With its loss to Oregon, Stanford is all but eliminated from an NCAA tournament bid based on the regular season and is in danger of being eliminated from a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament. Stanford is three games in the loss column behind 4th place USC. USC has seven conference games left, including home and away versus UCLA, vs Arizona, @ Oregon. Games at home versus the Washington schools and at Oregon State aside, it's *possible* that USC could finish the regular season 3-4. If the Cardinal somehow wins remaining games at Oregon State, home versus the mountain schools, at Cal and at ASU, it won't matter that they lose by 30 at Arizona. But one slipup versus the teams below them in the standings, and Stanford can kiss that first-round bye goodbye.
It's a quirk of the schedule in this bizarre season that Stanford plays lowly OSU and Utah once during the regular season; Stanford plays all other conference opponents twice, Covid willing. The Beavers are the bottom feeder in the conference. Following their narrow home loss to lowly Cal, they are 1-10 and in last place. In fact, OSU is 3-18 for the entire season, with home wins over Portland State, Nicholls State and Utah. OSU is on an 8-game losing streak, which is not quite as bad as the 10-game losing streak that followed the season opening win vs PSU. Considering that Stanford will be playing its third game in three cities in five days and fourth game in seven days, the Cardinal could not ask for a better opponent that OSU. The Beavers don't do anything particularly well. They are 8th in the conference in points scored per game at 67.0, which is .9 ppg better than Stanford. But the Beavers give up 79.3 ppg, the most in the conference, while Stanford gives up 68.7. OSU has a -6.8 average rebounding margin; Stanford's is +6.1. OSU forces only 11.6 TOs per game, 8th in the conference. Los Altos HS alum and junior guard Jarod Lucas leads the Beavers with 13.5 ppg. Lucas must be wondering what happened to last year's team that had a surprise run to the conference tournament and, as a 12-seed in the Midwest regional made it all the way to the Elite Eight before running out of gas against Houston.
One thing Stanford has avoided in this typically frustrating season is a three-game losing streak. I predict a win versus Oregon State, and ESPN BPI agrees, as it gives Stanford a 62.1% probability of victory.
It's a quirk of the schedule in this bizarre season that Stanford plays lowly OSU and Utah once during the regular season; Stanford plays all other conference opponents twice, Covid willing. The Beavers are the bottom feeder in the conference. Following their narrow home loss to lowly Cal, they are 1-10 and in last place. In fact, OSU is 3-18 for the entire season, with home wins over Portland State, Nicholls State and Utah. OSU is on an 8-game losing streak, which is not quite as bad as the 10-game losing streak that followed the season opening win vs PSU. Considering that Stanford will be playing its third game in three cities in five days and fourth game in seven days, the Cardinal could not ask for a better opponent that OSU. The Beavers don't do anything particularly well. They are 8th in the conference in points scored per game at 67.0, which is .9 ppg better than Stanford. But the Beavers give up 79.3 ppg, the most in the conference, while Stanford gives up 68.7. OSU has a -6.8 average rebounding margin; Stanford's is +6.1. OSU forces only 11.6 TOs per game, 8th in the conference. Los Altos HS alum and junior guard Jarod Lucas leads the Beavers with 13.5 ppg. Lucas must be wondering what happened to last year's team that had a surprise run to the conference tournament and, as a 12-seed in the Midwest regional made it all the way to the Elite Eight before running out of gas against Houston.
One thing Stanford has avoided in this typically frustrating season is a three-game losing streak. I predict a win versus Oregon State, and ESPN BPI agrees, as it gives Stanford a 62.1% probability of victory.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)

