1. For those who want to take a look at the NIT Champion Stanford basketball team, the Cardinal will be holding their own version of Midnight Madness this Friday. Titled “Friday Frenzy”, the night will feature a Cardinal-White scrimmage, an open women’s practice, and a dunk contest. The scrimmage will certainly be worth the price of free admission as the 2012-13 Cardinal looks to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. They have a potential all-conference backcourt in the duo of Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright, and expect the post play to be much improved as Johnny Dawkins welcomes in Rosco Allen and Grant Verhoeven. The event should get Cardinal fans revved up for a big weekend of sports, as the football team will be playing in the Big Game a mere 18 hours later. Stanford will open up the exhibition season on November 4 against UNC Pembroke.
2. After finishing 2011-12 with an awful 6-26 record, USC is a trendy pick for “team to surprise” this year in the Pac-12. Excitement took a bit of a hit last month when it was learned that junior guard Maurice Jones would have to sit out the year due to academics, but the return of Jio Fontan from injury will help out the backcourt. The revamped roster will feature five transfers, all of whom can contribute immediately. J.T. Terrell (Peninsula College) and Ari Stewart (Wake Forest), both of whom played together in Winston-Salem before ending up in Los Angeles, are expected to make the biggest impact. Throw in a pair of incoming freshmen in Strahinja Gavrilovic and Brendyn Taylor, junior center Dewayne Dedmon, and senior forward Aaron Fuller, and Kevin O’Neill has a pretty nice 10-man rotation to play around with. And while finding valuable minutes for everyone might be tough early on, it will be a welcome challenge for a team that struggled with depth issues all of last season.
3. Be sure to check all of your Twitter feeds this morning (or whatever you use to follow the decisions of 18-year-old kids), as the Contra Costa Times reported yesterday that Marcus Lee would be announcing his college choice at some point throughout the day. One of the top forwards in the nation, the Deer Valley High School (CA) prospect has narrowed his choices down to California and Kentucky. Lee was supposed to take a visit to Berkeley this weekend and take in the Big Game experience, but he has apparently come to a decision after taking in “Big Blue Madness” last Friday in Lexington.
4. The guys over at Bruins Nation have put together an extensive look at both the best and worst case scenarios for the 2012-13 UCLA Bruins. On the best case side of things, “DCBruins” has Ben Howland’s bunch going 10-2 in non-conference action with losses to Georgetown and Missouri. The Bruins then go on to win the Pac-12 with a 15-3 record before making the Final Four. The worst case scenario doesn’t go over any specific games or records, but instead focuses on what the Bruin rotation will look like if Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson aren’t cleared to play.
5. Speaking of Muhammad and Anderson’s eligibility, the Los Angeles Times covered that exact topic this morning. Bill Plaschke‘s column discusses how the team’s media day was monitored by the school’s vice-chancellor for legal affairs, and that the silence being put forth by the program is putting itself under a dark cloud. But as Plaschke states at the end, most everyone “would rather have UCLA chase those big stars and endure the NCAA microscope than settle for the mediocre acquisitions who never are noticed.” And even if recruiting classes like the one Howland brought in this season may label him as a “cheater,” he had no choice. It’s safe to say Howland’s job is on incredibly thin ice, and without guys like Jordan Adams, Tony Parker, Muhammad, and Anderson, Howland very well might not have survived the duration of the 2012-13 campaign. So even if the program is under a cloud now, it’ll be worth it in the long run that Howland brought these big names in.

Last week, a pair of my colleagues here posted their lists of five non-conference games featuring Pac-12 teams to watch. To be clear, Connor Pelton’s list was of the five most watchable games on the slate, while Kevin Danna’s list was the five most important games. Today I’ll tell you the games that Connor and Kevin missed on their respective lists and tell you why these games need to be right there among the best of the Pac-12’s non-conference games.

