March 3, 2020 • 40 mins
Pac-12 Networks' Mike Yam and Don MacLean break down the impressive performances by the conference's bubble teams this past weekend (4:34), and take a closer look at the 7 Pac-12 squads currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament. Mike and Don discuss UCLA's impressive sweep of the Arizona schools (6:00), and preview their enormous game against USC at the Galen Center. They talk about N’Dante Faly’s return to the court (9:32), and determine what type of impact he will have on Oregon the rest of the season. They also discuss the recent struggles of Colorado, Arizona & Arizona State, and pick which team they are most concerned about moving forward (11:52).
Mike and Don discuss Stanford’s ability to bounce back this season, and praise Jerod Haase’s lack of panic while coaching his team (20:45). They also list some of the top candidates for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, including Tyler Bey and Bryce Wills (26:26). Finally, Don breaks down the NBA potential of Oscar Da Silva (29:50), and explains how his versatility on offense and defense will translate well to the next level.
Mike and Don discuss Stanford’s ability to bounce back this season, and praise Jerod Haase’s lack of panic while coaching his team (20:45). They also list some of the top candidates for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, including Tyler Bey and Bryce Wills (26:26). Finally, Don breaks down the NBA potential of Oscar Da Silva (29:50), and explains how his versatility on offense and defense will translate well to the next level.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Ah, Jill raap the ball baby, Let's go. This is Inside the
Pack twelve podcast. Put on apair of your headphones and fall back gets
into some ballcasts, just having theball chat about the best conference in the
nation, all facts. This istruly for the whole bluffer was yet who
(00:24):
wonn? Then gunn they didn't getin buggers. How about we discussing all
the Trojan's husky stucks to Carlo,then the claver Bears, Beaver's Son,
Devil's Cats in fluence, the Buffalosand Uns, I bot ever forget got
insight, opinions, and plenty ofspecial guests, coaches and players, be
right as an Inside is Gold andYoung Pack twelve legends and the lums of
death analysis. We go far,but you're on the stores to take you
(00:47):
from conference play all the way tothe final four with some whole kind of
swords, just walking you through thegame. I hit your host Mike Gamm
and the board dumber play. Heyoh, bubbles are bursting all over the
count tree. They just stn't seemto be bursting on the West coast in
the PAC twelve conference. Welcome toanother brand new edition of the podcast.
(01:07):
Don we Got some we got somecrazy news, crazy finish down the stretch
here, some game we don't evenknow look much like on the women's side,
and I know Oregon was able toclinch and they didn't need the final
day of the regular season on thewomen's side to claim another outright title and
get that number one seed in Vegasfor the women's tournament which is kicking up
this week. But there's been seedingissues. Not sure who was going to
(01:30):
be where on that side. Onthe men's side of things here, it
is insane. Everything is still upfor grabs right now. Well, what's
interesting is we talked so much aboutconsistency early in the conference season, and
then this weekend four teams had sweepsusc UCLA in the Bay Areas School,
Stanford and Cal all won both thisweekend. So this theme when we get
(01:55):
to this time of year with oneweek left in the regular season, of
who can get hot. Ucla hasgotten hot. Let's see if they can
stay hot and win the regular seasonconference championship seven straight wins now right now
for Metron and Squad who was aguest on last week's podcast. If you're
a UCLA fan, highly encourage youto go back to listen. Remember all
the interviews are guest interviews. There, they're pretty evergreens. You can always
(02:19):
just kind of find out stating that'snot necessarily the about the matchups this upcoming
week. But the point is uclaseven game winning streak. Don You and
I have been talking about this fora few weeks, and that is thirteen.
We felt like was going to bethe number to win the conference,
and only two teams right now canhit number thirteen. Lucky number thirteen at
least this year. UCLA is oneof those teams. They gets sc this
(02:39):
week. Jonah Matthews, by theway, from the Trojans will be on
Wednesday's edition of this podcast, andthen Oregon at home against the Bay Area
schools. They're sitting eleven and five. They now have an opportunity to get
to thirteen wins. Let me askyou this, yam, what would you
rather have if we're talking about gettingto thirteen? Would you rather have UCLA
(03:00):
road game at USC or Oregon twohome games against Stanford and Cal. That's
a tough one. I guess youwould say, if I only have to
win one, I maybe take mychances with UCLA because it's only one instead
of having trying trying to win two. Yeah, you know, you had
brought up the extra game thing,and initially I felt like, give me
(03:23):
the easier schedule, and then yousold me on it in case some point
is ASU right, I mean theyhad to go. You know, a
week ago we were talking about thison the podcast. You know, they
control their own esta an opportunity towin four in a row and that would
have given them fourteen wins on theseason, and it's it's a rap.
