1. Being the optimists that we are here at RTC, we want to get the week started off on the right foot, so we’ll begin with the best win over the weekend, a dramatic road victory by Oregon over Arizona on Saturday afternoon. After the Ducks built up a 17-point lead early in the second half, they eased up on the gas just a bit and before you knew it, they were down in the final couple minutes. A big three by Garrett Sim stemmed the bleeding and put Oregon back up with under two minutes to play, but he later missed the front-end of a one-and-one to give the Wildcats the ball for the final possession. Sim did his part to make up for his miss by blocking a shot from UA freshman Nick Johnson, and then two other shots by the Wildcats on the final possession came up empty and the Ducks escaped with a valuable road win. Oregon now has three road conference wins, the most in the Pac-12, and have put themselves in good position to stick around in the conference race with the Los Angeles schools visiting next week.
2. Okay, enough of the sunshine and rainbows, on to the worst loss of the week: Oregon State dropping its fifth conference game in six tries, this time a road loss to Arizona State. It’s not all that long ago, some of us were talking about Oregon State as a possible contender for the conference title. Now, the Beavers have had some bad luck along the way, but Saturday’s loss at Tempe sealed their fate: It is now, almost officially, win the Pac-12 Tournament or dream of an NIT bid for Craig Robinson and company. The Sun Devils rode six three-pointers from sophomore Chanse Creekmur  to overcome the loss of junior wing Trent Lockett, who left midway through the second half with a severe ankle sprain. Herb Sendek was also able to get serious production out of Kyle Cain (16 points, eight rebounds) and Ruslan Pateev (ten points, five rebounds, three blocks) in Lockett’s absence. ASU again struggled with turnovers (they coughed it up 21 times), but were able to ride their own hot shooting (68.4% eFG) and the Beavers’ awful shooting (40.6% eFG and just four-of-21 from three) to their second conference win. While there is no official word from ASU, the loss of Lockett will likely leave the Devils with just eight scholarship players in uniform for their games with Colorado and Utah next week. Meanwhile, the Beavs are left to pick up the pieces while wondering what has gone so wrong in the first few weeks of conference play.
3. Elsewhere this weekend, we had nothing but blowouts. Washington State actually had Washington on the run for about 28 minutes, leading by as much as 11 points. But then sophomore Terrence Ross got whistled for a charge on a 50/50 play, Lorenzo Romar got pissed and drew a technical, and the Huskies responded with a 15-2 run that turned into a 38-18 stretch for U-Dub to finish the game. Over that stretch, Ross had 16 of his 26 second half points (he scored 30 in the game) and grabbed four of his game high 14 rebounds as the Huskies pulled away. It certainly wasn’t the most balanced game for this Huskies (they shot 26 three-point attempts, and actually shot better from three than from two), but they destroyed the Cougars on the glass on both ends of the floor (55.3% offensive rebounding, 88.5% defensive rebounding) and earned an important win ahead of their chance at hosting league-leading California and Stanford next weekend. However, the Huskies will likely play both of those games without second-leading scorer C.J. Wilcox, who missed the WSU game with a stress fracture in his left femur.
4. While the Cougars at least gave their fans some cause for hope in their rivalry game, USC fans had no such luck, as they were blown out early and often by UCLA Sunday night. While the Bruins were anything but impressive, the Trojans were just dreadful, unable to shoot the ball, unable to rebound and certainly nowhere near the defensive presence they have been in earlier games. The fact that a UCLA team led by the tissue-soft Wear Twins and a foul-and-weight-limited Joshua Smith outrebounded the Trojans as substantially as they did (UCLA rebounded 50% of their own misses and 80.6% of USC’s) should keep Kevin O’Neill awake far longer than I will be tonight.
5. Lastly, we’ll double up on the Bay Area schools, the two teams atop the conference standings through three weekends. Stanford scored a seriously impressive win on Saturday, turning a six-point halftime lead into a 27-point lead in the middle of the second half against Colorado before calling off the dogs. Stanford just did everything better than the Buffaloes and got a big spark for the second game in a row from sophomore forward Josh Huestis, who tied his career-high (set on Thursday night) with 13 points, adding four blocks. Meanwhile, California just took apart Utah in a game that was never in doubt. After Utah opened scoring with a Cedric Martin three, the Golden Bears scored 24 of the next 29 points in the game, took a 17-point lead into half and eventually won 81-45. Sophomore Justin Cobbs handed out a career-high 11 assists as the Bears combined for 24 assists in the game.

