Not so shockingly, Pac-12 is rolling
In the wake of the Pac-12 Conference short-sheeting the NCAA tournament last weekend, we’ve sought explanations from hundreds of hoops savants, including advanced-metrics statheads, Nate Silver, Charles Barkley, Joe Lunardi and Jake from State Farm. The consensus: Stuff happens. No, actually, there really is some perspective to...
The iconic ’77 photo …
That photograph. That photograph, of the Eugene Register-Guard’s 1977 boys all-state basketball team, stared back at me for a decade, before I left that paper in 1987 to wreak my own brand of infamy with the Seattle dailies. But the photo comes back, a rebound of sorts, with the...
If that ’77 photo could talk …
That photograph. That photograph, of the Eugene Register-Guard’s 1977 boys all-state basketball team, stared back at me for a decade, before I left that paper in 1987 to wreak my own brand of infamy with the Seattle dailies. But the photo comes back, a rebound of sorts, with the...
Meanwhile, in that other dance …
The silly season began in earnest this week. Coaches were cashiered and the dance – the one involving the guys diagramming plays, not the NCAA-tournament bracket – continued. Gotta find the Next Big Thing, gotta keep feeding the monster. Pardon me, but I don’t know which is...
Musing on Pac-12 venues (still)
Stumbled across a post on Twitter the other day that caught my eye and inspired more social-media talk: A rating by a media panel commissioned by Athlon Magazine on the best college towns in the Pac-12. Only today did I realize that the poll was taken six...
The mystery of Husky basketball
A day or so before the Washington men’s basketball team delivered another dud at Oregon Saturday, the UW athletic director, Jen Cohen, voiced a vote of confidence for Mike Hopkins and his head-scratching tenure. She said his job isn’t in peril, and she looks forward to forging a...
More cowbell, and more Gonzaga-Baylor
Gonzaga and Baylor. Baylor and Gonzaga. Corey Kispert. Jared Butler. Drew Timme. MaCio Teague. Jalen Suggs. Everyday Jon. So much of the 2020-21 season has been about Gonzaga and Baylor, when it hasn’t been about teams going on pause for 10 days. Zags or Bears – who...
It’s game, set, match for Scott with the Pac-12
Larry Scott announced Wednesday he would be departing as Pac-12 commissioner later this year. It was inevitable, wasn’t it? Naturally, he’ll have to take down the wall art he accumulated in his 11 years as commish, the portraits and water colors of a reign that was threatening...
First NET rankings kind to the Pac-12 (for some reason)
The Pac-12, which has had more bad press lately than big pharma, got some good news Monday. The only question is: How? After a fitful pre-conference season dotted by postponements, cancellations and – let’s face it, some pretty spotty basketball – the Pac-12 fared surprisingly well in...
Larry Scott’s reign drags on . . . and on . . . and on
So here we are, about to hit the finish line in the weirdest of weird years. In the Pac-12, that means allowing a football team that never should have been in the championship game, Oregon, which replaced another team that never should have been in the championship game, Washington....