The Stanford men, #86 NET, take on the UCLA Bruins, #11 NET, at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday evening. It looks like UCLA--as others have mentioned--will be without starters Johnny Juzang (Covid protocols) and Jaylen Clark (concussion). That didn't stop the Bruins from dismantling Cal, 81-57 Thusday evening. Even without those 2, UCLA goes 7 deep and, as you would expect from the #7 ranked team, does everything well and nothing poorly. Perhaps notable for Saturday's game is that, in conference play so far, UCLA only commits 9.5 TOs/game (#1 in Pac-12) while Stanford commits 15.1 (#12). On the defensive side, UCLA forces 14.9 TOs/game (#3) while Stanford forces 12.4 (#7).
UCLA's two losses were a wipeout vs Gonzaga in Las Vegas, a rematch of sorts of last spring's memorable Final Four game, and an overtime loss at home to the resurgent Oregon Ducks. But the Bruins destroyed Arizona on Tuesday and, at the moment, are looking like the best team in the Pac-12. The Bruins are 15-2 (7-1), a half-game ahead of Arizona in the standings. Stanford is now 12-6 (5-3) and tied for fourth with Oregon and Washington. It's worth noting that UCLA will be playing its third game in 5 days, but all three are at Pauley so it's not like the three-city/five-days gauntlet that Stanford faced earlier this month.
It's too bad for Stanford that the NCAA is using NET rankings and no longer RPI. While Stanford is #86 NET, they are #25 RPI!
On the other hand, USC's loss to Stanford gave the Trojans a Quad 3 loss (I was mistaken in an earlier post), so that's a bit more injury-to-insult for the men of Troy.
Finally, Sports Illustrated lists Mick Cronin as a possible candidate for the vacant Louisville head coaching job. Cronin is from Cincinnati, a mere 100 miles from Louisville, and, I'm sure, he would love to be closer to his father.
UCLA's two losses were a wipeout vs Gonzaga in Las Vegas, a rematch of sorts of last spring's memorable Final Four game, and an overtime loss at home to the resurgent Oregon Ducks. But the Bruins destroyed Arizona on Tuesday and, at the moment, are looking like the best team in the Pac-12. The Bruins are 15-2 (7-1), a half-game ahead of Arizona in the standings. Stanford is now 12-6 (5-3) and tied for fourth with Oregon and Washington. It's worth noting that UCLA will be playing its third game in 5 days, but all three are at Pauley so it's not like the three-city/five-days gauntlet that Stanford faced earlier this month.
It's too bad for Stanford that the NCAA is using NET rankings and no longer RPI. While Stanford is #86 NET, they are #25 RPI!
On the other hand, USC's loss to Stanford gave the Trojans a Quad 3 loss (I was mistaken in an earlier post), so that's a bit more injury-to-insult for the men of Troy.
Finally, Sports Illustrated lists Mick Cronin as a possible candidate for the vacant Louisville head coaching job. Cronin is from Cincinnati, a mere 100 miles from Louisville, and, I'm sure, he would love to be closer to his father.