The Lede.  Through two and a half weeks of Pac-12 basketball, we still don’t know much about this league and how it’s going to shake out. But one thing was confirmed on Thursday night; California is going to have a say on who wins this conference. The Golden Bears got a solid, 57-50 victory over first-place Colorado at Haas Pavilion last night, vaulting Cal into a tie for first place with rival Stanford. In a year where finishing in the top four gives you a first round bye in the pivotal Pac-12 Tournament, the Bears now have big wins over UCLA, Oregon, and the Buffs, all of which can be used as tie breakers for seeding come March.

California forward Harper Kamp led the Bears with 14 points in their win Thursday night. (credit: Tony Zhou)

With the amount of parity and inconsistency in this league, it’s tough to take a single result and make it a big deal. After all, Cal could go out tomorrow and lose to Utah, and Colorado go and win four straight. But last night’s win for Cal felt different, at least to me. First of all, they showed they can win without a huge night from Allen Crabbe. Crabbe, the favorite (or co-favorite) to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, scored in single digits for only the fourth time of the season last night. Instead, players like Harper Kamp, Justin Cobbs were able to step up in the closing minutes to close out the win.

Second, this was the second straight win over a solid opponent for Cal, something that has been and will continue to be tough to come by as conference play continues. The victory moves Cal into a tie for first place in the Pac, and with games against Utah, Washington, and Washington State coming up, the Bears could find themselves on top for a while.

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Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences. He is also a Pac-12 microsite staffer.

Reader’s Take

Top Storylines

• This past weekend likely saw the best regular season game of the Pac-12 schedule, as Stanford battled Oregon State for four exciting overtimes before finally securing an all-important road victory.
• Given the relative homogeneity of the conference, the recipe for winning the regular season title is going to be: 1) take care of business at home; and 2) steal a handful of road games against the middle and bottom of the Pac. On both of those fronts, Stanford is looking good now, sitting with California, Washington, and Arizona atop the conference. What’s that you say? Colorado actually leads the conference with a 3-0 record? Sorry Buffs, but get back to me once you have tasted the road in the Pac-12. Right now all three of their wins have come at home.

Stanford's Four Overtime Win Over Oregon State Helped Keep Them Among The Contenders In The Pac-12 (Rick Bowmer/AP)

• Elsewhere this past weekend, Thursday night was upset central as all six underdogs came away with victories that night, before things got back to normal, as only Stanford was able to spring the upset. UCLA got back to .500 in conference after sweeping the Arizona schools, making the Bruins and Buffs the only homestanders to win both of their games last weekend.
• And, lastly, the Pac-12 lost another promising player to immaturity this week, as Keala King was dismissed by Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek after being left back from the Sun Devils’ trip to the Los Angeles-area schools week along with Kyle Cain and Chris Colvin. In Sendek’s press conference on Tuesday, he referred to King being unhappy with being forced to play point guard in the absence of ineligible freshman Jahii Carson and butting heads with Sendek over his role. As a result, King joins the growing list of Pac-12 players who have divorced their programs this season. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a look at the power rankings that Drew and I have compiled after the ninth week of Pac-12 games. Here we go!

1. Stanford, 13-3 (3-1): The trip north for the Cardinal started off rough with a 11-point loss to Oregon, but they redeemed themselves Saturday night in Corvallis. Led by a 24-point performance from freshman sensation Chasson Randle, Stanford held on for a two point, quadruple overtime classic win over Oregon State. Despite trailing by as many as 11 in the second half, the resilient Cardinal came back to force overtime. From there it was a war of attrition, one that Stanford would finally win on a missed Roberto Nelson three at the buzzer. Up Next: 1.12 vs. Utah

2. California, 13-4 (3-1): Despite shooting a scorching 57% from the field, the Bears couldn’t match Oregon State’s energy and fell, 92-85 on Thursday night. Luckily for them, however, the scheduling gods smiled on Cal and gave them an extra day to rest and prepare for a tricky Oregon squad. The extra day proved vital as the Bears were able to crack the Duck defense to the tune of 77 points (40 of which came in the second half). Up Next: 1.12 vs. Colorado

California guard Jorge Gutierrez poured in 18 points against Oregon on Sunday. (credit: Don Ryan)

