Greg Hansen's Guide to the 2016-17 College Basketball Season
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen tells you what to watch for during the upcoming college basketball season.
- Greg Hansen
1. The Ducks are apt to be 23-0 when Arizona visits Knight Arena on Feb. 4. Before that, the Ducks’ most difficult game is likely to be a Nov. 22 Maui Invitational semifinal game, probably against Wisconsin.
- Greg Hansen
2. Oregon has little chance to lose at home before its Arizona game; its schedule includes Army, Valpo, Boise State, Western Oregon, Savannah State, Montana, Alabama and Fresno State, plus conference visits from UCLA and USC.
- Greg Hansen
3. If the Ducks win ’em all at home this year, their Knight Arena winning streak will grow from 25 to 42.
- Greg Hansen
4. Only seven Pac-12 teams in history have gone 17-1. None have won ’em all. Arizona went 17-1 five times, losing at Stanford in 1988, 1989 and 2003; at Cal in 1993; and at USC in 1998 after opening 16-0. Only a single Pac-12 team to finish 17-1 reached the Final Four – Arizona in 1988.
- Greg Hansen
5. Two Pac-12 teams opened 17-0 and lost Game 18 on the final day of the regular season: Oregon State was shocked at home by Arizona State on March 7, 1981; Stanford lost perfection at Washington on March 4, 2003.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
1. UC Irvine no longer has 7-foot-6-inch Mamadou Ndiaye, who entered the NBA Draft, was not selected, and failed to score in three NBA Summer League games with the Golden State Warriors. The Anteaters have sort of replaced him with the son of an Arizona 1985-86 Pac-10 championship team member. John Edgar Jr. is a 6-5 freshman from Chino Hills, Calif.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
2. Sacred Heart (nickname: Pioneers) will “go West, young man,” visiting Santa Clara and Arizona, as well as playing in a Las Vegas tournament that involves low-brow opponents Norfolk State, Bucknell and Northern Colorado.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
3. Cal State Bakersfield (nickname: Roadrunners) won 24 games, swept the WAC tournament and played in the NCAA Tournament last year. They, too, are in a pre-conference invitational at, of all places, Dayton, Ohio. The Men Against Breast Cancer Classic includes host Wright State, North Florida and North Dakota.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
4. Texas Southern (nickname: Tigers) is favored to win the SWAC. Its top player is conference player of the year Derrick Griffin, who was dismissed from TSU’s football team in September. He averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds last season.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
5. Northern Colorado is a dumpster fire. After going 10-21 last year, its entire coaching staff was fired for recruiting irregularities. It self-imposed a $5,000 fine and limited scholarships and recruiting visits. Yes, $5,000. This isn’t Louisville or Syracuse.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
6. Grand Canyon somehow arranged a home game against Louisville on Dec. 3. It will also play host to San Diego State, giving the Antelopes a more attractive home schedule than Arizona and ASU. GCU also will play Duke, at Cameron Indoor Arena, in early November.
- Greg Hansen
1. Xavier at Colorado, Dec. 7. It’s a Wednesday night game that only the Pac-12 Networks will televise. Musketeers are loaded.
- Greg Hansen
2. Michigan at UCLA, Dec. 10. By early December, the basketball world will know all about UCLA’s dazzling point guard Lonzo Ball.
- Greg Hansen
3. Virginia at Cal, Dec. 21. After eight dismal home games (including Alcorn State, Cal Poly and UC Davis), the Bears will play potential Final Four power Virginia. With school not in session over Christmas break, it might not even sell out Haas Pavilion.
- Greg Hansen
1. UCLA at Kentucky, Dec. 3. Last time the Bruins played at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, two years ago, UK led 41-7 at halftime. This year’s UCLA team should hang tough.
- Greg Hansen
2. Arizona vs. Gonzaga, Dec. 3. The made-for-TV Saturday afternoon special at Staples Center does not match the West’s two leading basketball programs. Gonzaga hasn’t earned that position because it disappears each year while playing 18 games in the dismal West Coast Conference.
- Greg Hansen
3. USC at Texas A&M, Nov. 18. The Trojans are better than most think, even though their unexpected loss of two key players over the summer took a toll. The Aggies won 28 games last year and could win the SEC.
