. He is probably going to play for Basketball College. A booster for that school’s biggest rival, Hoops University, knows this and gives Doe $1,000 to come visit Hoops. A year later, the NCAA finds out, and who gets punished? Not the booster and Hoops but Doe and Basketball College. This is the insanely stupid can of worms that the NCAA has opened up in the Shabazz Muhammad ruling. To make matters worse, recent reports say the NCAA had it out for him before they even learned of this. It brings to focus a larger issue that still does not get enough play – the student-athlete has no rights. Unlike professional sports, there are no unions. It’s just the NCAA and powerful universities versus tiny student-athletes. For now, Muhammad doesn’t play, and that shakes up both of our top 10 lists. Hopefully by including these players below, they haven’t become susceptible to another NCAA violation.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES

10. Pierre Jackson – Baylor (Last Week – NR)
2012-13 stats: 23.3 PPG, 8.7 APG

Welcome to the race Mr. Jackson (AP)

As you’ll see throughout this list, it might just be the year of the point guard. Jackson is a special one, as he’s already poured in 27 points and 31 points this season. The assists are there too, making him one of the toughest players to guard in the country. This week: Nov. 16 vs. Colorado, Nov. 18 vs. St. John’s/Murray State

9. Kenny Boynton – Florida (Last Week – NR)
2012-13 stats: 16 PPG, 6 RPG, 4 APG

A near inclusion on this original list, Boynton makes it in there after a stellar start to the season. While he took a backseat role against Wisconsin, being the engine that drives one of the top teams in the country will only help his candidacy. This week: Nov. 18 vs. Middle Tennessee St., Nov. 20 vs. Savannah State

8. Allen Crabbe – California (Last Week – NR)
2012-13 stats: 30 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3 APG

After averaging 15.2 PPG as a sophomore, Crabbe has opened the eyes of many with a 27-point and a 33-point game to open the season. It’s impossible to shoot this well (60 percent from the field, 66.7 percent from 3-point range) all season, but he seems to have the tools to contend for the nation’s scoring title. This week: Nov. 16 vs. Denver, Nov. 22 vs. Drake

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Tonight’s Lede. Hoops Marathon Ends With Basketball Royalty in Atlanta. The fifth iteration of ESPN’s College Hoops Marathon went from Spokane to Albuquerque to Honolulu to New Jersey to Indiana to Amherst to Ohio to NYC to Cincinnati to Atlanta, with 16 games of varying quality and competitiveness, but it finished at the Champions Classic with two hard-fought and generally well-played games befitting the assembled hoops royalty of Izzo, Krzyzewski, Calipari and Self. Last season’s inaugural event in Madison Square Garden featured Krzyzewski’s 903d all-time victory and the coming-out party of Calipari’s talented band of super-freshmen. This year’s set of games in Atlanta featured a Michigan State team finding itself after a surprising loss to a scrappy Connecticut team last week in Germany, while Duke was looking to shore up its perimeter defense to reclaim its usual spot among the nation’s elite as a national title contender. Tonight’s losing teams, Kentucky and Kansas, came away from the experience not feeling terrible, realizing that November games — while important to their resumes — are more a time for reflection and focused learning than worrying about finished products. Let’s jump into the day’s games…

Your Watercooler Moment. Calipari Calls Out Duke’s Flopping. 

What else could it be? In one of the better preaching to the choir moments in recent college basketball history, John Calipari told ESPN’s Andy Katz at halftime of the Champions Classic nightcap in a half-joking/half-serious manner that Duke’s players were “flopping all over the place.” The Twitter-verse immediately seized the moment because if there’s anything that gets Duke haters riled up, it’s the tendency for Coach K’s defenders to find their backs on the floor with the ball headed the other way. For what it’s worth, Calipari said after the game that he was just joking. Nevertheless… the head coach may have made some new friends tonight.

