48 Texas at San Antonio
61 Oregon
The term “also ran” got its start in racing forms. One horse won, one horse placed, one horse showed, and the rest of the field “also ran”.
“Also ran” is not such a bad thing. An Olympics also-ran is pretty effing great, whether in 4th place or last — because getting there is the thing for most athletes.
But the term ‘also-ran’ evolved to roughly equal “washed up” or “out to pasture”, especially in its noun form. “He’s an also-ran” is a pejorative these days, though it applies to Al Gore, still a force to be reckoned with, I think.
UTSA at Oregon was close in the last few minutes, because Oregon played down to UTSA’s level, the sign of a team that will finish in the elite Pac-12 as an “also ran”.
“Also ran” in the Pac-12 is good enough to win in most of the other leagues in NCAA.
48 Houston
95 Washington St.
Can’t swing a dead cat in the NCAA without hitting a Utah transfer. I liked senior forward Peyton McFarland — good lateral movement — though she didn’t fit Utah’s current scheme in which everyone in the “five out” can reliably make the 3-pointer.
She’s shooting better than .600 close to the basket for Houston, while playing 15 mpg, and she’s probably happier there.
McFarland entered the game with 2:36 left in the first. She rebounded her own miss, and put it back in, to tie it at 16-16.
Washington State scored the next 9 points. Houston was shooting 7-of-12, but Washington State put the hammer down, turned out the lights, cranked up the defensive intensity, pick your cliche. Houston shot 11-of-52 from there.
Meanwhile, Leger-Walker made a triple, Murakatete a double, and Wallack a career-high in points.
Arizona 91
Arizona St. 52
Someone has to be 12th in the Pac-12, why not Arizona St. (who were 7-3 coming in).
When the Wildcats shot 72% in the first half of the third game of the day, I’d had enough.
In the first conference game of the season, Washington impressively shut down WASU, but that was the third game of that day, and I was gassed.
The days when I could do four tournament games in a day while running back and forth to press events are long gone. When conference play brings six games in a day, I’ll have to be selective.
USC 93
Fullerton St. 44
I killed this game, in a sense.
I thought USC might win this game by 100 (as it happened, the Trojans were less awe-inspiring against Fullerton than they were against San Diego), and earlier in the day, I contemplated a point spread.
Point spreads aren’t based on the oddsmakers’ analysis of this team or that, but on getting money in on both sides. I thought USC minus-60 would get some action on Fullerton, and I said on Facebook that they could win by 100, while bettors would be split on 60, and the Titans might cover at +60 if Coach Gottlieb wants a long look at the bench.
USC led 50-20 at half, so -60 looked on the nose, and then the reserves got to play.
Seth Parnow, who worked in analytics for NBA Milwaukee, described a “rubber band effect” in his GREAT book The Midrange Theory.
The idea is that the score between two teams is attached to a rubber band, and the further the rubber band is stretched, the more it wants to snap back toward equilibrium. Which is why overwhelmingly superior teams might lead by 30 at half, but don’t lead by 60 at the end.
The factors that enter into this include resting the starters, and the trailing team getting some favor from the officials. This happens, according to the 1995 NCAA official of the year, who worked as the West Coast Conference officials observer at St. Mary’s games. Once a game is out of hand, the officials are less strict about enforcement. The NCAA will pay lip service to the score not mattering to the referee crew, but it does.