They go and win the regular seasonconference crown, but not the case.
I'm with you, I take oneless game, but it's real close,
(03:46):
and O're agon still undefeated at homeand quite frankly, they're better basketball team
than the Bay Area schools right now, although Stanford is is making a push
coming back a row for Stanford,which is remarkable. Also, I had
mentioned bubbles bursting. I do wantto say this. Joeln already ESPN's bracketologist
who pretty much gets it right interms of the teams that are in the
(04:09):
dance right now. Seven teams fromthe PAC twelve in the NC Double A
Tournament field. That's what his numberis. I haven't seen everyone else is
Jerry pod I would assume the othermajor bracketologists also have seven only because Jerry
Palm he's had six in for awhile. And now Ucla with the wins
that they just scored, probably that'sseventh team for both those bracketologists. But
(04:31):
the point is the bubble teams DonStanford, Ucla, and USC this past
week six and zero handling business andcrunch time. And what's crazy is it?
In there's talk three weeks ago orfour weeks ago about our teams cannibalizing
themselves, and they did, butnot enough. It almost helped that they
(04:51):
cannibalize each other. Nobody ran awaywith it, you know. Oregon came
back to the pack, Colorado cameback to the pack a little bit,
and so it helped the other teamsget ahead. Now those teams earned it,
they won games, they've beaten people. But the point is that if
you had had three or four teamsnot losing through this last two, three,
four weeks of the season, weain't getting seven in. But because
(05:14):
that hasn't happened, it's allowed moreteams to get into the mix. And
here you sit with a week togo with seven teams in the tournament.
Which is incredible. All right,I want to talk to you about some
of these teams, UCLA, Oregon, ASU, Colorado team all of a
sudden that is reeling and no longercontrols its own destiny for a top four
seed in Vegas. They obviously haveto win in Salt Lake City against Utah
(05:36):
this week, and they need Arizonato go and lose one to the Washington
Schools in order for them to geta four seeds. So that's how tight
this deal is right now. Notto mention USC obviously still in the conversation
at ten and seven, also fora four seed. But before we get
into some more scenarios, I wantto get your take at the top right
now. We spent a lot oftime on last week's show talking about the
(05:58):
Bruins, and honestly, I thinkas the seven game winning streak has gone
on, you and I have becomemore and more believers. I felt good
after the Arizona win when they heldyou of Ada twenty five percent from the
floor. I felt great. Iwas fully buying in after the road win
in Boulder against Colorado, and nowafter what I just saw, I don't
(06:21):
don like you could not only makeyou could pick them legitimately in Vegas to
win this thing. I mean youhad them for the ASU game. That
game was on Pact Wolve network.Don They make it impossible. They make
it so difficult for the opposition toscore. They're so damn active. The
blocks of deflections that mccronan talked aboutlast week, I mean that is that's
(06:42):
on full display right now with them. And I think what's happened yam Is,
especially in this win streak, isthey're they've gotten more confidence offensively,
their their offense is operating much moreefficiently. I think roles have been determined
in the offense. I think mickIn playing around with the lineup and trying
different combinations in different you know,rotations. I think he's figured a lot
(07:06):
of stuff out about that team.But why wouldn't you pick him right now?
They've won seventh straight. That ArizonaState game is one of the best
games I've done in a couple ofyears in terms of the atmosphere there,
in terms of the level of competition, in terms of the star power.
Remy Martin was unbelievable in a lossfor them, and then just how the
(07:27):
game ended with Hawk has a tough, wonderable pull at the buzzer to win
it. But I think UCLA themore this goes on, the more confident
they get. And here's here's thebest news for them. Yeah, they
have the entire week off, soyou rip off seventh straight. You get
to kind of exhale a little bithere all week and get ready for a
game against usc An important game becauseI think it could really solidify you into
(07:49):
the NCAA tournament. And then youget another couple of days. And if
you didn't get another couple of days, and now, because of what you've
done on this win streak, youdon't have to play Thursday in Vegas all
of a sudden. So everything's setup really nicely for UCLA. But again
they've earned it with how they've playedthe last three four weeks. Here.
You know you you started this podcastby asking me that question about would you
(08:11):
rather UCLA with one game on theroad or or again with two games at
home? Not for nothing? Imean, I know it's a road game,
but it's not like you're getting ona plane. If you're not mccronin
squad like you kind of treat itlike a home game, don't you?