3. Colorado, 11-4 (3-0): Buffalo fans couldn’t have asked for a better week. Thursday night they got a statement win over Washington, an 18-point victory which saw five Buffaloes score in double figures. On Saturday they solidified their spot atop the Pac-12 standings with a 71-60 win against Washington State. Up Next: 1.12 @ California

4. Arizona, 11-5 (2-1): A good week would have included a victory at UCLA, but the Bruins ran the Wildcats out of the Honda Center and won, 65-58. Arizona had an extra day to think about the tough loss and took their frustrations out on USC. The Cats held the Trojans to just 16 points in the first half before eventually winning, 57-46. Up Next: 1.12 vs. Oregon State

5. Oregon, 11-5 (2-2): Just when you thought the Ducks were getting their act together with a win over Stanford, they come back three days later in front of a big crowd and turn out an uninspiring performance against Cal. Watch for this splitting trend to continue throughout the season. Up Next: 1.12 @ Arizona State

6. Washington, 10-6 (3-1): The Huskies have managed to fallen from NCAA Tournament bubble team to NIT bubble team in just four quick weeks. The Dawgs avoided disaster by pulling out a four-point win at Utah on Saturday, but the 18-point loss two days earlier is going to be deadly for their hopes to make either tournament. Up Next: 1.15 vs. Washington State Read the rest of this entry »

1. Utah did something this weekend that they had given no indication they were capable of doing this year: not only did they win a game in conference play, they were extremely competitive in both of their games. The difference between the Ute team this past weekend and the team that lost by 31 to Cal State Fullerton (just to pick one lowlight from the non-conference schedule)? This Utah team has been playing their hearts out defensively. Give credit to head coach Larry Krystkowiak for keeping his team’s attention and give credit to the players for buying in.
2. Utah’s new conference-designated rival, Colorado, is also experiencing good things in their first year in their new conference. The Buffaloes sit atop the Pac-12 standings with a 3-0 record and head coach Tad Boyle sees his team coming together as the season progresses. However, last year the Buffaloes started play in the Big 12 with a 3-0 record and then proceeded to lose four straight and six out of seven games on its way toward missing the NCAA Tournament. In other words, good work Buffs; now get back to work. Elsewhere in Boulder, CU had a little milestone Monday as Carlon Brown became the first Buffalo to win a Pac-12 Player of the Week award. His 23-point average and nine-of-15 shooting from deep made his selection more or less a no-brainer.
3. Lorenzo Romar got a mid-season present yesterday when Austin Seferian-Jenkins, a tight end on the Washington football team, announced he would be playing basketball for the Huskies this season. Seferian-Jenkins is a 6’6” 258-pound physical specimen who averaged 19 points and eight rebounds per game as a senior in high school. Seferian-Jenkins began practice with the team yesterday, but there is no current timetable for when he will actually play for the Huskies, and his role on the team when he does get some minutes remains to be seen.
4. UCLA got back to .500 in the conference this past weekend, in no small part due to the play of senior guard Lazeric Jones. Jones averaged 10.5 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game this weekend, and is the Bruins leading scorer and assist-man this year. Jones has always played the point in his basketball career, but in recent games has given up his primary ballhandling role in order to play on the wing and be more of a scorer for UCLA.
5. Lastly, after stealing a win in Spokane to become the sole Pac-12 team to win on the road in the opening weekend of conference play, Oregon had its serve broken on Sunday night by California, falling back to .500. That makes successive weekends where the Ducks came out on Thursday night and played well, only to mail it in on the weekend and fall by double digits. Head coach Dana Altman knows that the Ducks will need to work on improving the consistency of the effort they put out.

