2013 Pac-12 Tournament Preview

God bless Larry Scott.  El Jefe took one look at the flagging attendance in Los Angeles, and decided to move the Pac-12 tournament to sexier environs.  What could possibly be sexier than Vegas in March?  Nothing.

Sin City has, in recent years, turned into a hoops Shangri-La.  Besides the Pac-12, the Mountain West, WAC, and WCC all hold their conference tournaments in Vegas over the first few weeks of March.  For Front Range hoopniks, that means that you could theoretically see CU, CSU, and DU all play meaningful basketball in the same afternoon, while still spending some time at the blackjack tables... not to mention the fact that it'll be 80 and sunny all week.

The point is, by the time you read this post, I will already be in Las Vegas.  Feel free to turn green with envy.

What does that mean for the blog?  Well, since I still don't have a laptop, that unfortunately means I'm going dark for the rest of the week.  Instead, I'll be tweeting (probably a lot) from the games, so you may want to follow me @Rumblinbuffalo.

As for a tournament prediction...

I was all ready to predict a first round exit for the Buffs.  OSU dominated the paint, on both ends, last Saturday, mostly because Andre Roberson wasn't around to check the likes of Joe Burton and Eric Moreland.  Through that dominance, they were able to thoroughly out-work the Buffs without sharp-shooters Roberto Nelson and Ahmad Starks having strong games (Starks was particularly non-existant).  If the Beavers had maintained their advantage in the paint this afternoon, while at the same time getting production from their shooters, no amount of CU adjustments would've been enough to stave off a humiliating defeat.

Luckily, 'Dre has been cleared to play, and the balance of power in the paint has been leveled.  Roberson will be allowed to slip into the role of Willis Reed, giving the Buffs a much better shot to advance past the league-worst Beavers, and onto a favorable matchup with Arizona.

With 'Dre back leading the Buffs on the court, I feel much better about this week.

I don't think Colorado is likely to repeat as champions, although Jason King at ESPN thinks they will.  Still, I think a strong run to a third-straight league semi-final is within reach, and would leave the selection committee with little recourse but to pay off the Buffs with a nice seed for next week.

Overall, I think the tournament will see a lot of minor first and second day upsets, before reverting to chalk for the semis and finals.

I think Cal has a really nice path to the title game.  Their season-finale flop against rival Stanford notwithstanding, they should matchup well with the USC/Utah winner, before clocking either Oregon or Washington.

On the other-side of the bracket, I'm very interested to see what UCLA has in store for everyone.  Nothing would surprise me from that camp, be it a quarterfinals loss to Stanford/ASU, or a breezy run to the title. Neither CU or Arizona is a particularly strong matchup against the Bruins, so, as long as they don't trip up on Thursday, I like them to stumble their way into the final.

Given that chalk-filled tournament finish, give me the Bruins over Cal on Saturday.


GO BUFFS!  PROVE ME WRONG, AND BEAT THE PAC-12!