Other than the atmosphere. Yeah,you have a bus ride instead of not
having a bus ride. But Ithink with what's at stake, you know,
(08:35):
the first game was sold out inPauli because obviously you get SCN UCLA
fans. This game will be soldout in Galen. Could you get both
sets of fans there? So that'sgoing to be a monster game, a
great as atmosphere and not just UCLA. Both teams are playing for something,
so motivated teams should be high intensity, high level. Looking forward to seeing
(08:58):
that game this weekend. All right, Oregon, right now, let's shift
to that squat because they're coming offa win against Oregon State, which,
to be honest with you, theydominated in that game. I was doing
the pregame show with Casey Jacob simand he went through some of the numbers.
I didn't even realize this, andI think it's important to note here.
Peyton Pritchard historically has had some roughgames against Oregon State. I think
(09:20):
he was afrigan about like ten pointsper game. But he goes off in
this one, you know, twentythree points, another nine of eighteen five
three type performance. They dominate inthat win. But I think the biggest
news from an Oregon perspective, Ionly only played five minutes been fally Dante
logged five minutes in that game,didn't score, had a decent pass when
(09:43):
he had the one assist. Butto me, Don like, that's still
the game changer for this program ifhe's able to give them meaningful minutes here
amy in the tournament, and we'llprobably increase the more it goes along.
Like if he played five on Thursday, I'm assuming this the day he'll play
ten and then he'll play fifteen.So if they win a couple of games
(10:03):
in Vegas, hopefully his minutes areup to the twenty plus range by the
time you get to the NCAA tournament. But he gives him another dimension.
He's long, he provides more rimprotection, He's a better score down there
than any of their other post players. So yeah, they need him to
have an effect on the game,and hopefully those minutes will increase so he
(10:26):
can have more of an impact onthe game for Oregon. If there's one
coach in this conference that I knowcan figure it out, it's Dan Altman.
But Don, when a guy goesdown, remember a couple of years
ago, Chris Bouchet gets hurt,he doesn't playing the tournament. Yes,
some regard, I almost think that'seasier for a team because it's like,
Yo, it's done, he's notcoming back. Let's move on Claudie Green
one of those other type of players. Different reasons because of the academic ineligibility.
(10:50):
But it's like, yo, we'replaying without this dude, Dante.
You're kind of waiting here for him, and now he's back. When you're
actually a player on that team andyou're Dan Oltman who's coaching, how do
you how do you mix this up? How do you make sure that it
doesn't totally disrupt what you want todo on the floor. Well, I
think the messages we play with whowe got and right now Dante isn't playing,
(11:15):
so we got to win with whowe got. Do we want him
back? Yes, and hopefully hewill be back. And I think now
that he is back, does itgive your team a jolt? Probably?
I mean they know how big andhow good he is and how how much
he can help them win, somaybe that will give him a spark here,
you know, as we finished theregular season and go into the PAC
twelve tournament. But certainly depth wise, he helps them across that front line,
(11:39):
and I guess we'll have to waitand see as time goes on how
much is he going to be ableto play and how much he is going
to affect the game for them.Case we go down the list here,
Asu and Colorado, both of theseteams deal with some losses a little bit
of different circumstances. For a SUit's two straight, two straight losses,
(12:01):
compared to a Colorado team that allof a sudden, the losses are are
mounting up for them, and Ithink they're kind of limp in there's a
chance that they don't get a topfour seed in Vegas. I thought that
they were the safer pick only becauseof the known commodities, and I feel
like you get what you see iswhat you're going to get from that team.
But now they've lost three straight.Who are you more worried about right
(12:22):
now heading into you to Vegas.Well, I'm concerned about Colorado because when
you have a late conference losing streak, a lot of times you would point
that to maybe younger players getting worndown, maybe younger players not able to
adjust to game plans, changing thingsof that nature. But that's clearly not
the case with Colorado. They're aveteran team. We talked about that all
(12:46):
year. That's why they were pickedso high in the conference in the preseason
media poll and buy a lot ofdifferent publications and all that. And I
watched that game at Stanford yesterday andStanford has picked their level back up and
they're playing really well. But itjust didn't I didn't love watching Colorado the
body language in the in the fireand the intensity, like I didn't see
(13:07):
that in a meaningful game for them. You know, they're in the NCAA
tournament. And remember I asked TadBoil this question. Remember I asked him,
I said, isn't it better thatyou talk about trying to win the
regular season conference title to keep youmotivated because at that point maybe you've done
that. Well, guess what.This has kind of happened for them.