This Other Thing… Both Kentucky and Duke Impressed. Duke walked out of Atlanta as the clear winner of the event, knocking off the #2 Wildcats and showing that some of the defensive deficiencies that caused so many problems for the Blue Devils last season may be solved. Seth Curry (23 pts) was outstanding in his twin roles as leader and scorer, and his game-finishing drive to fake Nerlens Noel off his feet and drop in a right-handed layup was a thing of beauty. Mason Plumlee, when not in foul trouble, showed that he is an elite big man (18/3 on 7-8 FG) and the rest of the Duke cast was at least serviceable on this night. Coach K was not going to let the Kentucky perimeter beat his team, and a 9-25 shooting night from Kyle Wiltjer, Archie Goodwin and Julius Mays ensured that Duke wouldn’t have to get into an 80- or 90-point game to win this one. As for the Wildcats, we anticipated that John Calipari would get a much better effort on the glass, and he did (27 each) while also allowing his talented big men, Alex Poythress and Noel, to pick their spots and follow the fluidity of the game. The duo combined for 36 points and 16 rebounds, and the mere sight of those two flying around the airspace above the rim should send shudders throughout the rest of college basketball wondering how good they’ll be when they figure out the plays. Brian Joyce was at the game and provided his takeaways here from watching it courtside, but from the perspective of talent (Kentucky) and cohesion (Duke), it wouldn’t surprise us to see both of these squads matching up again in that very building next April.

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1. We hit the big news yesterday about Omar Oraby being declared eligible yesterday for USC, but now Oregon has to sit back and wait for news on its own Rice big man, Arsalan Kazemi, who transferred out of Rice and to Oregon for reasons similar as Oraby. The common perception is that if Oraby got freed, then Kazemi must be next, but that is little comfort for the Ducks who face the prospect of opening their season tomorrow night without his services. Certainly, Oregon should be able to handle the likes of Northern Arizona and Portland State as they stand now, but the Ducks would sure like to have Kazemi in uniform a week from today when they host a young but talented Vanderbilt squad. With him in tow, the Ducks have a seriously strong frontcourt that could make a splash near the top of the conference standings.
2. An important correction for a recent bit of misinformation. On Wednesday morning we relayed the Los Angeles Times’ info that Shabazz Muhammad, were he healthy, would be able to participate in UCLA’s opener since it was within the 45-day window for him to participate with the team. Actually, that’s not quite right. The 45-day window allows Muhammad to participate in practices, but he won’t be eligible to compete in games until officially cleared by the NCAA, a timeline of which is still unknown. So, as it stands, the Bruins will open their season and their new-look Pauley Pavilion tonight against Indiana State, the only other school of which John Wooden held the head coaching job.
3. Speaking of Wooden, the Wooden Award Watch List was unveiled on Thursday and four different Pac-12 student-athletes earned recognition: Colorado’s Andre Roberson, California’s Allen Crabbe, Arizona’s Solomon Hill and Washington State’s Brock Motum. Of the four, Roberson is the one with the best chance of earning the individual honor, although Hill’s team is expected to have greater success. Still, Hill’s game is more of a below-the-radar game and, with guys like Mark Lyons and Nick Johnson expected to shoulder much of the scoring load, it’s unlikely he will put up the individual statistics necessary to shoulder the load. Speaking of Lyons, transfers and freshmen are ineligible for inclusion on the Preseason Top 50 list, which is why players like he, Shabazz Muhammad, and Kyle Anderson, to name just a few, are not listed.
4. Our last bit of news for the morning is that a legacy, Kameron Rooks, son of former Arizona center and long-time NBA big man Sean Rooks, was offered a scholarship by Arizona. The younger Rooks is a seven-footer just like his old man, who possesses enough talent to have received similar offers from Washington, Arizona State, and Oregon State. Like his father, Kameron has a massive body, long arms, and is a back-to-the-basket scorer. Still, at 275 pounds, his conditioning will always be a concern and he is regarded as still a work in progress. He’s currently a senior in high school and is listed as a three-star recruit.
5. Another week, another chance for me to rub in the fact that I am absolutely killing Connor in our weekly football pick ‘em contest. I took a three-game lead into last week’s picks and, behind UCLA’s drubbing of Arizona at the Rose Bowl, extended it up to four. But I ain’t about to pull a Phil Ford and drop back into the Four Corners here to run some clock. Nope. Even though Connor sent me his picks first, I’m confident enough to put half of that four-game lead on the line this week. And, assuming I don’t completely overdose on hoops action Friday night, I’m looking forward to another great Saturday (although not quite as great as last Saturday) of college football action. Our picks below, with, as always, our game of the week in bold.