***OFFICIAL*** Pac-12 basketball revival thread

[DMX7]

When did you become the DPRK Ambassador to the U.S.?

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

God damn, UCLA on a crash course with Florida again. My Bruins always get fucked by them, no vaseline. :(

:cry At least we gots our regular-season championship. :cry
:lol Ben Howland probably his nightmares about Billy Donovan

[baseline bum]

:lol Ben Howland probably his nightmares about Billy Donovan

:cry I still have nightmares about all the celebratory molotovs I had to take apart one piece at a time the morning after that dark March 2006 day. :cry

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

:cry I still have nightmares about all the celebratory molotovs I had to take apart one piece at a time the morning after that dark March 2006 day. :cry
Who are you picking to win the tournament, tbh?

[JMarkJohns]

Oh its on Arizona bitches. We're so going to kick your ass. :lol

Love this draw. It will test Arizona but isn't horrible. Either Ohio State, New Mexico, Arizona, or Wisconsin wins this bracket. Gonzaga hasn't played a game of consequence since New Years.

Lobos are the type of team Arizona should compete with. They struggle most vs. teams with 5-6 guys that can score 12-20 each any given game, like UCLA.

There other losses are all close and/or understandable.

I don't want to play Wisconsin. Not ever.

[Venti Quattro]

God damn, UCLA on a crash course with Florida again. My Bruins always get fucked by them, no vaseline. :(

:cry fuck Joakim Noah :cry

[baseline bum]

:cry fuck Joakim Noah :cry

It was bad enough that state gave us Bush in 2000; seeing those faggots dancing on Jordan Farmar's storied career and Ryan Hollins' surprising string of adequacy just added insult. :cry

[Xylus]

I was saying what the selection committee said. My Lobos >>>>>>> Arizona >>>>>>> Oregon >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Oregon St.

LOL 12th seed.

Go on...

[tlongII]

Pac-12 representing!

[JMarkJohns]

Colorado shoulda played better. Something about the draw. They are a play-up type of team, and with Illinois, the need to play up wasn't there. Lots of talent coming back and coming in. Good team going forward.

[thunderup]

:lmao UCLA

[baseline bum]

:lol Ben Howland probably his nightmares about Billy Donovan

So now nightmares about Minnes:lolta

UNSTACKED :cry

[Venti Quattro]

:cry our Allah Shabazz gonna go pro
:cry he's gonna leave UCLA because Howland is a piece of shit

:cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

[baseline bum]

:cry our Allah Shabazz gonna go pro
:cry he's gonna leave UCLA because Howland is a piece of shit

:cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

:cry No, he's going to leave UCLA because nigga's getting paid.
:cry Season was a disaster because Howland is a piece of shit.
:cry Mono being 100% dead-on when he said Shabazz was going to tank the game to prepare for the draft.

:cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

:lmao New Mexico fuckin sucks
:lmao not being able to beat that shitty ass harvard team

[baseline bum]

RIP Ben H:crywland

http://www.jasondrury.com/images/pouring_40.jpg

Source: UCLA to fire Ben Howland (http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9090636/source-ucla-bruins-fire-coach-ben-howland)

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA is expected to announce on Sunday that basketball coach Ben Howland has been fired, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said late Saturday night.

On Saturday night the school released a statement saying that Howland has not been fired.

"Contrary to multiple media reports this evening, UCLA has not fired men's basketball coach Ben Howland," the statement read.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday night that Howland has denied that he's been told he's been fired. Howland, a source told ESPN.com, is at his home in Santa Barbara.

Howland completed his 10th season with the Bruins on Friday night when UCLA lost to Minnesota, 83-63, in the NCAA tournament's round of 64. UCLA finished the season 25-10 and won the Pac-12 Conference regular-season title. But the blowout loss and early exit from the NCAA tournament were the latest in a line of embarrassing moments over the past few seasons that led to the end of the Howland era.

Howland will finish at UCLA with a career record of 233-107. He won four conference titles in the past eight years and took the Bruins to the Final Four in three consecutive season from 2006-08, but he has had a string of disappointing seasons since. UCLA missed the NCAA tournament twice in the three seasons prior to this year, had a losing record in 2009-10 and has won only two NCAA tournament games since 2008.

The Bruins have not advanced to the Sweet 16 in five consecutive years -- the longest such streak at UCLA in the post-John Wooden era -- and have not been ranked in the top 10 since early in the 2008-09 season.

UCLA went 56-43 in the three seasons before this year and missed the NCAA tournament in two of those three years. After landing the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, Howland was given this season to turn things around, but UCLA never regained its status among the elite programs. The Bruins lost games to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, USC and Washington State and had two players transfer out of the program mid-season, leaving the Bruins with a rotation of only eight players.

That thin bench only served to shine a light on some of the roster difficulties in the program. UCLA has had at least 11 players transfer over the past five seasons and several others left school early for the NBA, even though they might not have been ready. Combine that with Howland's difficulty in landing top Southern California talent since 2008 and it became clear that Howland was losing his touch in running the program at the high standards expected at UCLA.