First, Kevin picked the following five games as the most important non-conference games:

1. USC vs. Illinois
2. UCLA vs. Georgetown
3. Stanford vs. Missouri
4. California at Wisconsin
5. Florida at Arizona

Now, to be sure, those are by no means a bad slate of games. And, given the state in which we last saw Pac-12 basketball, any games its member institutions play in the non-conference should be considered very important, as the league tries to re-establish its national credibility. That being said, I’m looking for one of two things in ranking the importance of non-conference games: Either match-ups of elite teams against teams that figure to be highly ranked come March, or match-ups of middle-of-the-Pac teams against other potential bubblicious teams. Kevin nailed a couple of the first type here, especially with the UCLA/Georgetown Legends Classic semifinal that will not only give the Bruins a chance to score a solid win over a solid Big East team, but could also give the squad a chance to score a major RPI booster against Indiana in the final of that tournament. Likewise, if Arizona can take care of Florida, that should be a nice feather in the Wildcats’ cap come Selection Sunday, especially considering their otherwise ordinary (at best) non-conference slate.

Kevin does a great job picking out a couple other key early season tournament games, with USC needing to open its run in the Maui Invitational with a win over Illinois in order to give the Trojans a chance at other big names deeper in that tourney. Stanford is in a similar situation in the loaded Battle 4 Atlantis tourney. Really, there’s not a lot on his list to argue with, but I’d pick out a couple other games that could be harbingers of what is to come on Selection Sunday.

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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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Returning for another season, we’ve got our weekly Burning Question. Once a week, we’ll try to ask the big question around the conference and get answers from all of our correspondents. We’ve got a big crew this year, so hopefully we’ll get plenty of opinions. To kick things off, we’ll get right to the elephant in the room and address just how awful the Pac-12 was last season. Here’s our question:

Last year was arguably the worst basketball season in the history of the Pac-whatever. However, all signs point to an improved conference this year. How much better will the conference be and what needs to happen for the Pac-12 to prove it to the rest of the country?

Cal & Colorado Were Left Carrying the Pac-12 Flag Last Season

Adam Butler: I really cannot contextualize exactly how rock bottom last season was. To have your conference champion – by definition the best team – not be selected to dance is outright embarrassing. It was so bad that I will not propagate the statistical or anecdotal proof.

And neither will the teams. Or at least some of them. This cast of Pac-twelvers has some players and I’m legitimately excited to see it go down. That said, the question posed here is a matter of demonstrating that they’re good and I don’t know if there are too many opportunities for this conference to do that. A list of the group’s 141 non-conference games shows a less than competitive set and I’m ok with that. Fly under the radar this year because last year these guys flew right the heck off it. No need to roll the ball out and get smacked around night in and night out through November and December. Then, once out of the non-conference slate, it’s not going to matter much. It’s a dog fight and it is twelve teams who don’t give a lick about who’s thought of as a good or bad team. These squads want to demolish their opponent no matter whether Gottlieb or Bilas or Vitale or Goodman, or even you, think they’re nationally relevant. Winning the games you’re supposed to win becomes the ultimate proof. Can Arizona not drop a dance clincher again to Arizona State? Washington to Oregon State? Can UCLA focus on Ben-ball and not raves, missing flights and intra-team fighting? Will Stanford escape Salt Lake with a win?

So, I guess my short answer is, just don’t suck again.

Kevin Danna: There’s no way the Pac-12 won’t be better than last year. How much better largely depends on how well the incoming freshmen at the perceived “top dogs” of the conference integrate themselves into their new digs. UCLA has had a lot of star recruits come through Pauley the last few years, and many of them haven’t lived up to expectations. Arizona was ranked in the preseason last year largely because of their freshmen, but things didn’t play out as expected. While both sets of freshman classes should be considerably better this year, they still need to prove it on the court.

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Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Double Dip for Coach Cal

In what is being referred to as the best package deal in high school recruiting by a number of national recruiting analysts, twin brothers Andrew and Aaron Harrison of Fort Bend Travis High School (Texas) verbally committed to the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, October 4. Andrew, the top rated point guard and No. 2 overall prospect in the ESPN 100 and Aaron, the top rated shooting guard and No. 4 overall prospect, chose the Wildcats over the Maryland Terrapins and SMU Mustangs. The addition of the Harrisons will automatically vault the Wildcats as the No. 1 overall class in 2013 over SEC rival Florida.

