Pac-12 Preview

Ever loose your keys? How about your sunglasses? Ever lose a Pac-12 preview? Well, I did. I wrote this story 24 hours before the start of the college basketball season but wanted to add a little more to it. I loaded into the site, but forgot about it. Here it is, mosty untouched from when I wrote it.

A Pac-12 Player Of The Year candidate?

Best Team
Arizona. I think the Wildcats are the team to beat now that they have Mark Lyons in the fold. I actually like their freshmen 1-4 better than UCLA’s 1-4. Give me Lyons over Larry Drew II and Solomon Hill over Travis Wear. Bruins will give the Wildcats a run if they get Shabazz Muhammad cleared (HE DID), but if he is not cleared by the NCAA the Bruins may fall to third or fourth.

NCAA Bound
I like five to get in. The Wildcats and the Bruins will be joined by Cal, Stanford and Colorado.

Don’t Count Out
I think Oregon and Washington are also in the hunt for the NCAA, but I think they have to address some real flaws.

Really Bad
Utah, ASU and Washington State are going to be very bad. Both lost a lot…and weren’t good to begin with. (NOTE: ASU may not be quite as bad as I first believed. Not a tourney team by any means, but closer to 8th or 9th than 12th).

Best Player On A Bad Team
Brock Motum at Washington State gets the nod over ASU’s Jahii Carson.

Top-5 Freshmen
Muhammed, Kyle Anderson - UCLA, Grant Jerrett – Arizona, Kaleb Tarczeski – Arizona, Dominic Artis – Oregon. (NOTE: I would have added Josh Scott – Colorado to the list if Muhammed was not eligible. It also appears that UCLA's Jordan Adams and Arizona's Brandon Ashley should be on this list.)

Top-5 Newcomers
(I am including players who redshirted a year ago) Lyons – Arizona, Jio Fontan – USC, Carson – ASU, Omar Oraby – USC, Larry Drew II – UCLA. (After two weeks of action it is clear that Oregon's Arsalan Kazemi should be on the list),

Team I Like More Than Most
I like Colorado. They have a great coach, good returning talent and some nice incoming freshmen. They have tasted the NCAAs and I think they could end up being a top-three or four team in the league.

Sneaky OK?
I know Oregon State will miss Jared Cunningham and lack depth, but they do have a decent starting five and could be better than expected. Don’t expect an NCAA appearance or even sneaking into the top-6, but they won’t be an easy out and could shock some people, especially in Corvallis.

Player Of The Year Candidates
Solomon Hill – Arizona, Muhammad – UCLA, Allen Crabbe – Cal, C.J. Wilcox – Washington, Andre Roberson - Colorado.

Coaches On The Hotseat
Lorenzo Romar – Washington, Kevin O’Neill – USC, Ken Bone – Washington State, Ben Howland – UCLA, Johnny Dawkins – Stanford, Herb Sendek – ASU, Craig Robinson –Oregon State

1 Arizona
2. UCLA (had them fourth without Shabazz)
3. Cal
4. Colorado
5. Stanford
6. Washington (Without a late season improvement, a Romar staple, this team will be closer to seventh or eighth)
7. Oregon
8. Oregon State
9. USC
10. Washington State
11. ASU
12. Utah