In his early days, Howland did exactly that.

He took over a program that had gone 10-19 under Steve Lavin in 2002-03 and implemented his trademark tough defensive brand of basketball. Three seasons later, UCLA went 32-7 and played in the national championship game. The Bruins played in two more Final Fours, boasting a roster filled with future NBA talent such as Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Darren Collison, Arron Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

Recruiting misses became more common than hits over the next few years with such highly regarded players as Reeves Nelson, J'mison Morgan and Joshua Smith making more news off the court than on it, while others such as Jerime Anderson, Brendan Lane and Tyler Lamb never reached the heights projected. An embarrassing Sports Illustrated report last year painted the program as one filled with dysfunction only magnified some of the problems Howland was having with players.

Howland was under contract through 2017 and firing him now will invoke a buyout of $3.2 million, according to terms of his contract.

A source told ESPN.com that UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero has a fondness for VCU Rams coach Shaka Smart and plans are to focus first on bringing him to Westwood.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz contributed to this report.

[Venti Quattro]

RIP Ben H:crywland

http://www.jasondrury.com/images/pouring_40.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0v0i63PQ4

[JMarkJohns]

Are we AZ fans now allowed to bitch about refs with a few years of impunity?

Go fuck yourself, Ed Rush!

Black eye for the Conference. Rush has to be fired.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

The fact they're tucking this under the rug and pretending nothing is wrong is lunacy and pure envy of our basketball program from the other Pac-12 schools.

[Clipper Nation]

Wow, I knew PAC-12 refs were bad, but never knew they were crooked...

[rold50]

Enfield to USC.

[JMarkJohns]

Hearing it now: Gordon to AZ

He announces in 20.

Good get. AZ now has four top-10 bigs in their frontcourt, and a fifth top-15.

SF: Jefferson, Gordon
PF: Ashley, Gordon
C: Tarczewski, Jerrett

Disgusting height, size, skill and athleticism...

[JMarkJohns]

Confirmed. Gordon commits to Arizona.

AZ just got Blake Griffin redux...

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Do you think Gordon eventually starts at sf over Jefferson?

[Bill_Brasky]

So Ed Rush was the head of NBA officiating during Lakers/Kings 02....

ESPN not mentioning a word of any of this....

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Ed rush should be kissing Aaron Gordon's feet. His commitment couldn't have been timed any better to draw Arizonas attention away from him :lol

[JMarkJohns]

Gordon, bitches!!!

I1fSK_JvznM

And I see Jefferson's passing and defense getting the nod, though offensively, Gordon is superior, so maybe.

I get chills thinking about a McConnell, Johnson, Jefferson, Gordon fastbreak!

[MannyIsGod]

Gordon's bro was a fucking beast of a college forward and he's better than Drew. Good recruit but probably a one and done.

[JMarkJohns]

Has the talent. He has talked about multiple years, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Needs to learn to create his own shot in the halfcourt better before the NBA. Could happen soon, though.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

He seems like a two year player to me because he'll be learning a new position.

There's no reason why they can't be a top 3 team next year. Tarc, Ashley and Jerrett all need to get better and they will. Mayes needs to give the 15 productive minutes off the bench he used to give, and either Pitts or York needs to emerge as a backup SG.

I want the rotation looking something like this-

Tarc (25) - Jerrett (15)
Ashley (28) - Jerrett (7) - Gordon (5)
Jefferson (22) - Gordon (18)
Johnson (28) - York/Pitts (12)
McConnell (25) - Mayes (15)

[JMarkJohns]

I'm hearing they'll seek a senior transfer on the wing. Someone who can shoot, play 15-20 minutes, or spot start if needed.

Might be a combo guard, might be a combo wing.

I'm hearing rumblings of one transfer and one redshirt.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

I'm hearing they'll seek a senior transfer on the wing. Someone who can shoot, play 15-20 minutes, or spot start if needed.

Might be a combo guard, might be a combo wing.

I'm hearing rumblings of one transfer and one redshirt.
Who do you think would redshirt, Pitts or York? That move makes sense since it'll somewhat replace all the experienced shooting we lose, but Pitts and York are both supposed to be shooters as well.

3 point shooting is probably the one thing next year's team will be worse at than this year's team but if that means they take less threes and work the ball inside more, fine by me.

[JMarkJohns]

I've been asked not to name the transfer candidate(s), but I'm sure simple math + role on team leads to the suspects.

I've heard good things about Pitts. I'm not sure he redshirts, though its a possibility if they get the transfer senior.

I think in an ideal world, including everyone plus the transfer...

PG: McConnell (rs-jr), Mayes (sr)
SG: Johnson (jr), Transfer (sr), Pitts (fr)/York (so) - either could redshirt
SF: Gordon (fr), Jefferson (fr)
PF: Ashley (so), Jerrett (so)
C: Tarczewski (so), Korcheck (rs-jr), Chol (jr) - could redshirt

Without any transfers out, all still fit.