The Harrison Twins are the latest dynamic duo to commit to Kentucky (maxpreps)

“Coach Calipari presented a challenge for us. He would push us every day,” Andrew said. “We just want to be better players.” Aaron added: “Also, coach Calipari did not guarantee anything and we liked that.” The announcement comes after an intense summer of recruiting for the twin brothers. Throughout the AAU evaluation period, coaching staffs from the final three schools were spotted at almost every event that the Harrisons participated in with their AAU club, Houston Defenders.

In the end, it was a neck-and-neck race between Kentucky and Maryland with SMU a distant third in the running. Kentucky head coach John Calipari and Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon battled for the services for the Harrisons up until the very last minute. Turgeon even made a visit on Wednesday in an attempt to make one final impression on the Harrison family. A Maryland commitment would have clearly brought the Terrapins back to national relevance.

Speculation ran rampant throughout the week leading up to the announcement that the decision may have been swinging in Maryland’s favor, mainly because the mainstream gear brand Under Armour was playing a huge role in the recruitment. Under Armour outfits both the Terrapins and the Harrison’s AAU club coached by their father, Aaron Harrison Sr.

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And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#28 – Where Quadruple Overtime Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

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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1. Way back on April 11, Shabazz Muhammad signed with UCLA, guaranteeing Ben Howland one of the year’s best recruiting classes and boosting the hopes of Bruins’ fans. While there have been some good moments since then (such as when Tony Parker eventually committed to UCLA as well), now nearly six months later, the Bruins are on a bit of a losing streak even though they have yet to play a game. They learned yesterday that returning starter Tyler Lamb will miss at least a month while recovering from knee surgery. Throw that on top of the NCAA investigations into Muhammad and fellow recruits Parker and Kyle Anderson, along with bad news from Joshua Smith’s scale, and there is some concern as to where this season is going. However, on the bright side, Lamb will likely be back soon after the season begins, and even if UCLA plays without him for a handful of games, sophomore guard Norman Powell should be ready and willing to step in and use the available minutes to make his case for more playing time.
2. As for the other question marks mentioned above, UCLA fans are hoping to get some positive answers. First, on the matter of Joshua Smith’s diet, once again progress is being reported. Though there is still no one that will actually go on record with a three-digit number meant to accurately represent his weight, Smith claims that his body fat percentage is down from 25% when he came to campus two years ago to just 17% today, with a future goal of 10%. Still, at this point, especially given last year’s often lackluster effort, college basketball fans will largely take a wait-and-see approach to Smith’s waistline. Meanwhile, Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson have begun preliminary workouts with the Bruins despite the fact that the NCAA has yet to rule on their eligibility. This means (correct me if I am wrong) that for the next 45 days, these guys are eligible to practice with the team and play in games. Once those 45 days expire, either they must be cleared or they must stop working out with the team until their investigations are resolved. The scuttlebutt is that Anderson will be cleared by the NCAA (although, until that actually happens, Bruins fans have every right to be nervous), while any guess on Muhammad’s eventual status is just that, a guess.
3. Lamb’s knee surgery isn’t the only big injury news around the conference. California head coach Mike Montgomery announced on Monday that sophomore guard Ricky Kreklow underwent surgery on his right foot and will be out of action for up to two months. Kreklow transferred into Berkeley after spending one season at Missouri, where he shot 28.3% from three in limited minutes as a freshman in 2010-11. After sitting out last season per NCAA rules, the former Mr. Basketball in Missouri in 2010 was expected to jump into the Golden Bear starting lineup this season as a three-point shooting specialist, but instead will have to serve as a midseason reinforcement. Coupled with the transfers of guards Alex Rossi and Emerson Murray this offseason, the Bears now find themselves slightly shorthanded in the backcourt, with returning starters Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe being joined by Brandon Smith and freshman Tyrone Wallace. The injury could mean that instead of employing a three-guard starting lineup of Cobbs, Crabbe and Kreklow, Cal could opt to go bigger along the front line. Stay tuned.
4. Last week, the consensus #1 player in the 2013 recruiting class, Jabari Parker, narrowed his list of potential schools down to five. This is important for Pac-12 fans for a couple of different reasons. First, and foremost, Stanford is one of the quintet of schools remaining as possible landing spots for the versatile wing. Johnny Dawkins already has commitments from the Allen twins (Marcus and Malcolm), but adding an elite recruit the level of Parker would bring a whole different level of recruit to The Farm. The other bit of interest about Parker involves Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak, who apparently was shown on a Salt Lake City television station talking about Parker, a potential NCAA violation. However, Rob Dauster argues that since the Utes no longer stand a chance of landing Parker (the Utes are not among his final five), Krystkowiak can get off on a technicality. Still, the coach should know better.
5. It’s not all bumbles and stumbles along the recruiting trail for Krystkowiak, however, as the Utah head man continues his pursuit of Michael Williams, a 6’2” point guard out of Texas. He just finished an official visit with the program last week and now will decide between the Utes, TCU and Penn. The fact that those are the other schools in on Williams’ recruitment indicates that he’s not likely to be a player who makes a huge impact, but he is a bigger lead guard than anybody currently on the roster with Glen Dean and Brandon Taylor both checking in under six feet. Krystkowiak already has a couple 2013 shooting guard commitments, while also chasing Las Vegas point guard Julian Jacobs and southern California lead guard Brandon Randolph.