And I'm not in that locker room, so I don't know. But it
(13:28):
is interesting that Colorado is still safelyin the NCAA Tournament, but they lost
games down the stretch and didn't staymotivated to win the regular season conference title
and here they are at ten andseven. So kind of ironic that we
asked tad that one a month anda half ago, and it kind of
played out that that's the situation they'rein now that they're in the tournament,
(13:50):
but the regular season title is outof reach. Now. Yeah, I'm
with you on more concerned about CUthan ASU right now. But from a
sundevil's perspective, you just saw them, you had them for the UCLA game,
they lose that one. Is theresomething that you would point to that's
at least a cause for concern becauseI actually felt like they played well enough
(14:11):
to win the UCLA game. Um, you know, I just got beat
and that's gonna happen, Mike,Mike, They're on the wrong road trip
this weekend, that's all. Theywere playing against the hottest team in the
conference in UCLA. And by theway, going into that UCLA game,
Arizona State had won six in arow. Yeah, So I don't think
there's any cause for concern. Theywent up against a hot, motivated UCLA
(14:31):
team and then a superior, supremelymotivated USC team that knew that they had
to win both this weekend to getthemselves back in the NC tournament conversation.
So I don't think ASU they playedwell against UCLA. Ucla just beat them,
and then you know, SC playedawfully well. And that's the point
of this whole conference is when ourteams are right and playing like they should
(14:54):
be, they're tough to beat,especially on the road. And that's what
Arizona State ran into this weekend,and Arizona for that matter. Don You
and I've talked about this on thispodcast. I've been asked this a bunch
and I'm sure you have as well. But from an Oregon perspective, the
reason why I like them in Vegasis the Peyton Pritchard factor. The best
player on the floor, and he'scarried them two wins. I'm now watching
(15:16):
Remy Martin have that type of impactin a lot of these games, most
recently. The cow one certainly isone that I can think of. And
I referenced that because that was awin compared to some of the losses.
But you mentioned how he was ableto play in that game. I'm gonna
throw Jahee Carson. Was that likeseven years ago when he had a big
(15:37):
tournament in Vegas and big individual games? Ken, Remy, is he good
enough in your mind to get themto three straight wins? Oh? One?
Hundred percent. I mean, andwe've seen that over the years.
You mentioned Carson, but there's beennumerous examples of guys putting the team on
their back Listen, if there wasno Peyton Pritchard this year, Remy Martin
(15:58):
would be winning the Player of theYear in the conference going away, like
easily winning it. But Pritchard's hadthat kind of year. He's just had
more moments, more game winners.That thirty eight point game he had at
McHale stands out, But Remy iscapable, and Remy's had I think we'd
be talking even more about Remy Martinif it weren't for Pritchard, we would.
You know, he had thirty inPaul the other night. It almost
(16:22):
got his team a victory against UCLA, but it wasn't talked about as much
because you know, you're talking aboutPritchard and what he's been doing. But
I think we're gonna see a motivatedmember. Remy was hurt last year in
the Pac twelve tournament. I thinkyou're going to see a motivated Remy Martin
and Arizona State team. I wouldn'tbe surprised if he got hot and they
(16:44):
made a run in that thing.Arizona USC once again. Joonah Matthews are
going to be on the podcast tomorrow. You know what, I don't want
to talk about them in a secondbecause Arizona they lose the game against USC
the other day with issue twenty sixeight percent something. I think it was
like twenty eight percent by the way, God, I actually don't have my
note in front of me. DonThey had a twenty five percent field goal
(17:07):
percentage game in a loss at homeagainst UCLA. That was the worst shooting
performance in the Arizona men's basketball teamhas had at mcale ever. And then
they shoot twenty eight percent against USCand a loss. They still lose the
Ucla game the other day. Theyshot a little bit better forty four percent
in the game. I'm actually like, I'm I'm I don't know what to
(17:30):
get to make of this basketball team. And I think at this point of
the season it's easy to say it'sfreshman, but is it is that the
only thing that you can point to. I think I think you have to
start there that you're relying on freshmanto, you know, make decisions and
make play. Remember, Josh Greendidn't make the trip, so that was
part of the factor of maybe themnot being as good offensively. Um,
(17:55):
but you know, your best playeris z Ignagy and he's a post player.
So those we see and we're seeingit right now with other guys in
the league. If you're a postplayer, by this time, they're just
figuring out a way to take youout a game. So Naji hasn't been
as dominant because other teams have said, look, he's our best player.
