jerod haase – Rush The Court

Pac-12 Needs the Two Cs to Recover

RJ Abeytia — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 20:15:03 +0000

The Pac-12 is struggling. About that there can be no doubt. The conference has no teams in the top 10 in the RPI and only two among the top 40 (#16 Arizona, #37 USC). Joe Lunardi’s latest edition of bracketology holds those two teams plus Arizona State in his field of 68, with only Washington landing among the first four out. Jeff Sagarin ranks the conference sixth overall with only (again) the Wildcats and Trojans cracking his top 40. Nothing amazing is going to happen in February to salvage the league this year. The question is whether there are any signs [...]

2017-18 Pac-12 Big “Ifs”

RJ Abeytia — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 20:15:25 +0000

The Pac-12 has had a starring role in the extracurricular tomfoolery brought to life by the FBI this offseason. Certainly this story has no expiration date on the horizon, but the games are coming and there will be no shortage of intrigue this year in the Conference of Champions. Here are 12 Big Ifs separating each team from its best-case scenario this season.

Is This Finally the Year For Arizona (USA Today Images)?

Arizona: There is just nowhere else to look when sizing up the Pac-12 favorites. Once Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins’ returns were secure, the combination of those [...]

Stanford Basketball Yearning For Its Glory Days (Or Is It?)…

Adam Butler — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:01:50 +0000

You look around Maples Pavilion and you see empty rows of seats. If you look hard enough, I’m sure you could even find columns of seats right up to the not-all-that-high Maples ceiling. There’s empty booster level seating and you can hear conversations, noises perhaps unfamiliar to a more traditional college basketball environment. Just Wednesday night, following a loss inside Indiana’s Assembly Hall, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams lamented, “I’d like to play in front of a crowd like that in the Smith Center every night other than the frickin’ Duke game.” Indeed, what sets college basketball apart – and [...]

It’s a Make or Break Week for the Pac-12

RJ Abeytia — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 21:45:28 +0000

After a sizzling opening weekend followed by some Feast Week struggles, the Pac-12 finds itself facing a potential do or die week in terms of its national perception. Three teams will be front and center this week under the bright lights of ESPN and CBS, and after 71 games and even with all of December left, chances are it will be this week’s main events that set the tone for the Pac-12 come March. Part of the concentration on these games stems from factors out of the league’s control. Oregon’s injury issues have left it a shell of the team most expected [...]

Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week 1

Mike Lemaire — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 21:01:55 +0000

The first full week of the season is finished so it is time for the first of what will be a recurring feature called Pac-12 Power Rankings. Each week we will take a look at where each team in the conference stands to date.

Finnish center Lauri Markkanen has been everything and more for the Wildcats. (Arizona Athletics)

Arizona: The Wildcats boast the best win of any team in the conference (Michigan State) and are still missing arguably their best player in Allonzo Trier. Lauri Markkanen has so far lived up to the hype and classmate Kobi Simmons has been surprisingly efficient offensively. [...]

Pac-12 Burning Questions: Can Stanford Return to Glory with Jerod Haase?

Mike Lemaire — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 18:01:13 +0000

After eight seasons of slightly better than mediocre basketball, Stanford finally pulled the trigger after a 15-15 season and fired longtime coach Johnny Dawkins. Although the decision barely made a ripple on the national scene, there are many who believe that Stanford — thanks to its idyllic setting, academic reputation and commitment to athletics — is a sleeping giant in basketball and an attractive landing spot for a rising head coach. Enter Jerod Haase, a former player and coach under Roy Williams at Kansas and North Carolina and a native of Northern California. Haase’s local ties and a coaching resume that includes turning around a [...]

Pac-12 Postseason Odds and Ends

Mike Lemaire — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:01:50 +0000

The college basketball season isn’t quite over yet but the page has already turned for the Pac-12. Once Oregon was rudely bounced from the tournament by Oklahoma last weekend, it was time for the always exciting period when coaches are hired and fired, players declare for the NBA Draft, and some others decide on a change of scenery. The Pac-12 has been full of these changes in the past two weeks — from Stanford hiring a new coach to Washington’s precocious freshmen hiring agents to a multitude of players transferring — there’s been a lot of action.

Let’s break down some of the moves that have already been [...]

NCAA Tournament Tidbits: 03.21.15 Edition

Walker Carey — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 20:09:37 +0000

March Madness is finally upon us, and we here at RTC are here to make everything a little bit easier for you. From the First Four until One Shining Moment, we’ll be dropping daily tidbits of knowledge regarding the teams in each region.