- Greg Hansen
1. To fatten up their victory total, the Sun Devils scheduled former Arizona Sweet 16 coach (2008-09) Russ Pennell, who is in his third year at Central Arkansas. Pennell is struggling 9-48 overall, and he has to take the Bears on a money-making pre-conference journey that includes games at Michigan, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.
- Greg Hansen
2. The Sun Devils are touting a Tuesday, Dec. 20, home game against Creighton as the hook to their marketing campaign. But the Blue Jays, which are a Top 25 team, have much more on their mind: They play Wisconsin, Villanova and rival Nebraska before New Year’s Day.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
1. Arizona, 142-38, eight NCAA Tournament wins.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
2. Oregon, 133-46, seven NCAA Tournament wins.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
3. UCLA, 109-64, four NCAA Tournament wins.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
4. Cal, 107-62, one NCAA Tournament win.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
5. Colorado, 105-66, one NCAA Tournament win.
- Greg Hansen
Here’s how the league has gone over the last five seasons:
6. Utah, 95-73, three NCAA Tournament wins.
- Greg Hansen
1. Stanford’s first-year coach is Jerod Haase, who has played at McKale Center as a Cal freshman guard (opposite Jason Kidd in 1993), and who helped coach Kansas and North Carolina at McKale. When Arizona stunned No. 1 Kansas in the 1997 Sweet 16, Haase was KU’s starting off-guard. He scored just two points.
- Greg Hansen
2. UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball is said to be a franchise-player, a future lottery pick who is 6-6 and is a pass-first, this-is-my-team player who is expected to operate the Bruins offense in a run-and-shoot system similar to the Golden State Warriors.
- Greg Hansen
3. Arizona State freshman forward Sam Cunliffe is a 6-6 wing forward believed to be Bobby Hurley’s first elite-type recruit. Over the summer, Hurley mentioned that Cunliffe could be in the hunt as Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. In a class that includes UCLA’s Ball, Washington point guard dynamo Markelle Fultz and Arizona’s skilled Lauri Markkanen, that’s high praise.
- Greg Hansen
4. Adam Cohen worked on Lute Olson staff as a manager and video coordinator, then worked for Kevin O’Neill at USC. He has spent a coaching apprenticeship at Vanderbilt, Harvard and Rice and is now the top assistant at Stanford.
- Greg Hansen
1. Sixth-year senior point guard Dylan Ennis, a former starter at Villanova, is one of three point guards with Pac-12 ability on Ducks roster. Junior Casey Benson and touted freshman Payton Pritchard could play for anybody. But at Oregon, they’ll share the wealth.
- Greg Hansen
2. The Ducks have so many options at forward and center that it is reminiscent of some of Mike Montgomery’s Pac-10 championship teams at Stanford. Two 6-10 shot-blockers (both former NJCAA Players of the Year), Chris Boucher and Kavell Bigby-Williams, are remarkable athletes. They are backed, inside, by 6-9 Jordan Bell, an enforcer, and 6-7 Dillon Brooks, who averaged 16 points last season.
- Greg Hansen
3. This year, for the first time in memory, Oregon held an official “Media Day.” In previous years, the focus on UO football was so strong that the Ducks simply began basketball practice without much notice. “Nobody thought we were going to be any good for six years,” coach Dana Altman said at media day.
- Greg Hansen
1. Josh Scott, Colorado. He’s starting for MZT Skopje, a contender from Macedonia playing in the Adriatic League.
- Greg Hansen
2. Tyrone Wallace, Cal. After being selected in the final spot, No. 60, in the NBA draft, Wallace has been placed on the Utah Jazz’s Salt Lake City Stars club in the D League.
- Greg Hansen
3. Jordan Mathews, Cal. He is expected to start at shooting guard for Gonzaga as a fifth-year, grad transfer.
- Greg Hansen
4. Dwayne Benjamin. Oregon’s sixth man is one of the top scorers for the Bakken Bears of Denmark’s EuroLeague, with a 12-point average.
- Greg Hansen
5. Gary Payton II, Oregon State. Signing a three-year deal with the Houston Rockets, though undrafted, Payton played 48 minutes in Houston’s first five exhibition games. Just a few days before Houston’s opener, he was waived.
- Greg Hansen
6. Julian Jacobs, USC. He jumped to the NBA draft a year early and was not selected. He played in two exhibition games for the Lakers before being released Oct. 12.
