We are two weeks into our Pac-12 Pick’Em and things are beginning to heat up. Adam and Parker stole the show in our second week of picks, with each of them correctly picking nine of the 12 contests. Parker currently sits atop our leaderboard at 20-5 overall. I was the only one to miss UCLA’s win in Houston on Saturday afternoon, and Drew was the only one to pick Illinois’ upset of Gonzaga in Spokane. Unfortunately for Mr. Murawa, losses by Washington, USC, Fresno State, and California have put him in last place, all by himself. So now, we enter week three. Florida’s visit to Arizona and Kansas State meeting Gonzaga in Seattle headline the list as our games of the week.

Only a couple of differences in opinion this week. Drew was the only one to take the visiting Gators against Arizona, while Adam thinks #16 Creighton will knock off California in Berkeley. Adam also predicted the largest score differential in each highlighted game, taking the Wildcats to win by nine, and the Zags to win by 16.

1. Despite being ranked #8 in the country and currently 7-0, the Arizona Wildcats haven’t had a home sellout yet this year. All signs point to that changing this Saturday when the 5th ranked Florida Gators come to town. On Tuesday, the assistant director of ticket operations said that Arizona has under 50 tickets remaining for the game, so there’s little doubt it will be a sellout. Despite this fact, Sean Miller has praised the atmosphere in Tucson countless times and pointed out that many other high major programs don’t get the support that Arizona gets early in the year and it’s true. The average attendance this year so far has been 13,557 fans in a McKale Center that has a maximum capacity of 14,538 seats. When Saturday comes around, the McKale Center will definitely be loud and that home court advantage should help the Wildcats throughout the game.
2. After Washington’s 4-4 start, Lorenzo Romar has realized that he needs to change up his demeanor on the sideline. The Huskies this year have been too laid back for Romar’s taste and he wants them to play with higher energy, more intensity and more consistency. Romar believes his team has played to the level of their inferior opponents’ talent so far this year and it is evident in their close losses to Albany and Nevada and a close win over Cal State Fullerton. It doesn’t help that the Huskies continue to deal with an ankle injury to Andrew Andrews, a knee injury to Shawn Kemp Jr., and planter fasciitis to Scott Suggs, but Romar has been displeased with his team’s start to say the least.
3. Before the season started, the USC Trojans didn’t have to do much to improve on last year’s performance, but their slow start hasn’t exactly been what they hoped for. The Trojans have struggled moving the ball effectively and their half-court offense has been lacking in efficiency which has resulted in too much isolation. On a brighter note, the team is getting it together in the second half of games as they have outscored their opponents 303-280 in the final 20 minutes despite their 3-6 record. For the Trojans to be successful this season, they are still going to have to find a consistent efficient scorer as their leading scorer J.T Terrell is shooting 30 percent from the field despite leading the team with 11 points per game.
4. Cal’s Allen Crabbe is the nation’s sixth leading scorer, averaging 21.9 points per game and is set to duel with the fifth leading scorer in the nation as Greg McDermott and Creighton head into Haas Pavilion on Saturday. McDermott is no stranger to scoring as he was the nation’s third leading scorer last year. This also won’t be the first time Crabbe has seen McDermott as the two faced off at the U-19 USA Basketball Camp in 2011. Both McDermott and Crabbe can shoot the lights out from all over the court, and Cal will certainly need all it can get from the talented junior if they want to pull of the upset against #16 ranked Creighton.
5. All the buzz might be around top recruit Jabari Parker on Thursday when the 2012-13 Geico ESPN High School Basketball Showcase takes place tomorrow night across the ESPN networks, but the Pac-12 will be focusing on a different top 10 recruit. Kentucky, Washington, and Arizona are all still in the hunt to land Aaron Gordon. Gordon will get to prove himself at 8 PM ET against great competition as he will take on Andrew and Aaron Harrison, both top five recruits and current 2013 Kentucky commitsments.

