Mike Christy/Dean Hare
#PAC12MBB STARTING FIVE
#1 – The final week of league play will determine the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball regular-season champion and No. 1 seed for the Pac-12 Tournament as No. 5 ARIZONA (14-4) enters the week with a half-game lead and a game-in-hand on No. 18 WASHINGTON STATE (14-5).
#3-#4 – Half of the first-round byes for the Pac-12 Tournament have been claimed by ARIZONA and WASHINGTON STATE, which will be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seeds.
0-of-12 – None of the dozen Pac-12 Tournament seeds have been locked entering the week; 1024 result scenarios remain ahead of this week’s 10 games, decreasing to 16 following Thursday’s six contests.
+8 – Picked 10th in the Pac-12 preseason media poll and currently second in the league standings, Naismith Coach of the Year candidate Kyle Smith has WASHINGTON STATE set to equal or break its own mark of outperforming predictions.
11.7 – Through 110 league games as of March 3, the average scoring margin is 11.7 points.
OFF THE BENCH
20 WINS DURING PAC-12 ERA: With a trio of teams reaching the 20-win plateau so far this season, below are school totals of 20-win seasons during the 13-year Pac-12 era (2011-12):
THE BIG MAPLE: CALIFORNIA’s Fardaws Aimaq currently leads the Pac-12 and is fifth in NCAA Division I with 19 double-doubles this season.
PAC-12 AWARDS CANDIDATES
JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEARLATE SEASON TOP 20 WATCH LISTCaleb Love, ArizonaKJ Simpson, Colorado
MIDSEASON TOP 25 WATCH LISTCaleb Love, ArizonaKJ Simpson, Colorado
PRESEASON WATCH LIST Oumar Ballo, Arizona Tristan da Silva, Colorado N’Faly Dante, Oregon Adem Bona, UCLA Isaiah Collier, USC Boogie Ellis, USC
NAISMITH MEN’S COLLEGE COACH OF THE YEARTOP 15 WATCH LISTKyle Smith, Washington State
NAISMITH NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEARMIDSEASON TOP 30Caleb Love, ArizonaKJ Simpson, Colorado
WATCH LISTOumar Ballo, Arizona Caleb Love, Arizona Tristan da Silva, Colorado Adem Bona, UCLA Isaiah Collier, USC Boogie Ellis, USC
NAISMITH DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEARWATCH LISTAdem Bona, UCLA
USBWA OSCAR ROBERTSON NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEARTOP 40 WATCH LISTCaleb Love, ArizonaKJ Simpson, ColoradoKeion Brooks Jr., Washington
NAISMITH MEMORIAL HALL OF FAME AWARDS Watch Lists/Top 10 Finalists
Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Isaiah Collier, USC
Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Caleb Love, Arizona (Top 5 Finalist)Boogie Ellis, USC (Top 10 Finalist)
Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Jaylon Tyson, California (Top 10 Finalist)Keion Brooks Jr., Washington (Added as Top 10 Finalist)
Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Keshad Johnson, Arizona (Top 10 Finalist)Tristan da Silva, Colorado Adem Bona, UCLA
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Oumar Ballo, Arizona N’Faly Dante, Oregon Aday Mara, UCLA Branden Carlson, Utah (Top 10 Finalist)
PAC-12 MEDIA PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE First Team Oumar Ballo, R-Sr., C, Arizona Adem Bona, So., F/C, UCLA Keion Brooks Jr., Gr., F, Washington Branden Carlson, Gr., C, Utah Isaiah Collier, Fr., G, USC N’Faly Dante, Sr., C, Oregon Tristan da Silva, Sr., F, Colorado Boogie Ellis, 5th, G, USC Spencer Jones, 5th, F, Stanford KJ Simpson, Jr., G, Colorado
Second Team Fardaws Aimaq, 6th, F, California Kylan Boswell, So., G, Arizona Kobe Johnson, Jr., G, USC Caleb Love, Sr., G, Arizona Jordan Pope, So., G, Oregon State
Honorable Mention Kwame Evans Jr. (Fr., ORE), Pelle Larsson (Sr., ARIZ), Aday Mara (Fr., UCLA), Cody Williams (Fr., COLO).
– Pac-12.com –