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  • #1

    Onward!

    So, Oregon limps into a backdoor Pac 12 championship on the heels of favorable COVID scheduling breaks and absolutely absurd 3-point shooting. Womp, womp.

    Thinking over things, I feel great about our chances heading into Vegas for a few reasons:

    1) Quarterfinals: Matchup should be good for us either way. Not to take anything away from the Utes, but we were basically zombies in that game in SLC. We'll be fresh and hungry this time and they'll be on a back to back if they're able to get past UW (which they should, but Larry K's track record in Vegas is awful).

    2) Semifinals: Probably the toughest game on the slate for us. I'll be rooting hard for Stanford but not getting my hopes up for that one. It is tough to beat a good team 3 times in one season. CU also beat us in Boulder with insane shooting from deep. Not that they can't replicate this, but tougher to do in the second game in two days. The Buffs are a great team, but size, length, and defense travel and I do think they'll have to spend a lot of energy to get past a Stanford team who is fighting for its tournament life. They're cooked now, but a win over Colorado could inch them back towards the bubble.

    We REALLY need to be the aggressors in this one. No reason on paper that we can't match up with Colorado. The bigs need to rebound like maniacs and we need to collectively defend/run our offense with more force than we did in the first two games. If we do that I think we're OK.

    3) Finals: Lots can happen between Wednesday and Thursday, but would be surprised if it's not the Ducks. I won't read too much into our dismantling of them, they had very little time to prep for that one on the road, but it's clear that CAE had something figured out against them and Tahj/Drew were very comfortable playing against that guard line and I feel confident that the Mobleys would have a big impact in this one.

    Overall, I'm encouraged by where we're at. The mountain trip was an absolute mess, but that's a brutal travel on the heels of an unexpected Oregon game that Monday. Tahj, Drew, Ethan and Max are playing as well as they have all year, and if we have two of them going on top of solid production from our bigs, I do think we're a favorite against anyone in the league.
    Tags: None
    • Likes 5
  • #2
    If we can’t figure out Colorado we aren’t going to go very far come March Madness. Need to get it done.
    • Likes 2

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    • #3
      One advantage to playing Colorado, that would be a very high quality NET win if SC pulled through. Would be the biggest win of the season too.

      imo the 3 seed is there for the taking if SC wins out.

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by Jalbert View Post
        If we can’t figure out Colorado we aren’t going to go very far come March Madness. Need to get it done.
        I disagree with this logic. Teams in league are VERY familiar with each other from personnel and coaching standpoints. The tourney is a different breed and the teams we face will not have familiarity.

        That said, it’d be nice to beat Colorado for its own sake

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        • #5
          Wouldn’t look beyond Utah.
          A win there will put USC in the dance.
          That is the must win.

          Comment

          • Globe
            #5.1
            Globe commented
            03-08-2021, 08:00 AM
            Editing a comment
            You don't think we'd make the dance at 21-7? And they say I'm pessimistic......
          • biggitysc
            #5.2
            biggitysc commented
            03-08-2021, 10:00 AM
            Editing a comment
            We're a lock on every website there is. It's only a must win because it would hurt our seeding to lose it. We are already in the tournament.
        • #6
          LOL Globe. Even if we lost to Utah we won't slide below a 6 seed. Right now I would say we are about the 1st or 2nd 5 seed. It's all subjective but last night after going thru the teams projected seeds 3 thru 10 our resume will still be quite a bit better than the projected seeds 7 thru 10. There are a couple teams from the 6/7/8 line that could move up but pretty much all those teams would have win their conference tournament or at least get to the finals.
          • Likes 1

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          • #7
            I would love to see a Stanford esque demolition of Utah. CO still makes me nervous but I’m liking the optimism here.

            Comment

            • #8
              It's worth noting that Utah beat ASU 98-59 over the weekend...

              ASU doesn't play much defense but still... Jeeze.

              Need to take care of our utes Business, and need to come out with a chip on our shoulder and ENERGY that game.

              Our chances at a tournament run are very much dependent on DRAW and the ENERGY we bring to the court. Beating Colorado would be huge because we can show that we can beat teams LIKE colorado who are very senior teams, with a solid point guard and a big man down low - not to mention guards that can knock down threes.

              Smaller teams we already know we have a good chance against.

              Comment

              • TrojaninSF
                #8.1
                TrojaninSF commented
                03-08-2021, 10:52 AM
                Editing a comment
                Agree on the draw/energy piece. When we bring the juice we are a load to handle. We really didn't have it in either CU game; I wonder how much of that is that CU is simply a bad matchup for us vs. more internal factors.

                I personally can't find a reason why we shouldn't be able to compete with them, other than the fact they've wiped the floor with us twice this season, lol. A win in that one would be MASSIVE for seeding purposes.
              • biggitysc
                #8.2
                biggitysc commented
                03-08-2021, 01:29 PM
                Editing a comment
                We have to defend the 3 point line better against Colorado. Some of those shots were contested but far too many open looks. That and hopefully the refs will be less terrible in the Pac-12 tourney. Battey gets away with a ton inside.
            • #9
              It’s been such a weird year that I wouldn’t be surprised if we get snubbed again by the committee if we get trounced by Utah lol all jokes aside, we can all hope the team plays angry & 100% focused if they cross paths with Colorado yet again.

              Comment

              • #10
                If there's one thing this season has shown, almost any team in the Pac12 can beat another on a given day. We cannot afford to skate into a game thinking it is not going to be a hard fought contest.
                • Likes 1

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                • #11
                  One of the reasons I was pulling for OSU, beyond the obvious, was the chance to meet ucla a third time. Hard to beat a team 3 times, but a 0-5 start against SC for Cronin would be great. Could still happen if they upset the Ducks, but less likely.

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