[CardinalSagehen]

Here are the Pac-12 standings as of Monday:
UCLA 13-4
Oregon 11-4
USC 13-5
Colorado 13-6
(Arizona) 11-8
Stanford 10-9, Wednesday @ USC
Oregon State 9-9, Wednesday @ Utah, Sunday vs Oregon
Arizona State 7-8, Monday vs WSU canceled, Thursday @ Colorado, Saturday @ Utah
Utah 7-10
Washington State 7-12
Washington 4-16
Cal 3-17


After Stanford's three-game nosedive, it's now a 3-team race for the final bye in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. If Oscar da Silva is not able to play, I'm going to go ahead and pencil in a loss @ USC and 10-10 final conference record for Stanford. To secure the #5 seed we would need OSU to lose @ Utah and vs Oregon AND ASU to do no better than a split at the mountain schools. A split for OSU would leave both Stanford and the Beavers with identical 10-10 conference records and 1-1 head-to-head results. The third tiebreaker is: "Each team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage."

Of the four teams in the running for #1, we're 1-0 vs UCLA, 0-2 vs Oregon, 0-1 vs USC (one more game pending), and 0-2 vs Colorado. OSU is 0-1 vs UCLA, 1-0 vs Oregon (one more game pending), 1-1 vs USC and 0-1 vs Colorado. So, OSU has a better record vs Oregon, USC (pending Wednesday results) and Colorado. Stanford has a better record vs UCLA.

There's no telling at this point who will be the #4 seed. I'm pretty sure that UCLA, USC, Oregon or Colorado could end up #4 (or #1).

And I'm still of the opinion that Stanford can make a deep run in the conference tournament if everyone is healthy.

I don't know what you mean by "deep run," but if you're implying (or letting yourself believe) that we can still make the NCAA Tournament by winning the Pac-12 tournament, that's an enormous longshot.    

I too have enjoyed watching this team and seeing them overcome the SCC lockdown.  It's nice when you have a few guys that have been around for several years and that you'd like to see do well, combined with some exciting new talent.  

But we have a number of data points now.  It's unlikely that this team is much better than its record at this point.  All teams experience injuries and bad luck.  We somehow managed to lose to Wazzu with our entire roster available and their leading scorer injured.  

I will be pulling for the team and suspending my disbelief just like you, but I'm afraid it's just not happening this year... again.

[CardinalSagehen]

Here are the Pac-12 standings as of Monday:
UCLA 13-4
Oregon 11-4
USC 13-5
Colorado 13-6
(Arizona) 11-8
Stanford 10-9, Wednesday @ USC
Oregon State 9-9, Wednesday @ Utah, Sunday vs Oregon
Arizona State 7-8, Monday vs WSU canceled, Thursday @ Colorado, Saturday @ Utah
Utah 7-10
Washington State 7-12
Washington 4-16
Cal 3-17


After Stanford's three-game nosedive, it's now a 3-team race for the final bye in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. If Oscar da Silva is not able to play, I'm going to go ahead and pencil in a loss @ USC and 10-10 final conference record for Stanford. To secure the #5 seed we would need OSU to lose @ Utah and vs Oregon AND ASU to do no better than a split at the mountain schools. A split for OSU would leave both Stanford and the Beavers with identical 10-10 conference records and 1-1 head-to-head results. The third tiebreaker is: "Each team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage."

Of the four teams in the running for #1, we're 1-0 vs UCLA, 0-2 vs Oregon, 0-1 vs USC (one more game pending), and 0-2 vs Colorado. OSU is 0-1 vs UCLA, 1-0 vs Oregon (one more game pending), 1-1 vs USC and 0-1 vs Colorado. So, OSU has a better record vs Oregon, USC (pending Wednesday results) and Colorado. Stanford has a better record vs UCLA.

There's no telling at this point who will be the #4 seed. I'm pretty sure that UCLA, USC, Oregon or Colorado could end up #4 (or #1).

And I'm still of the opinion that Stanford can make a deep run in the conference tournament if everyone is healthy.

I don't know what you mean by "deep run," but if you're implying (or letting yourself believe) that we can still make the NCAA Tournament by winning the Pac-12 tournament, that's an enormous longshot.    

I too have enjoyed watching this team and seeing them overcome the SCC lockdown.  It's nice when you have a few guys that have been around for several years and that you'd like to see do well, combined with some exciting new talent.  

But we have a number of data points now.  It's unlikely that this team is much better than its record at this point.  All teams experience injuries and bad luck.  We somehow managed to lose to Wazzu with our entire roster available and their leading scorer injured.  

I will be pulling for the team and suspending my disbelief just like you, but I'm afraid it's just not happening this year... again.