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PAC-12 MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Arizona
- USC
- UCLA
- Oregon
- Colorado
- Arizona State
- Utah
- Stanford
- Washington
- Washington State
- Cal
- Oregon State
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL PAC-12 1ST TEAM:
-Oumar Ballo – C – Arizona
-Adem Bona – F/C – UCLA
-Keion Brooks Jr. – F – Washington
-Branden Carlson – C – Utah
-Isaiah Collier – G – USC
-N’Faly Dante – C – Oregon
-Tristan da Silva – F – Colorado
-Boogie Ellis – F – USC
-Spencer Jones – F – Stanford
-KJ Simpson – G – C0lorado
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL PAC-12 2ND TEAM:
-Fardaws Aimaq – F – California
-Kylan Boswell – G – Arizona
-Kobe Johnson – G – USC
-Caleb Love – G – Arizona
-Jordan Pope – G – Oregon State
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
People say they love college sports because in college it is all about the game. Well, if that were true then we would not be looking at the end of the Pac-12. It may be about the game to the players and fans, but not to the administrators who actually make the decisions. To them, it is in fact LESS about the game than any other sports league in the world.
-Arizona won 28 games last season and earned a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament before being upset by Princeton in the Round of 64. Coach Tommy Lloyd is tasked with replacing four starters, including star PF Azuolas Tubelis who averaged just under 20ppg/10rpg, but he does have Caleb Love (who transferred from North Carolina) and Oumar Ballo, so they are adding some really big pieces and are understandably the preseason favorites to win the league.
-USC is getting a lot of preseason love as well with three key returning starters and a very strong recruiting class. They made quite a bit of noise last year with 22 total wins and played reasonably well down the stretch before losing to Michigan State in the Round of 64, and appear to be in a position to take a huge step forward this year and contend for the top of the Pac-12.
-Mick Cronin is probably underrated as a head coach…which is saying a lot since he is rated pretty high. However, the job he did turning Cincinnati from a total dumpster fire into a nationally relevant program and turning UCLA into a consistent Final Four contender has been tremendous. The Bruins will have to replace four starters so they may take a bit of a step back from last year’s 31-win season where they finished 1st place in the Pac-12, but they have another monster recruiting class. You know they will once again be very tough defensively and I think they’ll once again end up exceeding expectations because it seems like they do that every year.
-Oregon missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago largely due to a really tough stretch at the beginning of February where they lost three straight, and two of those losses came to Washington and Wazzu (teams that were not within 1000 miles of the bubble). They were also plagued with injuries throughout the year, which certainly affected them. Still, they did show promise throughout the year, and with three key starters back I think the Ducks are good enough to end up inside the bubble this year, especially if they stay healthy.
-Every year I always say I like Colorado and every year I usually end up overvaluing them…but I guess I will never learn because I really like this Buffs team! I think Tad Boyle is a really good coach, I like the talent and experience that they seem to have on their roster (particularly KJ Simpson/Tristan da Silva), and I think they can be one of the dark horses in the league this year.
-Utah had a so-so season last year and did not look all that good at the end of the season when they lost their last six games, but prior to that they had looked like a team that could make the NCAAs. Branden Carlson is back, who is one of the better players in the league, and they do seem to have a little more depth this year. I don’t think the Utes will contend for the league title but I would not just write them off either.
-Coach Jerod Haase is entering his eighth year at Stanford, and while the last three have been rather unspectacular there may be reasons to think we may see some improvement this year. Three starters are back, including Spencer Jones, and they did show some signs of life in the second half of conference play a year ago, particularly with an upset win over Arizona last February and how they battled against UCLA/USC.
-Washington has certainly been showing signs of improvement in the last couple of years after winning just 5 total games in 2020-2021, but they still seem destined to be at around .500 for the year and near the bottom of the standings in the Pac-12. They have a very solid frontcourt player in Keion Brooks Jr., but the question is whether he will have enough of a supporting cast to make them competitive in the league.
-Washington State is in a bit of a reset mode with just one starter back from a year ago. Coach Kyle Smith has done a great job at a Wazzu program that has seen more struggles than successes, and they went a very respectable 11-9 in league play a year ago, but this may be a year where they’re once again having to run uphill.
-I am so used to Cal being so bad that I almost cannot believe that there is actually a team picked behind them! They won just 3 total games last year, and while they did hit the transfer portal and add what appear to be some quality players, chances are they will still finish closer to the bottom than the top.
-Oregon State won just ten games a year ago and was really bad in the second half of conference play. Three starters are back, so with that experience we may see some improvement…but it is going to be a LONG year for the Beavers.