Here’s a look at the power rankings that Drew, Parker, Adam, and I have compiled after the fourth week of Pac-12 games (delta in parentheses):

1. Arizona, 7-0 (-): Another week, another spotless slate for Arizona. The easier game of the week actually proved to be a road victory at Clemson on Saturday night. The Tigers hung tough for most of the night, but the Wildcats rode a 25-7 run that stretched from around the 11-minute mark in the second half to just under the two-minute point to put down any hopes of an upset. The Wildcats weren’t able to do the same four nights earlier in Tucson against a tough Southern Miss team, as the Golden Eagles hung around and hung around until UA sealed it with some free throws in the closing minutes. Turnovers again plagued Mark Lyons and the rest of the Wildcats in general, as USM forced an astounding 27 miscues in the near-shocker at McKale. Regardless, Arizona is the only team still perfect in the Pac-12, making them the unanimous pick up at the top. Despite their problem with turnovers, I’ve bought into Sean Miller’s club after a full month of play. For the ones that still haven’t, games against Florida, and possibly Miami (FL) and San Diego State in the coming weeks, will give us a good gauge of just how dangerous this team is. Up Next: 12/15 vs. Florida.
2. Oregon, 8-1 (-): Oregon’s only game of the week was an absolute massacre, a 87-35 thrashing of Idaho State in Eugene. Freshman guard Damyean Dotson continued his strong play for the Ducks, leading all scorers with 12 points in just 16 minutes of action. Up Next: 12/15 vs. Nebraska.
   

   Damyean Dotson Is Averaging 11.3 PPG In His Inaugural Season With The Ducks (credit: NW Sports Beat)

3. California, 6-2 (^1): Despite dropping its only game of the week, California rises a spot in this week’s rankings. That’s mostly thanks to a strong, albeit frustrating, showing on Sunday afternoon against UNLV, but it also helped the Bears that the teams around them either faced poor competition or got blown out last week. The Golden Bears need to break this current losing streak on Saturday against yet another tough opponent. Up Next: 12/15 vs. Creighton.
4. Oregon State, 5-2 (^2): I’m still not completely sold on this Oregon State team, but it appears that the fact its two losses have come by a combined nine points, both against teams that will likely be dancing come March, has had an effect on the rest of the panel. The Beavers took the week off for finals before hosting an awful Grambling State team on Saturday afternoon. The result was an 85-54 win, a margin that would have been much bigger if not for a 24-4 Tiger run late in the second half. Junior guard Roberto Nelson led the way for OSU, going 5-of-6 from three-point land en route to a 26-point performance. Up Next: 12/12 @ Portland State. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Otskey is an RTC columnist. Every Tuesday during the regular season he’ll be giving his 10 thoughts on the previous week’s action. You can find him on Twitter @botskey.

1. Illinois fans, here is my mea culpa. I was wrong not to rank your team. On Saturday night, the Fighting Illini ventured up to Spokane and walked out of the Kennel with the best win of any team to date. Yes, better than Duke’s wins over Louisville and Ohio State. Why? There has not been a road win of this magnitude by any team through this early point in the season. The Illini proved they’re for real with a dominant second half against a very strong Gonzaga team. After taking the opening punch and falling behind 8-0 right out of the gate, John Groce’s team didn’t panic and made fantastic adjustments. Gonzaga’s game plan was clearly to feed the ball inside and try to dominate a less than imposing Illinois front line. Illinois’ defense suddenly picked up later in the first half, swarming the Gonzaga big men and forcing the Bulldogs into an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers. Illinois was able to speed the game up a bit and prevent Gonzaga from setting up its half court offense effectively. The Zags attempted 18 threes which is right about their season average but a lot of them were rushed and not something the game plan should have called for against an Illinois team without a significant inside presence. Brandon Paul looked like an All-America candidate with his performance not just on the offensive end but defensively against Pangos and the Gonzaga guards as well. Can Illinois keep this level of play up? I’m not sure but I know one thing: The Illini are way better than I thought. This team’s over-reliance on the three-point shot is concerning and is bound to catch up with them at some point, but Illinois has already proved it will be a factor in the loaded Big Ten.
   