- Greg Hansen
7. Jordan Loveridge, Utah. He is starting for Egis Kormend in Hungary’s EuroLeague.
- Greg Hansen
8. Andrew Andrews, Washington. Undrafted, Andrews signed with the Charlotte Hornets but was released Oct. 20.
- Greg Hansen
1. It’s not a monumental task to win on the road any more. Last year, home teams won 61 percent of conference games. Unless you have an elite-level home crowd — and in the Pac-12 the only consistently full and loud arena is McKale Center — it’s not that daunting for, say, Oregon State to play at Colorado on a Thursday night with 3,000 empty seats. Arizona routinely gets a crowd’s best shot, night after night on the road. That wears a team down over 2½ months.
- Greg Hansen
2. If you don’t have a reliable 3-point shooter, you’re in trouble. Last year 36 percent of all field goal attempts were 3-pointers, the highest percentage in history. The Pac-12’s most feared 3-point shooters: Cal’s Jabari Bird made 41 percent last year; Colorado’s Dominique Collier made 44 percent and teammate George King 46 percent; and UCLA’s Aaron Holiday hit 42 percent. They are game-changers.
- Greg Hansen
1. Oregon at UCLA, Thursday, Feb. 9, ESPN. Even Dick Vitale will be paying attention.
- Greg Hansen
2. UCLA at Arizona, Saturday, Feb. 25, ESPN or ESPN2. It should be as good as any Sweet 16 game.
- Greg Hansen
3. Oregon at Oregon State, Saturday, March 4, ESPN or ESPN2. By then the Ducks could be No. 1 nationally, heading to dreaded Gill Coliseum for OSU’s Game of the Year.
- Greg Hansen
1. Steve Alford, Indiana. He scored 2,438 points for the Hoosiers, a consensus All-America point guard. But he started just three NBA games over a four-year career.
- Greg Hansen
2. Cuonzo Martin, Cal. An All-Big Ten player at Purdue, scoring 1,666 points, Martin appeared in just seven NBA games.
- Greg Hansen
3. Bobby Hurley, ASU. As a two-time All-America point guard at Duke, Hurley’s NBA career was tragically scuttled by an automobile accident that almost killed him. He averaged 3.8 in the NBA after scoring 1,731 points at Duke.
- Greg Hansen
4. Larry Krystkowiak, Utah. One of Montana’s best-ever big men, scoring 2,017 points, Coach K started 134 NBA games and was a full-time starter only one season, 1989, for Milwaukee.
- Greg Hansen
5. Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State. Another Montana big man of note, Tinkle played for 13 professional teams, from Greece to Spain, and spent time with American minor-league teams like the Topeka Sizzlers and Tri-City Chinook.
- Greg Hansen
1. Oregon, 16-2. Only question is whether the Ducks will share the ball.
- Greg Hansen
2. Arizona, 14-4. Can Parker Jackson-Cartwright hold up at point guard?
- Greg Hansen
3. UCLA, 14-4. Bruins are so talented they could get to the Final Four.
- Greg Hansen
4. Cal, 10-8. If Ivan Rabb plays like a lottery pick, Bears will be a tough out.
- Greg Hansen
5. Washington, 10-8. No conference will have better point guards, and the best might be UW’s Markelle Fultz.
- Greg Hansen
6. Colorado, 9-9 The league will be so good at the top that a .500 record will be NCAA-worthy.
- Greg Hansen
7. Utah, 9-9. The Utes can beat anybody at home, except maybe Oregon.
- Greg Hansen
8. Oregon State, 7-11. Is this too low for the Beavers? Is Tres Trinkle going to be an all-conference player?
- Greg Hansen
9. USC, 6-12. The Trojans could be a surprise NCAA tournament team.
- Greg Hansen
10. Stanford, 5-13. Reid Travis will turn heads, but rest of team won’t.
- Greg Hansen
12. Washington State, 3-15. Someone’s going to pay for the talent at the top.
- Greg Hansen
Duke. Even if freshman Harry Giles can’t recover from a long history of knee injuries, the Blue Devils are loaded.
- Greg Hansen
Purdue. Forget Big Ten rivals Michigan State and Indiana, the Boilermakers have all the pieces to survive and advance.
- Greg Hansen
Kansas. Bill Self’s team hasn’t reached the Final Four since 2012; the Jayhawks’ backcourt and freshman Josh Jackson could be this year’s Villanova.