My guess is one transfer out, one redshirt, one transfer in, maybe a second who can redshirt next and have two to play come 2014.

[MannyIsGod]

It pleases me to see Alford getting torched in the media.

[Clipper Nation]

It pleases me to see Alford getting torched in the media.

Have they trotted out the story about his failed cover-up for one of his players' rapes at Iowa yet? :lol

[JMarkJohns]

Tj Simers destroyed the hire...

And Gordon is MVP of McD AA game.

He will be hard to keep off the court.

[MannyIsGod]

Simmers article was one of my favorites.

[JMarkJohns]

I'm hearing bad things for Larry Scott. The T he mandated Rush to call on Miller brought his house down.

Won't be long, asshole!

[JMarkJohns]

Ed Rush interview on ESPN tomorrow, PAC-12 with a new independant investigation...

Scott ishould be squirming.

In other news, sounds like Jahii Carson and Bachynski will return for ASU. They lose Felix, which really hurts, but a wiser Carson and stronger Bachynski will keep them relevant.

Sounds like Bland will go to USC or stay at SDSU. Really good west coast recruiter. Would be a coup for USC to land him, as Arizona has some interest, but the timing doesn't seem right.

[rold50]

Bland and Jason Hart to USC

[JMarkJohns]

I like USCs staff better than UCLAs.

Bland and Hart + Enfield's style should really elevate USC.

[JMarkJohns]

As expected, USC steals PG Jordan McCloughlin from UCLA and UCLA responds by stealing UTEP dysfunction, SG/SF Isaac Hamilton, from USC, to play PG.

Meanwhile, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado appear to be the main teams going forward.

[JMarkJohns]

I've been asked not to name the transfer candidate(s), but I'm sure simple math + role on team leads to the suspects.

I've heard good things about Pitts. I'm not sure he redshirts, though its a possibility if they get the transfer senior.

I think in an ideal world, including everyone plus the transfer...

PG: McConnell (rs-jr), Mayes (sr)
SG: Johnson (jr), Transfer (sr), Pitts (fr)/York (so) - either could redshirt
SF: Gordon (fr), Jefferson (fr)
PF: Ashley (so), Jerrett (so)
C: Tarczewski (so), Korcheck (rs-jr), Chol (jr) - could redshirt

Without any transfers out, all still fit.

My guess is one transfer out, one redshirt, one transfer in, maybe a second who can redshirt next and have two to play come 2014.

Forgot about this...

Jerrett was the transfer out. He went NBA.

Chol was the redshirt. He will, only as a transfer at SDSU.

Peters was the traditional transfer in. The senior transfer was Black, who ended up at KU.

Hoping Pitts redshirts.

[Venti Quattro]

At home, Oregon? Really? At home? :rollin :rollin :rollin

http://www.snappytv.com/snaps/ucla-closes-out-strong-to-take-win-at-oregon-70-68-about-ucla-oregon-mbk-12-30-14-on-espn2_ky

[Blake]

Wow the PAC 12 really blows aside from Arizona

Lol the big 12 has fewer teams in it, but five are ranked

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Yup still a pretty shitty conference. Alford looks like a horrible hire for UCLA.

[JMarkJohns]

Don't be fooled by the PAC-12 beating each other up. They have 7 top-50 teams in the Kenpom rankings, more than any conference.

Arizona's dominance is just making them look shitty.

Like Michigan on this huge run since the UA loss, their first win was a mere 3point home win over middle of the PAC Stanford.

If Colorado doesn't lose Dinwiddie and voters pulled their heads out of their ass and watched UCLA, the PAC would have three top-20 teams.

[JMarkJohns]

Arizona, Utah, and Washington all doing their part this season.

UCLA, not so much...

[Clipper Nation]

Kirby's Bag has consumed UCLA.

[JMarkJohns]

Arizona effectively controlling UCLA and its epic offense for 11-point win in LA on Kareem day is pretty fucking epic in Allonzo Trier's first game of the season.

[JMarkJohns]

Arizona got slaughtered at Oregon, but now the PAC-12 has three top-10 teams.

[JMarkJohns]

PAC-12 has been fun this year.

Three top-10, arguably top-5 teams...

[JMarkJohns]

For my money, I think Arizona, UCLA and Oregon are 3 of the top6 teams in the country. Half of their losses are to each other, and all of them did well in NonConference. Shame Arizona didn't have Trier all season. They'd probably be #1 in the country.

[Pelicans78]

Not sure how USC got into the big dance with that resume. Yes winning at home against SMU and UCLA are really good wins, but nothing else stands out on their schedule. 10-8 in the PAC-12 is not that impressive either considering outside of the big 3, the rest of the teams are average and they finished 9-8 in their last 17 games.

[JMarkJohns]

Agreed. Outside of Arizona/Oregon/UCLA, teams like USC, Cal, Utah, Stanford all crapped the bed. At least three of them should have been tournament teams.

At one point this season Pac12 had 5 top25.

But everyone 4-7 struggled down the stretch. Nobody could win a game on the road.