Pac-12 Basketball Tournament: UCLA, Oregon State, Stanford, Colorado Move On

Oregon State 69, Washington State 64

The first half of the Washington State - Oregon State game in the Pac-12 Tournament seemed to promise that good things were on the way, kind of like when Gary Oldman shows up in your movie viewing. Unfortunately, the next three halves of Pac-12 basketball were played with old men.

Oregon State got off to a scorching start. With WSU sagging into a zone, Ahmad Starks nailed a bunch of threes to help Oregon State scorch out to an early double digit lead. Then Reggie Moore started playmaking, everyone on Washington State couldn't stop scoring, and immediately the Cougars cut viciously at that lead.

After that, the game became one of those seesaw affairs that resulted in teams trading baskets, turnovers, three pointers. It was high entertainment between two mediocre teams. If you're going to play sub-optimal basketball, might as well make a show of it.

Oregon State eventually won because Joe Burton made a bunch of plays on both ends of the floor, Devon Collier was the most consistent player on either team, and Eric Moreland hauled in the rebounds. Brock Motum couldn't find the ball late after being in top form early in the second half, and Reggie Moore had a horrid afternoon (3-16 from the field).

UCLA 55, USC 40

UCLA shot 18% in the first half. They were up by one.

UCLA did not shoot 18% in the first half. Game over.

Games like this are a good argument for a relegation system.

Stanford 85, Arizona State 65

This is the ASU "crashing back to hurt and remember they're still ASU" game. How ASU was it? Chasson Randle was outscoring Arizona State for about 85-90% of the first half. A late halftime rally allowed ASU to beat Randle 30-27 in the first half.

The Sun Devils are generally a pushover, but it was nice to see everyone get some rest in preparation for this contest.

Stanford is trying to ride their hot shooting to a surprise NCAA bid. But his team has a tough test ahead as they get ready to duel an angry Bear.

Colorado 53, Utah 41

For those of you who despised everything about UCLA-USC, congratulations for not hanging yourself when watching this one. This basketball contest was a war crime. People probably died trying to finish watching this game and will be chalked up to the coroner.

Colorado went up 4-0 with 18:33 left. They did not score points five and six for another ten minutes and eleven seconds.

Utah went an average of two minutes between baskets during the first half, and still led for a majority of that part of the game.

Between a Jason Washburn dunk and an Anthony Odunsi layup, Utah made zero field goals from 12:49 to 1:32 left in the second half.

These high-altitude teams looked like they were playing underwater. The jumpers died in mid-air (only 5 of 27 from three point land by both teams). Colorado eventually just got to the free throw line in this one to pull it out in the final seconds, which is probably one of the five most embarrassing things ever said about a Pac-12 team this year.