- Greg Hansen
UCLA. The Bruins could become the story of the year in college basketball. It all depends on whether shoot-first guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton follow new leader, freshman point guard Lonzo Ball.
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- Greg Hansen
1. The Ducks are apt to be 23-0 when Arizona visits Knight Arena on Feb. 4. Before that, the Ducks’ most difficult game is likely to be a Nov. 22 Maui Invitational semifinal game, probably against Wisconsin.
- Greg Hansen
2. Oregon has little chance to lose at home before its Arizona game; its schedule includes Army, Valpo, Boise State, Western Oregon, Savannah State, Montana, Alabama and Fresno State, plus conference visits from UCLA and USC.
- Greg Hansen
4. Only seven Pac-12 teams in history have gone 17-1. None have won ’em all. Arizona went 17-1 five times, losing at Stanford in 1988, 1989 and 2003; at Cal in 1993; and at USC in 1998 after opening 16-0. Only a single Pac-12 team to finish 17-1 reached the Final Four – Arizona in 1988.
- Greg Hansen
5. Two Pac-12 teams opened 17-0 and lost Game 18 on the final day of the regular season: Oregon State was shocked at home by Arizona State on March 7, 1981; Stanford lost perfection at Washington on March 4, 2003.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
1. UC Irvine no longer has 7-foot-6-inch Mamadou Ndiaye, who entered the NBA Draft, was not selected, and failed to score in three NBA Summer League games with the Golden State Warriors. The Anteaters have sort of replaced him with the son of an Arizona 1985-86 Pac-10 championship team member. John Edgar Jr. is a 6-5 freshman from Chino Hills, Calif.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
2. Sacred Heart (nickname: Pioneers) will “go West, young man,” visiting Santa Clara and Arizona, as well as playing in a Las Vegas tournament that involves low-brow opponents Norfolk State, Bucknell and Northern Colorado.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
3. Cal State Bakersfield (nickname: Roadrunners) won 24 games, swept the WAC tournament and played in the NCAA Tournament last year. They, too, are in a pre-conference invitational at, of all places, Dayton, Ohio. The Men Against Breast Cancer Classic includes host Wright State, North Florida and North Dakota.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
4. Texas Southern (nickname: Tigers) is favored to win the SWAC. Its top player is conference player of the year Derrick Griffin, who was dismissed from TSU’s football team in September. He averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds last season.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
5. Northern Colorado is a dumpster fire. After going 10-21 last year, its entire coaching staff was fired for recruiting irregularities. It self-imposed a $5,000 fine and limited scholarships and recruiting visits. Yes, $5,000. This isn’t Louisville or Syracuse.
- Greg Hansen
Arizona is playing its least attractive home nonconference schedule since 1984-85. Do you even know the nickname of Sacred Heart? Cal State Bakersfield? Texas Southern?
6. Grand Canyon somehow arranged a home game against Louisville on Dec. 3. It will also play host to San Diego State, giving the Antelopes a more attractive home schedule than Arizona and ASU. GCU also will play Duke, at Cameron Indoor Arena, in early November.
- Greg Hansen
3. Virginia at Cal, Dec. 21. After eight dismal home games (including Alcorn State, Cal Poly and UC Davis), the Bears will play potential Final Four power Virginia. With school not in session over Christmas break, it might not even sell out Haas Pavilion.
- Greg Hansen
2. Arizona vs. Gonzaga, Dec. 3. The made-for-TV Saturday afternoon special at Staples Center does not match the West’s two leading basketball programs. Gonzaga hasn’t earned that position because it disappears each year while playing 18 games in the dismal West Coast Conference.
- Greg Hansen
3. USC at Texas A&M, Nov. 18. The Trojans are better than most think, even though their unexpected loss of two key players over the summer took a toll. The Aggies won 28 games last year and could win the SEC.
- Greg Hansen
1. To fatten up their victory total, the Sun Devils scheduled former Arizona Sweet 16 coach (2008-09) Russ Pennell, who is in his third year at Central Arkansas. Pennell is struggling 9-48 overall, and he has to take the Bears on a money-making pre-conference journey that includes games at Michigan, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.
- Greg Hansen
2. The Sun Devils are touting a Tuesday, Dec. 20, home game against Creighton as the hook to their marketing campaign. But the Blue Jays, which are a Top 25 team, have much more on their mind: They play Wisconsin, Villanova and rival Nebraska before New Year’s Day.