   Brandon Paul Looked Like An All-American Candidate On Saturday Night In Spokane. (Joe Robbins/Getty)

2. Another impressive performance played out in a different fashion on Saturday night in Clemson, South Carolina. Trailing Clemson by six points midway through the second half, Arizona absorbed the hit and put the pedal down in impressive fashion with a 26-5 run down the stretch to come out of rowdy Littlejohn Coliseum with a sneaky good road win. It was an impressive showing because this Arizona team had been highly touted but untested coming into the game. The Wildcats passed that test with flying colors as they head into a Saturday showdown with Florida in Tucson. Mark Lyons took control in the final minutes for Arizona but contributions from Nick Johnson (13 points, five steals) and Solomon Hill (10 rebounds despite an awful shooting night) illustrate the talent and depth of Sean Miller’s team. Although he didn’t have a great game, I was thoroughly impressed with the physique of freshman Kaleb Tarczewski. It was the first time I’ve seen him play and his body appears mature beyond his age. He’ll be a load for any opponent in the post. Arizona is clearly the best team in the Pac-12 and has the pieces to make a deep run in March. With the gritty Miller at the helm and a boatload of talent, this team will keep getting better as the year moves along. Make sure you watch the Wildcats take on Florida this Saturday night in what could prove to be the best non-conference game of the season.
3. Another week, another confounding loss for Baylor. Just when you thought the Bears were turning the corner after winning at Kentucky, they put together an absolute stinker of a loss at home to a mediocre Northwestern team that had just suffered back-to-back home losses to Maryland and Illinois-Chicago. Baylor was dominated on the glass by a Northwestern lineup that isn’t all that physically imposing and allowed the Wildcats to shoot 51% for the game. It is inexcusable for a team with Baylor’s talent to have three losses at this point in the season but you know what I like to say, nobody does less with more than Scott Drew. When you look at the statistics, Baylor appears to be a pretty good team. But the chemistry and focus clearly is lacking, otherwise this team wouldn’t have lost to Charleston and Northwestern on its home court. Baylor is a highly talented team and has actually improved its turnover numbers significantly from previous years. Pierre Jackson is playing like one of the best point guards in America and Drew has seen junior forward Cory Jefferson take a huge step forward. Baylor has two more non-conference challenges before Big 12 play begins, against BYU in Waco and a tough trip to Gonzaga in back to back games at the end of this month. Even if the Bears enter Big 12 play at 8-4, I still believe this team is good enough to eventually earn a Top 25 ranking and fit solidly in the NCAA Tournament. At this point however, Baylor just isn’t there yet. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Although the Arizona Wildcats have been the best team in the Pac-12 this year, they showed some weaknesses this past week in victories against Clemson and Southern Miss. Senior leader Solomon Hill went 5-of-23 from the field and had nine turnovers in the two-game stretch and the Wildcats’ highly touted freshmen trio struggled as well. Grant Jerrett, Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley only shot the ball a combined four times in Arizona’s victory over Southern Miss and Jerrett and Tarczewski combined to go 4-of-13 against Clemson. Sean Miller noted that this was the most physical front line Arizona’s big men had seen so far season, but it won’t get any easier this week as the Wildcats prepare to take on the #5 Florida Gators in Tucson this Saturday.
2. Colorado knows it has to improve its team defense if the Buffs don’t want to get humiliated again like they did this past Saturday against Kansas (90-54). Tad Boyle came into the game with a plan to force the Jayhawks to shoot contested threes and limit them in transition, but clearly that didn’t work as Kansas hit eight three-pointers and scored 20 points on the fast break. At the beginning of the year, Colorado’s defense was a key contributor to their success and was a main factor in a national ranking as high as No. 19 in the country, but now their lack of defense is the reason they have lost two of their last three. The Buffaloes will travel to Fresno State on Wednesday for their last road game before conference play and must improve their defense to pull out a victory.
3. It hasn’t been easy for Roberto Nelson since his arrival at Oregon State a few years ago. Nelson is now a junior and hasn’t lived up to the expectations of a four-star recruit who was looked at someone who could turn the program around. However, with the departure of Jared Cunningham to the NBA, Nelson is trying to step up. He worked on his game in the offseason and he’s seen results in that he’s averaging 13.9 points per game, good for second best on the team. There hasn’t been a doubt whether Nelson has had the ability to take over games and become OSU’s go-to-guy, but he still needs to improve his consistency throughout an entire season before the naysayers will drop off somewhat.
4. UCLA fans are still displeased with Ben Howland and are using some satire to show their disapproval. Arguments for keeping Howland as head coach include his three straight Final Fours and a strong recruiting class this past year. On the other hand, UCLA is arguably the most prestigious college basketball program in the nation and those results should be expected. In addition, UCLA has watched the departures of Tyler Lamb and Josh Smith from the team so far this year and were upset at home against an far less talented Cal Poly team in Pauley Pavilion. Comedy appears to be the only way that some UCLA fans can cope with Howland’s problems, which show no sign of letting up short of finding some additional eligibility for Kevin Love and Jordan Farmar.
5. At one point this year Washington was top five in the RPI, but after some unexpected losses the Huskies are experiencing a free-fall. After being ranked #36 in the RPI last week, they now find themselves all the way at #111 after losing to Nevada, the Huskies’ third home non-conference loss of the season — a feat that had never happened under Lorenzo Romar. The nightmarish start continues for a team that was once picked to finish fifth in the conference and who now looks completely lost and out of sync.

Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. *Ed. Note: since Monday night had such a weak schedule of games, we combined the ATB for that night into the weekend’s edition.

The Weekend’s Lede. Prepare For College Hoops Boredom.In the interest of sparing you Monday night’s gulf of emptiness, and to give you a substantial recap to kick off the week in preparation for probably the most non-eventful week on the college hoops calendar, I’m incorporating the weekend into a lengthy ATB review. There was plenty of exciting action over the past three days, and for your sake and mine, I hope you enjoyed as much as of it as you can. If you missed anything – if the seasonal urge of holiday shopping or Christmas tree purchasing consumed your time – the next few days could feel especially painful. The dreaded final exam lull sneaked under the national consciousness, cloaked by the sport’s high drama in leagues across the country, but there’s no avoiding it any longer; it’s here. In that spirit, hopefully the weekend that was gave you enough to chew on over the coming week. I’ve singled out a few highlights, big moments and breathtaking plays to guide your thinking. For the sake of good, exciting basketball, let’s dive into the past three days’ worth of games.

Your Watercooler Moment. Illinois Is Better Than We Thought, And Now It has A Win To Prove it. 

The Illini made a statement by beating Gonzaga on its home court (Photo credit: AP Photo).

Entering Saturday night’s showdown at Gonzaga, the most you could say about Illinois was that John Groce had clearly coaxed better performances across the board from the same players who quit on Bruce Weber down the stretch last season. They were undefeated, ranked in the top 15 of last week’s AP Poll, and clearly improved over last year’s NCAA Tournament miss. But if you dug deep into Illinois’ body of work, it was hard not to come away thinking their undefeated start (and Maui Invitational crown) had at least something to do with a mostly forgiving early schedule. What the Illini did in Spokane – take down a top 10 team with Final Four potential on its home floor – legitimizes their undefeated run. Granted, the Bulldogs were coming off an unimpressive two-point escape at Washington State, the only time they’d been challenged all season, but it’s hard to argue Mark Few’s team wasn’t one of the nation’s best when the Illini visited the Kennel Saturday night. All things considered, Illinois’ victory was one of the most impressive true road wins we’ve seen all season. And no small measure of credit is owed to Brandon Paul, who contributed 35 points on 10-of-16 shooting in a national coming-out party that saw not only his own perception (and NBA draft stock) skyrocket, but also that of his team, and their prospectus in a crowded Big Ten.

Also Worth Chatting About. Kansas Is Still Kansas.

