Off-night preview

Where was this off week during football season?

You might be saying to yourself: "NO BUFFS GAME TONIGHT!?!  BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PASS MY THURSDAY EVENING!?!"   Why not try some mildly interesting Pac-12 action? 

Tonight's conference slate is headlined by a bout between contenders Oregon and Cal.  Beyond that marquee matchup, there are much less promising games between Arizona/Washington St, Arizona St/Washington, and Stanford/Oregon St to keep an eye on.  The Arizona's can be seen on a variety of FSN affiliates, while you may have to search a bit for any coverage of the headlining Oregon/Cal game.  Stanford/OSU is a battle for the middle, and doesn't hold any tile-race implications.

Click below for my preview of non-CU hoops...



Oregon at Cal - 

By far the most interesting of tonight's action, Oregon/Cal pits two of the top-5 league teams against each other.  It's a home game for the Golden Bears, and they have only one loss in the Haas Pavillion all season.  Additionally, Cal whupped the Ducks in Eugene over a month ago, but Oregon has been one of the better, if not the best, road teams in the conference, and is capable of pulling the upset.

Cal had no trouble in Eugene last month.

(Of all the college games going un-televised tonight, this one makes no sense.  ESPN couldn't have bumped the essentially meaningless Iowa/Penn St showdown for one with Pac-12 title implications?  This only underscores the importance of the opening of Pac-12 Enterprises.)

Cal, despite national indifference, continues to be a damn tough, veteran squad, capable of causing problems should they make the Dance.  The game that may haunt Cal come Selection Sunday is the road loss to Washington St, but that won't keep them from dictating things in the Pac-12 title race. 

Oregon has quietly kept pace with the top of the conference, and haven't lost to a team outside of Kenpom's top-100 all season long.  What's more, they've gone on a tear in Pac-12 play, winning seven of their last nine, and only losing those two by a total of six points.  Over that stretch, star Devoe Joseph has been averaging 16/4/3, and making a silent case for Pac-12 player of the year.

After sitting out the first few weeks, Joseph has proven to be a great addition to the Ducks this season.

I'm not entirely sure who I'm going to root for in this one.  I'd certainly like to see Cal brought back to the pack, but Oregon has been playing too well in recent weeks for comfort. Since the Buffs face Cal at home next week, I'd rather see Oregon stay off the title pace.  Additionally, turnovers shouldn't be a problem for either team, so I expect Cal's strong shooting to carry them in Berkeley.

Cal 79 - Oregon 71


Arizona St at Washington - 

Washington, co-leaders of the conference with Cal, have an easy home warm-up before Saturday's death match with Arizona.  The ASU Sun Devils are just playing out the string at this point, just hopping to stay out of the Utah/USC cellar.

The Tony Wroten show should have no trouble with ASU.

I get the sense that UW is struggling, playing through a blow-out loss and three scares in their last five games.  Tonight, however, will be a patience-testing breeze.

UW 72 - ASU 59


Arizona at Washington St

While fellow contender Washington is waltzing past the hapless Sun Devils, Arizona is stuck making the always awkward trip to Pullman.  WSU is a tough home team, holding a 4-2 record in designated home games this season, even boasting of a home sweep of the NorCal schools.  Even without fallen star Faisal Aden, the Cougars will be a tough out.

WSU is real tough in Pullman, but, without Aden, I doubt they have the firepower to knock off 'Zona.

I'd love to pick the upset, but Arizona is playing very well right now, having won their last 4 games.  Additionally, they crushed the Cougars by 24 only a few weeks ago.  That shaky game vs Utah will have woken 'Zona up; WSU stays close, but Arizona pulls it out.

UofA 70 - WSU 65




Oregon St at Stanford


Stanford hasn't beaten a team in the top-8 since playing a near-perfect game against CU on January 14th.  All told, they've gone 2-5 (...resisting the urge to eliminate all wins over USC from the conference...) in that 7-game stretch.  Similarly, Oregon St is playing some shaky basketball, having lost three of their last four.

That epic 4-overtime game was one of the last moments when Stanford looked competent.

Blech.


Mediocrity aside, this game is the rematch of one of the better Pac-12 games on the season: a 4-overtime thriller back at the start of January.  Stanford won that one, so I'll give OSU the nod this time.

OSU 84 - Stanford 73



That easy UCLA win over USC from last night was tough to watch, but the Pac-12 can't go 0-4 tonight, right?


GO BUFFS!  BEAT [ERROR: UNDEFINED]!