Pac-12 Basketball Notes: Arizona, UCLA, Washington State Stand Tall

On what basis should Pac-12 coach-of-the-year candidates be judged? You might consider any of the following four categories, providing four different candidates.

Category I: Getting the team to play best in the most challenging situations: Tommy Lloyd

When Arizona embarked on its trip to the mountain schools, many expected the Wildcats to get their comeuppance. Afterall, the Wildcats were just 3-3 in conference road games, including a loss to last-place Oregon State, and they were facing Utah and Colorado, which were a combined 25-0 at home.

In Thursday’s game at Utah, Arizona blew a 16-point lead with 16 minutes left in the second half, and it seemed the Salt Lake City crowd and its altitude were getting to the Wildcats. But Arizona held tough despite missing possible game-winning shots at the end of regulation and the first two overtime periods. When they should have been flailing away amid a hostile crowd and the thin air, they played their best basketball in the third overtime and won.

Then, just two days later, at even higher altitude, Arizona took Colorado apart, batting the Buffs around like ragdolls, in a surprisingly dominant 20-point win.

Arizona finds itself alone in first place, and the improved play of Oumar Ballo (26 points, 29 rebounds in the two games) and the clutch play of Caleb Love were factors. But Tommy Lloyd got the Wildcats prepared for the challenge.

Category II: Directing a team’s dramatic improvement in the face of impending disaster: Mick Cronin

On January 12, UCLA had lost eight of its last nine games, including a home loss to Cal State Northridge, had lost four straight home games for the first time in 21 years, had been swept at home by the Bay Area schools for the first time in 19 years even though Stanford and Cal were picked to finish eighth and 11th in the conference, and finished that nine-game stretch with a 46-point loss to Utah. Following the loss to Cal Mick Cronin skipped his postgame radio interview, failed to meet with the media and did not allow any of his players to speak to the media. The loss to Utah left the Bruins 6-10 overall and 1-4 in the conference, leaving them dead, dead, dead.

Or so we thought. UCLA has since won seven of eight games, the only loss being a six-point loss at Arizona in a game the Bruins led with less than five minutes left. UCLA is now riding a five-game winning streak after sweeping Stanford and Cal on the road, leaving the Bruins at 8-5 in the conference, in third place, two games out of first.

Certainly the improvement of sophomore point guard Dylan Andrews has been a big help, but Cronin has to get a lot of credit for righting a ship that seemed sunk.

Category III: Surpassing expectations: Kyle Smith

Washington State was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12, and it wasn’t hard to see why. The Cougars had lost their top five scorers from the previous season’s 17-17 team as transfers were fleeing the ship, and Kyle Smith was trying to tape things together with a redshirt freshman point guard (Myles Rice) who had been cleared of cancer only five months earlier, a graduate transfer who had played his previous season in the Big Sky Conference at Idaho (Isaac Jones), and a transfer from Division II Sonoma State (Jaylen Wells).

A soft nonconference schedule and a 1-3 start in Pac-12 play seemed to confirm predictions, but the Cougars have since won eight of nine games, including a victory over Arizona and Saturday’s road win over Oregon. The only loss in that span was an overtime defeat at Cal, and WSU has won five straight since then, leaving them at 9-4 in the conference, alone in second place, one game out of first.

Rice, Jones and Wells have been superb, but it doesn’t get done without Smith at the helm squeezing blood from a stone.

Category IV: Energizing a fan base: Mark Madsen

Last season, Cal was bad, slow and unappealing. Cal averaged 2,155 in home attendance in 2022-23 and its biggest crowd was 3,648.

But recently the Bears drew more than 8,700 for a victory over Stanford at Haas Pavilion, had their first home sellout in seven years (11,801) in the next game on Wednesday in an overtime win over USC, and drew 9,280 against UCLA on a Saturday afternoon, when Bay Area folks generally have something better to do.

None of Cal’s five starters played a single game for the Golden Bears last year, but the Bears, who were picked to finish 11th, are averaging 75.0 points with a 6-7 conference record this season after averaging 58.3 points and going 2-18 in the Pac-12 last year. Better players, a faster pace, a better record and more money spent on promotion have aided the attendance increase, but the biggest factor is Mark Madsen’s insatiable enthusiasm and over-the-top optimism.

Before the season began, he had predicted Cal would sell out Haas Pavilion. People laughed.

Madsen would be higher on the coach-of-the-year scale if the Bears had defeated UCLA instead of losing by a point after overcoming a 14-point, second-half deficit.

Pac-12 Player of the Year Standings

(A team’s place in the standings matters)

1. Caleb Love, Arizona – Yes, he was 5-for-20 against Utah, but he scored 11 points in the overtimes to get the win.

2. KJ Simpson, Colorado – 19.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 42.9% three-point shooting. His cantancerous matchup with Caleb Love on Saturday was interesting.

3. Oumar Ballo, Arizona – Ballo is finally doing what was expected this season. Over the past four games he averaged 16.5 points and 13.8 rebounds, with 68.4% field-goal shooting and 60.9% foul shooting.

4. Myles Rice, Washington State – 15.6 points. His 21-point, 9-rebound, 2-steal game in the win at Oregon Saturday puts him in this company.

5. Jaylon Tyson, Cal – 20.1 points, 7.5 rebounds. He can do a little bit of everything.

Top Five Pac-12 Teams

(Based on results, not the eye test)

1. Arizona (19-5, 10-3 Pac-12) – The Wildcats’ road wins over Utah and Colorado quieted a lot of doubters.

2. Washington State (18-6, 9-4) – The Cougars have a win over Arizona and road win over Oregon. And, oh yeah, they have won five straight.

3. UCLA (13-11, 8-5) – The greatest midseason turnaround in the country.

4. Oregon (16-8, 8-5) – Fading Ducks face a pivotal stretch of road games against Oregon State, Stanford and Cal.

5. Colorado (16-8, 7-6) – A No. 39 NET ranking and the Buffs’ overall record keep them ahead of Stanford.

Cover photo of Myles Rice by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

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