- Greg Hansen
1. Stanford’s first-year coach is Jerod Haase, who has played at McKale Center as a Cal freshman guard (opposite Jason Kidd in 1993), and who helped coach Kansas and North Carolina at McKale. When Arizona stunned No. 1 Kansas in the 1997 Sweet 16, Haase was KU’s starting off-guard. He scored just two points.
- Greg Hansen
2. UCLA freshman point guard Lonzo Ball is said to be a franchise-player, a future lottery pick who is 6-6 and is a pass-first, this-is-my-team player who is expected to operate the Bruins offense in a run-and-shoot system similar to the Golden State Warriors.
- Greg Hansen
3. Arizona State freshman forward Sam Cunliffe is a 6-6 wing forward believed to be Bobby Hurley’s first elite-type recruit. Over the summer, Hurley mentioned that Cunliffe could be in the hunt as Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. In a class that includes UCLA’s Ball, Washington point guard dynamo Markelle Fultz and Arizona’s skilled Lauri Markkanen, that’s high praise.
- Greg Hansen
4. Adam Cohen worked on Lute Olson staff as a manager and video coordinator, then worked for Kevin O’Neill at USC. He has spent a coaching apprenticeship at Vanderbilt, Harvard and Rice and is now the top assistant at Stanford.
- Greg Hansen
1. Sixth-year senior point guard Dylan Ennis, a former starter at Villanova, is one of three point guards with Pac-12 ability on Ducks roster. Junior Casey Benson and touted freshman Payton Pritchard could play for anybody. But at Oregon, they’ll share the wealth.
- Greg Hansen
2. The Ducks have so many options at forward and center that it is reminiscent of some of Mike Montgomery’s Pac-10 championship teams at Stanford. Two 6-10 shot-blockers (both former NJCAA Players of the Year), Chris Boucher and Kavell Bigby-Williams, are remarkable athletes. They are backed, inside, by 6-9 Jordan Bell, an enforcer, and 6-7 Dillon Brooks, who averaged 16 points last season.
- Greg Hansen
3. This year, for the first time in memory, Oregon held an official “Media Day.” In previous years, the focus on UO football was so strong that the Ducks simply began basketball practice without much notice. “Nobody thought we were going to be any good for six years,” coach Dana Altman said at media day.
- Greg Hansen
5. Gary Payton II, Oregon State. Signing a three-year deal with the Houston Rockets, though undrafted, Payton played 48 minutes in Houston’s first five exhibition games. Just a few days before Houston’s opener, he was waived.
- Greg Hansen
1. It’s not a monumental task to win on the road any more. Last year, home teams won 61 percent of conference games. Unless you have an elite-level home crowd — and in the Pac-12 the only consistently full and loud arena is McKale Center — it’s not that daunting for, say, Oregon State to play at Colorado on a Thursday night with 3,000 empty seats. Arizona routinely gets a crowd’s best shot, night after night on the road. That wears a team down over 2½ months.
- Greg Hansen
2. If you don’t have a reliable 3-point shooter, you’re in trouble. Last year 36 percent of all field goal attempts were 3-pointers, the highest percentage in history. The Pac-12’s most feared 3-point shooters: Cal’s Jabari Bird made 41 percent last year; Colorado’s Dominique Collier made 44 percent and teammate George King 46 percent; and UCLA’s Aaron Holiday hit 42 percent. They are game-changers.
- Greg Hansen
3. Bobby Hurley, ASU. As a two-time All-America point guard at Duke, Hurley’s NBA career was tragically scuttled by an automobile accident that almost killed him. He averaged 3.8 in the NBA after scoring 1,731 points at Duke.
- Greg Hansen
4. Larry Krystkowiak, Utah. One of Montana’s best-ever big men, scoring 2,017 points, Coach K started 134 NBA games and was a full-time starter only one season, 1989, for Milwaukee.
- Greg Hansen
5. Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State. Another Montana big man of note, Tinkle played for 13 professional teams, from Greece to Spain, and spent time with American minor-league teams like the Topeka Sizzlers and Tri-City Chinook.
- Greg Hansen
UCLA. The Bruins could become the story of the year in college basketball. It all depends on whether shoot-first guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton follow new leader, freshman point guard Lonzo Ball.
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