Before he worked the Arizona-USC game at McKale Center on Feb. 10, television analyst Bill Walton strolled by the Star’s seats to continue a conversation.
“Also,” Walton said, “nine Pac-12 teams should be in the tournament. Colorado. Utah. Arizona. ASU. UCLA. USC. Stanford. Oregon. And Washington.”
Nine?
On his bracketology update Monday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had two, only the UA and ASU. CBS’s Jerry Palm added USC and UCLA for a total of four.
But … nine?
“I’m not sure,” UA coach Sean Miller said last week. “My hope would be four or five. We had four in last year. A lot of people don’t realize that. We had three teams who were very high seeds and on a threshold of a Final Four. Oregon punched through, and because of the success of the four teams in the tournament, you forget there were eight teams who weren’t.”
Arizona’s two opponents this week, Oregon State and Oregon, are among those teams who aren’t supposed to be in the NCAA Tournament this time around. But even they still have hope, thanks in part to the fact that Arizona and ASU both represent the chance to pick up Quadrant 1 wins on their homecourts this weekend.
With an RPI of 89, Oregon could have an argument if it finishes the regular season strongly and goes deep into the Pac-12 Tournament, while OSU (169) at least has the knowledge that it has played competitively in almost every Pac-12 game this season, including a 62-53 loss at McKale Center on Jan. 11 in which the Beavers trailed by just a point with seven minutes left.
“Obviously, we know the only way it’s gonna happen is probably by winning the entire (Pac-12) Tournament,” OSU forward Tres Tinkle said Tuesday. “But we play every team close and if we can get some momentum in these last four games going into the Pac-12 Tournament, where we’ll be playing at a neutral site, we’ll be able to reflect on what we need to get it done defensively, offensively, and playing with the passion that we need.
“We think we can make something happen especially with how up and down the Pac-12 is this year. There could be a lot of upsets.”
So, then … maybe 10 teams?
Well, no, of course not. Even if the Beavers or Ducks managed to work themselves in somehow, that likely means another Pac-12 team or two would be playing itself out, such as if OSU and Oregon stomp over Washington next week in Seattle, making the Huskies fall off the bubble.
But here’s a look at how the Walton’s World Nine could all make cases for themselves (in order of RPI):
