UCLA and Utah play an unusual Thursday game for ESPN’s sake.
Who’s starting at the 3 for Utah tonight? I think it’ll be Wilke. Matyson looks like a confident shooter lately. Dasia Young hit a game-winner in traffic as a 6th man.
Remember what a nice surprise Reese Ross was, many games ago? I’ll guess that big Bruin Lauren Betts makes zero 3-point plays, and Utah makes 15 treys as win conditions.
I reckon 13-5 will get two byes. At 9-5, UCLA and Utah would have to run the table, giving ESPN reason to illustrate the strength of the Pac-12. If both teams play well, viewers across the country can think: Cool! Which of those Pac-12 teams is joining our conference.
12-6 earns one bye, I think. Six teams could finish at 12-6. It’s too soon to work on the tiebreak possibilites, especially with this in mind: Which team in the bottom half can best spoil things?
Arizona could, if they pressed a higher-ranked team into a cascade of mistakes.
Cal could. That team hasn’t been together long — fully integrating Krimili and Mastova is the Golden Bears’ challenge.
Washington could. I’d been counting on the Washington teams to be within sneaking range at the end (like defending tournament champion Washington State did last year), but the Cougars lost Leger-Walker. The Huskies lost three recent games in overtime (two of the three going to multiple OT).
Washington could use a high-visibility threat to emerge among them. I can’t name one Husky — if they had someone memorable, that’s worth one upset in these last four games, plus surviving the first night in Las Vegas.
Oregon could, if the Ducks could play tall for 40 minutes.