The Buffaloes were no match for Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse (Photo credit: Getty Images).

Just when you thought Kansas’ run of eight straight Big 12 titles might be in jeopardy, when the losses of National Player of the Year finalist Thomas Robinson and erratic-yet-effective point guard Tyshawn Taylor would leave the Jayhawks on the short end of another casually brilliant Bill Self season, Kansas goes out and eviscerates a very good Colorado team on national television to validate its place among the nation’s elite crust of national frontrunners. That’s just what the Jayhawks needed to reintroduce their veteran leadership and collective talent to the world, and to erase any doubts that existed about their league and national championship bona fides – if those doubts even existed in the first place. More importantly, Kansas unleashed highly-anticipated redshirt freshman Ben McLemore as a Freshman of the Year type of talent that many pegged him as. McLemore had already shown the potential to be Kansas’ primary offensive weapon this year; Saturday’s romp merely confirmed what many already knew.

Dunkdafied #1. Earlier this season, Mason Plumlee punctuated Duke’s comeback victory (and in the eyes of much of the national hoops consciousness, it’s No. 1 ranking) over Ohio State with a breathtaking alley-oop. Victor Oladipo sees you and raises you this rim-rock (and we can probably assume he fashions his Hoosiers the best team in the land). No lobs needed here, thank you very much.

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As we ponder what happened to Colorado this weekend, what is missing in Washington, and what exactly we witnessed as UCLA and Texas met in a football stadium, we search around the conference for some good news while handing out our weekly honors.

Team of the Week – Arizona

Last week we gave the Wildcats these honors almost by default, since very few other teams stood out. This week, while again very few teams stood out, we feel pretty good about our selection. While Utah and Colorado scored nice wins early in the week, neither could back that up by handling their opposition on Saturday. The ‘Cats, however, scraped by Southern Miss on Tuesday in an ugly but effective performance, then came back over the weekend to score a quality road win over Clemson. In doing so, they put themselves in excellent shape to win this award three times in a row, because I guarantee you, if they win Saturday against Florida, you’ll see their name here again next week.

Jordan Bachynski’s History-Making Day For Arizona State Earned Him Our POTW Honors (US Presswire)

Player of the Week – Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State

After Bachynski’s six points, three boards and three blocks against Hartford on Wednesday, he was all but eliminated from contention for this award, especially considering that same night Spencer Dinwiddie was going off for 29 points, Brock Motum and DaVonte Lacy turned in excellent performances in losing efforts, and Bachynski’s own teammate, Jahii Carson, was continuing his excellent season. But, on Saturday afternoon, Bachynski threw down the gauntlet, posting the first recorded triple-double in ASU history, and doing it the hard way. His 13 points and 12 rebounds are pretty standard fare, but 12 blocks? Yup, that’s one way to earn some recognition. In doing so, Bachynski became the first player in the conference to record a triple-double since Daniel Hackett did it more than five years ago. Bachynski now leads the nation in blocked shots this season with 50.

Newcomer of the Week – Jahii Carson, Arizona State

Carson makes it a complete sweep for the Grand Canyon State this week, after averaging 20.5 points, 6.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game in the Sun Devils’ two wins this week. This is Carson’s second such honor this year and clearly the long wait for his eligibility was well worth it for Herb Sendek and Sun Devil fans.

Brian Joyce (@bjoyce_hoops) is an RTC correspondent and writer for the SEC microsite. He filed this report after Saturday’s Clemson-Arizona game in Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina. 

Littlejohn Coliseum was rockin’ on Saturday night when Clemson hosted the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats. With just over 11 minutes left in the game, Clemson had a young Arizona team on the ropes with a six-point lead. The Tigers were hosting their first Top 25 non-conference opponent since 2000, and were hoping for their first victory over such a foe since a win over South Carolina in the 1997-98 season. The Wildcats were rattled, and could have easily thrown in the towel. But senior point guard Mark Lyons wouldn’t allow his Wildcats to lose. When the college basketball world tuned into ESPN2 to determine if a collection of freshmen from one of the nation’s top 10 teams could respond in a hostile environment, it was the transfer from Xavier who put the team on his back. In crunch time, Lyons scored eight points, dished out two assists, and came up with one steal. He may not be a natural fit at the point guard position, but he solidified his standing as Arizona’s team leader.