1. Arizona State came into conference play as one of the least talented teams in the Pac-12. This weekend they played without three of their players, all suspended for “unacceptable conduct” and it was announced Sunday that at least one of those players who had been suspended this weekend will not be returning to the team as Herb Sendek dismissed Keala King from the team. Kyle Cain and Chris Colvin, who were suspended along with King this weekend, apparently will return to the team. King becomes the eighth Sun Devil to leave the program with remaining eligibility since 2008 and the third player in a seven-man 2010 class to leave. It’s a good thing Sendek signed a contract extension earlier in the year, because this program is an absolute mess and will need to start over more or less from scratch next offseason. For what it’s worth, ASU did salvage a weekend split in Los Angeles, knocking off USC on Thursday before getting blown out by UCLA on Saturday.
2. Saturday night, Stanford and Oregon State played one of the most entertaining games you’ll see this season, as the Cardinal somehow pulled off a 103-101 victory in the fourth overtime at Gill Coliseum. It was a game that was worth watching from the opening tip to the final buzzer, from Roberto Nelson’s shoeless three-pointers early in the first half (that had the OSU announcers way, WAY too excited) to his late body slam of Josh Huestis, to his potential game-winning three-pointer at the end of the fourth OT that just missed. There’s a ton more to be discussed here, and we’ll have something up later this afternoon, but for now enjoy reliving the game with Jeff Eisenberg’s five memorable moments from the game.
3. There were two Pac-12 games on Sunday afternoon although neither came anywhere near matching the excitement in Corvallis Saturday night. They were, however, important games as the road teams came up with wins in both games. First it was Arizona getting over on USC in one of the uglier games you’ll see this season. The teams combined to shoot 3-of-30 from behind the arc, Arizona turned the ball over 17 times, and Maurice Jones was allowed to shoot the Trojans out of yet another game (he was 3-of-13 from the field and is now shooting a 42.1% eFG this year). Later, it was California going into Oregon and coming away with a 17-point victory that was most notable for Allen Crabbe’s best game of the season – 26 points, 12 rebounds and six three-pointers. In both cases, the road teams earned weekend splits, putting the Bears and the Wildcats, along with Stanford’s Cardinal and perhaps Washington’s Huskies atop the list of conference favorites.
4. Washington’s on that list above in part due to their road win at Utah this weekend. While a win on the road in this year’s Pac-12 is nothing to scoff at, the Huskies weren’t exactly impressive in their victory. After struggling with the woeful Utes for 39 minutes, Washington at least had some breathing room down the stretch, having built up an eight-point lead with just a minute to play. But then Desmond Simmons missed the front-end of a one-and-one with the Utes in foul mode. And then Terrence Ross missed two more front-ends, allowing Utah to get back to within two points with 12 seconds left. Ross finally capped the game off by drilling a couple free throws, but the Huskies’ performance certainly didn’t inspire much confidence.
5. Lastly, back to that UCLA/ASU game for a second. Bruin sophomore center Joshua Smith, back after missing Thursday’s game with a minor concussion, had his best game of the season, scoring 18 points in 21 minutes and dominating the undermanned Sun Devils. Thursday night Ben Howland noted that Smith, who has struggled with his conditioning throughout his UCLA career, after much work both in and out of practice, was down to his lowest weight of the season (presumably somewhere north of the 305 pounds at which he is presently listed). Saturday night, the work that he had put in was evident. Not only was he able to play 21 very effective minutes, but he actually dunked a ball – not just once, but twice! Don’t believe me? The proof is in the picture here. Now, this doesn’t mean that all of a sudden Smith is the all-conference performer that he has the talent to be (he did, after all, manage only four rebounds against ASU), but it is a huge step in the right direction both for Smith and the Bruins. I like to think he heard my plea.

Thursday night in Anaheim, the two blueblood Pac-12 basketball programs squared off in a battle of deeply flawed teams. While neither UCLA nor Arizona has lived up to either of their historical standards or even their diminished expectations heading into the 2011-12 season, both programs have reasons to believe that not only will things get better in a big way next season, but that they have the ability to improve between now and the Pac-12 Tournament in March. However, at the same time, if changes aren’t made and improvement not shown, both of these teams could continue to disappoint. So, below, the reasons for hope and the reasons for concern for both UCLA and Arizona.

Reasons for Hope – UCLA

The Bruins played without sophomore center Joshua Smith last night, as he was sidelined due to a concussion he suffered in practice on Wednesday. However, in his postgame press conference, head coach Ben Howland noted that Smith was making significant progress in his quest to improve his conditioning, reporting that he was down to his lowest weight in more than a year and that he had been putting in extra running and completed a three-mile run on Sunday. Improved conditioning should keep him on the floor for longer stretches, make him more effective for those stretches, and would hopefully improve his ability to avoid cheap defensive fouls. He still has to prove that on the court, however.  Another positive for the Bruins was the play of the Wear twins last night. The sophomores turned in their best collective performance, combining to score 34 points on 13-of-16 shooting while grabbing ten rebounds and just generally playing more aggressively and actively than they had displayed in the past. As Howland noted, this is really the first time in their career that they’ve played extended minutes, so there is still improvement to be had from both of them. Ideally, Thursday night was a first step towards realizing that improvement.