Midwest Region

Goodness Gracious. (USA Today Images)

Kentucky expected more out of itself in Thursday night’s win over Hampton. It is possible that the Wildcats need the edge back from last year when they advanced to the national title game as a #8 seed? Cincinnati interim coach Larry Davis traces his roots back to Kentucky. After earning a thrilling victory over Buffalo [...]

Rushed Reactions: #11 UCLA 92, #14 UAB 75

Walker Carey — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 19:49:23 +0000

Rush the Court will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of each of the NCAA Tournament from each of the 13 sites this year. Follow our NCAA Tourney specific Twitter accounts at @RTCeastregion, @RTCMWregion,@RTCsouthregion and @RTCwestregion.

Three Key Takeaways.

Who Had UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen Two Months Ago? (USA Today Images)

UCLA was extremely efficient offensively. The Bruins were maddeningly inconsistent throughout much of the regular season, but their offense was never really part of the problem. Yes, their 44.1 percent field goal percentage (135th in the country) is just slightly above average nationally, but their 72 points per game and the [...]

Rushed Reactions: #14 UAB 60, #3 Iowa State 59

Walker Carey — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:19:39 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

It wasn’t a good day for the Cyclones. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

This was an enormous upset. Iowa State entered Thursday’s game as a 14-point favorite. This large of a point spread made sense as the Cyclones were fresh off taking home the Big 12 Tournament title and were widely seen as a team that could possibly get to the Final Four. UAB only earned [...]

What’s Next at Alabama After Anthony Grant?

Greg Mitchell — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 19:54:05 +0000

Anthony Grant was the SEC’s lone coaching question mark heading into the offseason, but unfortunately for the sixth-year Alabama head coach, news of his firing was released shortly before Alabama received an NIT bid. This led commentator and former Providence head coach Tim Welsh to candidly hurl the following zinger toward athletic director Bill Battle during the NIT Selection Show (after hurling a true but strangely-placed zinger at the NIT itself).

Welsh’s sentiment seems to capture the consensus on Grant as a well-liked and respectable guy. He was never surrounded by scandal or shadiness and Grant had clearly impressed Battle a year ago when he wrote [...]

Morning Five: 01.14.15 Edition

nvr1983 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 12:15:28 +0000

Wisconsin point guard Traevon Jackson is expected to miss six weeks after fracturing a bone in his right foot during their loss at Rutgers. Jackson, who was averaging 9.4 points and 2.9 assists per game, is scheduled to undergo surgerytomorrow and start rehab in 2-3 weeks. The Badgers have enough talent to weather Jackson’s absence (look for Nigel Hayes and Sam Dekkar to have a large burden placed on them) and will probably use Bronson Koenig to take some of Jackson’s minutes so the big thing for the Badgers is for Jackson to return healthy in time for March. In [...]

2012-13 RTC Conference Primers: Conference USA

Brian Goodman — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:32:25 +0000

Ryan Peters is the RTC correspondent for Conference USA. You can find him on Twitter @pioneer_pride and read his musings online at Big Apple Buckets and Pioneer Pride.

Top Storylines

A Conference in Considerable Flux – Before Memphis, Houston, UCF, and SMU defect to the Big East – which officially makes a geographic mockery of the Big East’s name – C-USA will have one final season together as a full-fledged “upper-level” Division I conference. With only six NCAA Tournament teams and zero NCAA tournament victories in the past three seasons, however, can C-USA muster together a respectable showing for the 2012-13 campaign that doesn’t rival most mid-major conferences? [...]

ACC Morning Five: 03.28.12 Edition

mpatton — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:01:47 +0000

Durham Herald-Sun and Inside Carolina: The ACC is very involved in the race to get Connecticut transfer Alex Oriakhi. According to Jeff Goodman, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Florida, Temple, Xavier, UCLA, Missouri, George Mason, Virginia Tech, Virginia and UNC Charlotte have all reached out to the rising senior big man. Additionally, Kentucky, Florida and Missouri may not be able to recruit him because the SEC has a rule against one-year transfers. I’d be a little surprised if Oriakhi ends up at North Carolina (though he should definitely wait a couple weeks to see who will be coming back) [...]

Morning Five: 03.27.12 Edition

nvr1983 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:00:54 +0000

He may not be coaching this weekend, but Frank Martin may have been more active yesterday than any of the coaches that will be coaching in the Final Four. The former Kansas State coach will become the next South Carolina coach. Rumors about this initially came up a few days ago from a source on Twitter that wasn’t well-established and took them down soon after they spread like wildfire. Now a few days later, it looks like there may be some validity to the rumors. Initial reports indicate that South Carolina is looking at paying Martin $2.05 million per year, which is a substantial [...]