Pac-12 Tournament: Recapping Day 1, Previewing Day 2

Now that Day 1 of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada has finally wrapped up, let's review the games that were played and look forward to the Thursday games.

Quick Recap

Washington 91, Stanford 68

Stanford is just not good this year. In the first game of the tournament, the Cardinal were blown out by the Huskies. This one was never even close, as Washington led by 28 points at the half. Dejountae Murray scored 25, Andrew Andrews nearly put up a triple-double with a 14/9/9 stat-line, and Stanford fans need to seriously think about whether Johnny Dawkins should still be the coach of this team.

Colorado 80, Washington State 56

Another blowout that Matt covered in detail earlier today. George King and Josh Fortune were somehow the only two Buffaloes to score in double-figures (scoring 21 and 13, respectively), but Colorado still destroyed Wazzu by 24. Josh Scott played well, limiting the Cougars' Josh Hawkinson to 8 points on 3 of 9 shooting. Kaleb Tarczewski and Ryan Anderson will have to do better than that tomorrow if Arizona is going to pull out the win.

USC 95, UCLA 71

In a game that might have sealed Steve Alford's fate at UCLA, USC pummeled UCLA by 24 points. Bryce Alford scored 11 points on 2 of 11 shooting for UCLA and Isaac Hamilton scored 9 points on 3 of 12 shooting. Really, the issue for UCLA was rebounding, as USC won that battle 52-30. USC even turned the ball over 9 more times than UCLA. It didn't matter. USC, led by Bennie Boatwright, put six guys in double figures in yet another game that was never close.

Oregon State 75, Arizona State 66

Finally a game that wasn't a blowout! Sure, Oregon State led the whole way, but the Sun Devils at least tried to make it interesting at the end. Tra Holder had a really rough time early on, starting the game 0 of 7 before making his last four baskets during ASU's failed comeback attempt. Oregon State, meanwhile, had a balanced attack - ten guys saw the floor and all ten scored - that got out ahead of ASU early and staved off the Sun Devils.

Thursday Preview

Oregon vs. Washington, 12:00 PT

Oregon opened as only a seven point favorite in the first game of the day. KenPom essentially agrees, giving the Ducks a 73% chance to win and projecting a seven point win for Oregon. As much as Arizona fans should hope for Murray and Andrews to torch Oregon, expect to see Dillon Brooks lead the way in a relatively comfortable Oregon win.

Arizona vs. Colorado, 2:30 PT

A line hasn't been posted in this one yet, but KenPom gives Arizona a 72% chance of winning and projects a six point margin of victory. That might feel optimistic given that Colorado beat the Wildcats only a couple of weeks ago, but it's much easier to win at home than on the road, and given the number of Arizona fans in Vegas this week, this will basically be a home game. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Utah vs. USC, 6:00 PT

Again, no line has been posted yet. KenPom says 62% for Utah to win. Sure. USC is coming off a dominating win against UCLA and might be able to ride that momentum into this quarterfinal match-up, but USC also is coming off a disappointing finish to the Pac-12 season, going 2-6 in their last eight regular season games. No matter what, then, USC will be able to blame (or credit) momentum for the outcome of the game. Utah probably wins. Probably.

California vs. Oregon State, 8:30 PT

No line posted. No KenPom posted. So let's just go with gut feelings, here - California is the better team and is probably in the same 60-70% favorite window as all the other favorites. Jaylen Brown, Ivan Rabb, and Tyrone Wallace are much more talented than just about everyone on Oregon State (save for maybe Gary Payton II), and Cal should cruise into the semifinals.

Will we see more chalk tomorrow? Probably. The top four teams in the conference are better than everyone else. But I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those top four teams get knocked out in an upset. Let's just hope it's not Arizona.