David Wear, And His Brother Travis, Are Still Growing Into Full-Time Players (photo credit: Lawrence K. Ho, LA Times)

Reasons for Hope – Arizona

In the previous ten games Solomon Hill had played against the two Los Angeles area schools, the LA native had averaged about five points and three rebounds. Thursday night Hill went for 16 points and 11 rebounds and has clearly matured to the point where he is the team’s go-to offensive player and their team leader. He’s a versatile 6’6” wing capable of scoring off the bounce, rebounding with the big boys (he’s second in the conference in rebounding), and creating for his teammates (he leads the Wildcats in assists and is 14^th in the Pac-12). More importantly, he is beginning to lead by example. And perhaps his leadership is starting to rub off on Josiah Turner. The mercurial freshman point guard earned back his starting position which he last held in the Wildcats’ season opener, played the most minutes of his career, and scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists – not the most impressive of lines, but a start at least. Turner was effective at getting in the lane and drawing contact (he got to the line six times) and also showed a willingness to look to set up his teammates. He’s got plenty of talent; if he can harness it positively, the Wildcats will be better for it.

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Andrew Murawa is the RTC correspondent for the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences. He is also a Pac-12 microsite staffer.

Reader’s Take

Top Storylines

• The home teams dominated play this week, going 9-1 in the first weekend of conference play. Fans around the conference will gnash their teeth and overreact to the first two games and anoint teams like Washington, Stanford and California as the runaway favorites, but the fact remains that even in a down year in the Pac-12, the eventual winner of the regular season title will need to win their fair share of road games, while still defending their home court. So, it is good news for the Huskies, Cardinal and Golden Bears, but they’ve still got a lot to prove before distancing themselves from a team like Oregon State, who dropped its first two games of the year in disappointing fashion.
• The one road team to score a win last weekend was Oregon, who played almost a perfect game in their opener against Washington State, scoring almost 1.8 points per possession in the first half, shooting a 78.6 eFG% and sweeping to a 17-point road win. They were brought back to earth a bit on Saturday, when a suddenly hot Washington team tore through them, but a 1-1 record for the Ducks is a significant accomplishment. If they can back that up by holding serve as the Bay Area schools come north this weekend, they’ll be in business.

Olu Ashaolu's Double-Double Led The Ducks To The Lone Road Win In The Opening Week Of The Pac-12 (Young Kwak/AP)

What to Watch For

• A week of conference play only tells half of the story. This week, for the most part, teams that benefited from opening week homestands have to head on the road, while last week’s road warriors get the comfort of some home-cooking. The biggest clashes of the week may come when the Oregon schools host the Bay Area schools. If either Stanford or California is able to somehow pull off a sweep, they have earned the early title of Pac-12 favorites. Meanwhile, Oregon State, considered by some (ahem), to be the conference favorite prior to last weekend has a lot to prove. The Beavers absolutely have to win both of their games this weekend at Gill Coliseum to still be considered a legitimate contender to the throne. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Not only did Oregon State lose its first two road games of this Pac-12 conference season, it has lost the last 11 conference road games it has played. As you might expect, the Beavers are quite happy to be back home this week. However, the bad part is, they kick off the homestand with California, a team that has beaten OSU in 29 of its last 34 contests. However, if Craig Robinson’s club can gain a little momentum this weekend at Gill Coliseum, perhaps they could use that energy to turn around their poor fortune on the road.
2. Colorado is the one team in the conference with a winning conference record that gets to continue to play at home this week. However, after having dispatched with Utah easily last Saturday, tonight they will host Washington, “a different animal,” according to head coach Tad Boyle. While the Buffaloes are young and talented, Boyle says he will use this game against the Huskies as a litmus test for where they stand in the Pac-12. Given that CU is placing so much importance on this game, it will be interesting to see how the Huskies respond to their first conference road test.
3. Is Tony Wroten a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate, asks The Arizona Republic’s Doug Haller. Of course, answers ESPN west-coast analyst Sean Farnham. Farnham cites Wroten’s tremendous ability in the open court, his scoring acumen, his strong rebounding for a guard, and, really, the weakness of the rest of the Pac-12 as key reasons why Wroten is the favorite for the Pac-12 POTY title. And, if you need some visual evidence, check out the sequence embedded there, where Wroten rebounds at one end, goes coast to coast, finishes above the rim, then hustles back downcourt and rejects a Devoe Joseph jumper. Classic.
4. Most years, a UCLA/Arizona matchup is a contender for conference game of the year. This year, the luster is off the rivalry a bit, as UCLA has struggled and, frankly, isn’t always much fun to watch. But still, it is UCLA/Arizona, and any self-respecting obsessive college hoops fan will want to take a look at it. However, if you were to check out Ben Howland’s comment and read between the lines a little bit, you might want to have a Plan B on hold. UCLA’s defense has struggled mightily stopping dribble penetration this year, and Howland admits “Arizona is very hard for us to match up with. Basically, we’re playing against five guards.” For the Bruins to have any chance to hang with the Wildcats, they’ll need to find a way to slow the penetration from those guards and find a way to use guys like Joshua Smith and the Wear twins to take advantage of the relatively underized Wildcat frontline.
5. Lastly, we head back up to Seattle for a great profile from The Seattle Times’ Percy Allen on Washington’s Abdul Gaddy, a friend of RTC. It was one year ago yesterday that Gaddy tore his ACL in practice, and it is amazing to think that he was back ready to go at the start of the 2011-12 season, just nine and half months later. While Gaddy’s injury-shortened sophomore campaign looked to be a breakout year for the Husky point guard, he has picked up this year right where he left off, leading his team in minutes played and assists and earning a co-captain role for Lorenzo Romar.