Lyons led Arizona when the going got tough at Clemson. (US Presswire)

Lyons committed just one turnover on Saturday night, and it came within the first four minutes of the game. He did not turn the ball over once after that. He was the ultimate senior leader for a team playing in a hostile environment needing a lift. He finished the contest with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, four rebounds, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Some continue to criticize Lyons’ play at point guard with the argument that he commits too many turnovers and does not pass the ball enough. Don’t count his coach among the skeptics.

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A relatively quiet week in terms of movement within the Top 25, and this coming week may be even quieter as many schools throughout the country have a lull in their schedule because of semester exams. In the Week 4 poll, the top seven teams went unchanged, and all but two teams had movement of two spots or less. The big result over the weekend was, of course, Illinois’ upset at Gonzaga. Illinois moves into our Top 10 after not even garnering a single vote in the preseason Top 25. John Groce has the Illini well on their way.

This week’s QnD after the jump…

Quick ‘n Dirty Analysis.

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From the moment it was first rumored, the relocation of the conference tournament to Las Vegas has created quite a buzz among Pac-12 basketball fans. Adam Butler (@pachoopsAB) of PacHoops will be here every week as he offers his unique perspective along our March to Vegas.

We knew Mark Lyons was going to be watched under a microscope the moment it was made public he’d transfer. There have been just a handful of grad transfers and he’s amongst the highest profile school swappers of that nature. All of this you know. What we did not know is whether Lyons would fit in with his teammates; whether bringing in a player of his caliber and hubris would be cancerous or auspicious; whether Mark Lyons could be a point guard? Much had been made of the third Lyons conundrum this week as the argument was made that the senior was struggling. Following his performance in Lubbock, he found himself with an underwhelming 0.8 A/T ratio. Not good. But knowing this fact, not once did it dawn on me that Lyons might be struggling, despite subsequently reading three different articles (third was an ESPN insider) regarding his struggles. I disagreed and proposed why he wasn’t struggling. Turnovers are a concern but that alone does not a point guard ruin.

Mark Lyons’ Game Has Been Under Attack This Week, But While He May Not Be A Traditional Point Guard, He Helps His Team Win (Luke Adams)

Then this week’s Burning Question was proposed: Who is the best point guard in the Pac-12? So I sat down to begin my research, punched my password into KenPom and pulled up the Pac-12 cumulative stats; and then I realized I had no idea what I was looking for. Assist to turnover ratios? Assist rates? Turnover rates? Points scored or the lack thereof? It began grinding at me that I had no idea how to quantify a point guard. After all, we live in the era of Nate Silver so everything must be quantified. But as I burrowed further and further down the rabbit hole of advanced stats, looking into each of the conference’s point guards, I could find no continuity to the statistics. Dinwiddie led in ORtg and eFG%; Larry Drew II in assist rate; Ahmad Starks in turnover rate; Dominic Artis in steal percentage. Conversely, Dinwiddie and Starks don’t rack up many assists, Drew barely scores, and Artis does a little of a lot. And I hadn’t even begun to look at Justin Cobbs, Chasson Randle, Jahii Carson, Jio Fontan, or Lyons. Just on name recognition, I’m taking one of that second crew (I’d eventually pick Randle just because I really like his game). Alas, the BQ and my early week reading-and-rebutting had me stewing on Lyons and what makes a point guard. His oh-for-the-game, 4/2/2 and three turnover performance against Southern Miss on Tuesday then did nothing to help his cause. Or did it? Lyons played 29 minutes in that game and all of the critical ones. Statistically speaking, Mark Lyons struggled. But he continued to play, Sean Miller opting to keep the senior on the floor. It was in this tiny but all-important fact that I think I found my answer.

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