With three weeks remaining, Arizona is effectively positioned not just for the Pac-12 regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in Las Vegas but in addition for going the place no workforce has gone earlier than.
The Wildcats might be the primary males’s workforce in Pac-12 historical past to win 18 convention video games.
Granted, that is solely the second 12 months of the 20-game schedule. However there’s loads of room for the Wildcats to carve a deserving place on the Pac-12 pantheon.
They're at the moment 12-1 in league play with seven video games remaining and no indication that COVID will forestall them from enjoying all 20.
Win 5 of the seven, and they'd be part of the quick listing of groups to succeed in the 17-victory mark. The feat could be significantly spectacular if the Wildcats acquire their seventeenth win earlier than their second loss, in order to match the 17-1 file set by groups in an 18-game season.
Win six of their remaining seven, and they'd develop into the primary workforce to win 18 convention video games — at the very least, the primary on the lads’s facet.
(The Stanford ladies have a number of 18-0 seasons on their resume and, in actual fact, went 19-2 final 12 months when the pandemic pressured extra video games to be added to their schedule.)
The convention created the 18-game schedule when the Arizona colleges turned members within the 1978-79 season. Since then, no males’s workforce has gone undefeated, though Stanford got here shut in 2004 when it reached 17-0 however misplaced at Washington within the regular-season finale.
Within the period of 18-game seasons, solely seven groups have completed 17-1 — and none for the reason that Cardinal did it 18 years in the past: Oregon State ’81, Arizona ’88, ’89, ’93, ’98 and ’03, and Stanford ’04.
We give the Wildcats a great opportunity to hitch the quick listing.
Of their seven remaining video games, 4 are at house and solely two are towards groups close to the highest of the standings.
Remaining video games with every opponent’s present convention file:
This week: vs. Oregon State (1-11), vs. Oregon (10-4)
Subsequent week: at Utah (2-13), at Colorado (7-7)
Remaining week: at USC (10-4), vs. Stanford (8-7), vs. Cal (4-11)
The trickiest stretch is the Tuesday sport at USC (March 1) that follows the journey to the Mountain colleges, however at the very least there are two days between their sport at Colorado and the showdown at USC.
From right here, the Wildcats look like a near-lock for 17 wins. The query is whether or not they can get to 18, which might require them to win six out of seven. (As soon as they clinch the regular-season title, motivation may wane.)
And this: Can they get to 18 wins of their first 19 video games?
In that case, we’ll want to start out pondering their place on the listing of biggest groups in convention historical past.
To the ability rankings …
(NET rankings by means of Sunday)
1. Arizona (22-2/12-1)
Final week: 1
Outcomes: gained at WSU 72-60 and Washington 92-68
Subsequent up: vs. Oregon State (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 2 (final week: 2)
Remark: We proceed to consider the Wildcats’ 29-point throttling of Wyoming (NET: No. 25) is probably the most spectacular non-conference win of the season for the Pac-12.
2. USC (21-4/10-4)
Final week: 3
Outcomes: beat Pacific 74-68 and UCLA 67-64
Subsequent up: vs. Washington (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 28 (final week: 27)
Remark: The Hotline wrote final week that USC’s resume was a tad flimsy as a result of absence of a signature victory. By no means thoughts.
3. UCLA (17-5/9-4)
Final week: 2
Outcomes: gained at Stanford 79-70, misplaced at USC 67-64
Subsequent up: vs. Washington State (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 14 (final week: 15)
Remark: So a workforce with a Remaining 4-or-bust mentality and its NCAA bid assured staggers by means of the February grind in street video games towards determined opponents. Yawn. Wake me when it’s March.
4. Oregon (17-8/10-4)
Final week: 5
Outcomes: beat Stanford 68-60, misplaced to Cal 78-64, beat WSU 62-59
Subsequent up: at Arizona State (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 62 (final week: 49)
Remark: The victory over WSU didn’t offset the abysmal loss to Cal; it merely slowed the Geese’ fall. To reverse course, they need to win in Tucson this weekend.
5. Washington State (14-10/7-6)
Final week: 4
Outcomes: misplaced to Arizona 72-60 and ASU 58-55, misplaced at Oregon 62-59
Subsequent up: at UCLA (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 46 (final week: 36)
Remark: A tough stretch is about to get exponentially more durable for the fading Cougars, whose path to an at-large bid might be fully blocked by the tip of the weekend.
6. Stanford (15-10/8-7)
Final week: 6
Outcomes: misplaced to UCLA 79-70, misplaced at Oregon 68-60, gained at OSU 76-65
Subsequent up: vs. Utah (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 91 (final week: 89)
Remark: The objective for the Cardinal down the stretch is evident: Do no matter is required to create a Pac-12 quarterfinal matchup with USC, then pray to the basketball gods that it will get that far.
7. Washington (13-10/8-5)
Final week: 8
Outcomes: beat ASU 87-64, misplaced to Arizona 92-68
Subsequent up: at USC (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 128 (final week: 131)
Remark: What’s even crazier than UW being 8-5 in league play at this level? That UW being 8-5 isn’t the craziest factor to occur to Washington athletics within the 2021-22 college 12 months.
8. Colorado (15-9/7-7)
Final week: 7
Outcomes: beat Utah 81-76
Subsequent up: at Oregon State (Tuesday)
NET rating: (final week: 92)
Remark: The Buffaloes have six left and are ok to win 5. After all, they’re additionally unhealthy sufficient to lose 5, which explains why they’re 7-7.
9. Arizona State (8-15/4-9)
Final week: 9
Outcomes: misplaced at Washington 87-64, gained at WSU 58-55
Subsequent up: vs. Oregon (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 135 (final week: 136)
Remark: Loads of wins obtainable for the erratic Solar Devils with Oregon State and the Bay Space groups visiting Tempe down the stretch, plus a less-than-daunting Mountain journey.
10. Cal (11-15/4-11)
Final week: 11
Outcomes: gained at OSU 63-61 and Oregon 78-64
Subsequent up: vs. Colorado (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 134 (final week: 148)
Remark: By no means in eight bajillion years would now we have believed Cal would wipe the Geese off their house ground. A number of days later, it nonetheless feels surreal.
11. Utah (9-16/2-13)
Final week: 10
Outcomes: misplaced at Colorado 81-76
Subsequent up: at Stanford (Thursday)
NET rating: No. 130 (final week: 125)
Remark: In case you took the Underneath within the variety of seasons coach Craig Smith would wish to revamp this system, our sympathies.
12. Oregon State (3-19/1-11)
Final week: 12
Outcomes: misplaced to Cal 63-61 and Stanford 76-65
Subsequent up: vs. Colorado (Tuesday)
NET rating: No. 248 (final week: 243)
Remark: We’ll finish this column the place we began, solely from the alternative perspective: The Beavers are threatening to develop into the primary workforce in Pac-12 historical past to lose 19 convention video games.
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