Finally, here’s this week’s Youtube Play of the Week… Arizona’s Josiah Turner to Nick Johnson.

1. Legendary coach Gene Bartow died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with stomach cancer. Bartow, who may not be well-known to younger or more casual basketball fans, was an iconic figure in college basketball compiling a 647-353 record while making it to a national championship game at Memphis State (now Memphis) and another Final Four appearance at UCLA. In addition to those accomplishments, Bartow was also known as “The Father of UAB Athletics” and for being the man who had the unenviable job of following John Wooden at UCLA. While we tend to get a flood of media members and coaches complimenting the recently departed, the outpouring this time seemed unusually large and came from all over including people such as John Calipari who made a post about Bartow’s impact on his life.
2. With the start of their ACC schedule right around the corner, North Carolina got a little boost as junior guard Leslie McDonald returned to practice for the first time since he tore his ACL this summer. While there is no timetable for McDonald’s return as he is practicing for short periods and essentially getting worked back into shape, his return could be a key piece for the Tar Heels in March as he would give them another outside shooter that they desperately need. Despite a relatively high three-point percentage at 38.8%, which is #34 nationally, the Tar Heels only take 21.5% of their shots from beyond the arc, which ranks #343 out of 345 teams nationally. With all the attention that UNC’s interior players get McDonald would have plenty of open looks and with his shooting ability he might be make the difference between a team that makes a deep run in March and one that cuts down the nets in New Orleans in April.
3. We are sure that many Oklahoma State fans are aware of this, but we imagine that most of the rest of you were not aware that Travis Ford has lost his entire recruiting class from 2009. As Jeff Goodman notes this isn’t the first time that Ford has basically lost an entire recruiting class as this also happened when Ford was at Massachusetts and he had nine commitments in 2007 that he got almost nothing out of them. We are not sure what it is about Ford that has led to this happening twice in a relatively short period, but we suspect that it is something that his Big 12 recruiting rivals will be sure to point out to their common targets.
4. Yesterday, The Naismith Hall of Fame announced its list of the 20 finalists for the Cousy Award that is given to the nation’s top point guard. We discussed the list in detail yesterday, but it is worth reviewing a couple key points regarding the list. The biggest one is that there was not a horrendous omission like there was last year when Jordan Taylor was initially left off the list of finalists. We imagine that the inclusion and exclusions of certain names will rile up some fan bases, but nothing close to the level of Taylor last year. The other that this appears to be a three-horse race although Scott Machado is a very intriguing mid-major darkhorse.
5. Saint Joseph’s has been taking a beating in the court of public opinion, but even they have a fell-good story as Dana O’Neil showed us with her story on C.J. Aiken. Aiken who is probably known to most of the nation as a premier shot-blocker and one of the players who ended up taking minutes away from Todd O’Brien before his well-documented transfer attempt, but the reality is that there is a lot more to Aiken’s story. After enduring surgery and chemoradiotherapy for Burkitt’s lymphoma before he entered second grade, Aiken became more introverted and had to be coaxed into playing basketball by his mother. Now he is thriving as a sophomore at Saint Joseph’s and is one of the most electrifying and efficient players in the country.