Including exhibitions, and not counting potential preseason tournament matchups (for example, UCLA-Indiana or Arizona-San Diego State), the Pac-12 schools will play a total of 142 non-conference games this season. We rank them all below in order of most-watchable. All times are pacific.

You Can Find a Large Number of These Games on the New P12 Networks This Season

142. UNC Pembroke @ Stanford, November 4, TBA
141. San Francisco State @ California, November 6, 7:30 PM
140. Western Washington @ Washington, October 24, 7:00 PM
139. Lewis-Clark @ Oregon State, November 4, 7:30 PM
138. Concordia @ Oregon, October 29, 7:00 PM
137. Saint Martins @ Washington State, November 6, TBA
136. Southwestern Oklahoma State @ Oregon, November 5, 7:00 PM
135. Chico State @ Arizona, November 6, 5:30 PM
134. Simon Fraser @ Utah, November 2, TBA
133. Cal State San Marcos @ UCLA, December 4, 7:30 PM
132. Humboldt State @ Arizona, October 31, 6:30 PM
131. College of Idaho @ Utah, December 28, 6:30 PM, Pac-12 Networks
130. Prairie View A&M @ UCLA, December 15, 6:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
129. Willamette @ Utah, November 9, 6:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
128. Coppin State @ USC, November 9, 8:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
127. Prairie View A&M @ California, December 22, TBA, Pac-12 Networks
126. Texas-Pan American @ Oregon State, December 31, 2:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
125. Idaho State @ Oregon, December 8, 3:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
124. Towson @ Oregon State, December 29, 5:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
123. Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Oregon, December 1, 7:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
122. Hartford @ Colorado, December 29, 11:00 AM, Pac-12 Networks
121. Texas-San Antonio @ Oregon, November 29, 7:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
120. Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Washington State, November 24, 2:30 PM/6:30 PM, Pac-12 Networks
119. Texas Southern @ Colorado, November 27, 6:30 PM, Pac-12 Networks
118. Charleston Southern @ Arizona, November 11, 3:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
117. Coppin State @ Arizona State, December 29, 11:00 AM, Pac-12 Networks
116. Utah @ Texas State, November 30, TBA
115. Dartmouth @ Arizona State, December 15, 12:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
114. Wright State @ Utah, November 24, 2:30 PM/6:30 PM, Pac-12 Networks
113. Hartford @ Arizona State, December 5, 5:30 PM, Pac-12 Networks
112. Idaho State @ Utah, November 21, 6:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks
111. Arkansas-Pine Bluff @ Arizona State, November 28, 5:00 PM, Pac-12 Networks

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