We're not letting him get twenty fiveand ten on us, so we're just
(18:17):
going to double him or do whateverwe have to do. And then as
there's been enough offense around him towin games, and I just think it's
there isn't with Arizona. They're they'rejust not good enough offensive offensively to be
consistent, especially on the road,and you just wonder can their defense rise
(18:38):
up and carry them in Vegas?I think it can and maybe maybe these
freshmen, you know, once youget a break, meaning you finish the
regular season and then okay, okay, now it's the postseason, maybe that'll
give them a spark and maybe that'llthat'll get them to pick their level up.
But certainly the offense has been theproblem for Arizona this year when they
(19:00):
haven't won. Did you think wewe'd be saying that at this point of
the year. No, I didn't. And I'm surprised because Mannion highly regarded,
Green, highly regarded, naj notnot as highly regarded, but still
highly regarded. You know, usuallyyou see the bumps in the road along
(19:21):
the way, but that gets youto hear and you're like, Okay,
they figured it out. And youknow they've had moments, all three of
those guys, but just not asconsistent as you would think it would be
by this point in the season.Ye, here's the other thing. And
I sound like a slave to themoment because if they win, they sweep
the Washington's and all of a sudden, it's two game winning stream heunting into
(19:41):
Vegas, right, and maybe thatgives them a jolt too, yam.
Like this human nature thing, especiallythis time of year, is a big
deal. Like feel like we're seeingit with UCLA. Like you win a
game that gives you a little bit, then you win another, then another
then and then your confidence is justrolling and it can change in an instant,
It can change in a half,it can change in one game,
(20:03):
and you're right, Arizona could havea great week of practice this week,
blow out both Washington schools. Allof a sudden, they're feeling great heading
into Vegas and they rip off threeor four in a row and win the
thing. I wouldn't be surprised bythat. Yeah, because at the same
time, the human nature aspect ofit. I could also point to usc
because imagine if those guys don't haveit for postavention, Joonah Matthews don't get
(20:25):
sick and that flu blood is notreaking havoc in that locker room against the
Mountain schools. Maybe they beat Coloradoin that basketball game, and you know,
maybe it's a you know, athree or four game winning streak for
them as opposed to just winning twoin a row and making sure they're on
the right side of the bubble.Yeah. And you know, look at
Stanford and if you want to talkabout human nature, a couple of things
(20:48):
happened that the silva thing happened.You know, Will's got injured. They're
not real deep anyway, they loseseven of eight and most of the time
you would see you would look atand we've seen it. You and I've
talked about over the years season over, but not not this Stanford team.
They now flip it around and winforeign a row. So how do you
think they're feeling now that they've gonethrough the adversity of losing seven of eight,
(21:11):
Now they've won four in a row. So that's a human nature thing
times too, because you you dealtwith the adversity and spun it back around.
So now you're really feeling good aboutyourself heading into last week of the
season they go to the Organs.I feel like if they get a split
in Oregon, Stanford does that,they'll still keep some of that momentum heading
into Vegas. And I'm really impressedwith Jared Hoss and his staff and how
(21:36):
they've been able because it was notgood. I was there like three weeks
ago or four weeks ago when theywere in the middle of that, losing
seven of eight, and you're kindof scratching your head looking around, going,
man, this thing could end poorly, and it hasn't. They've turned
it around, and so congrats tothem and how they've done that, and
we'll see how this week affects thembefore they get to Vegas. Yeah,
(21:56):
it's wild about that. I actuallytalked to it's a coach house. Last
week and it was almost like heknew something that no one else knew.
It still felt like he was reallybad confident. And maybe it's because you
point to some of those losses withthe seven of eighth that they had and
they don't have the silva or whatbasically let's call it two games more or
(22:21):
less, right, a game anda half or whatever it was, and
then still working back in and thenjust you know, a couple of final
possessions of games and they're losing,like it's still knocking on the door,
you know what. Yeah, you'reright about your thought because and this is
what's funny as we go around thisleague. He said to me that I
think I was there. They hadlost five of six and I was there
(22:42):
and I said, you know,is it anything? He's like, you
know what done? He's like,we feel like it's not an area.
He's like, we've gotten a coupleof bad breaks, We've gotten a couple
you know, injuries. He's like, but we're right there. And when
I finished talking to him, like, well that's not good. Like you've
lost five or six, but youfeel like there's nothing you should fix And
turns out. He was exactly right. There wasn't anything to fix. They
(23:06):
just needed to stay with it,get a ball to bounce their way,
get a couple breaks, and theyhave. Their defense has been consistent all
year. It's been shocking how goodit's been. But then, you know,
so to your point, yeah,I think he did know that if
we just get a couple of thingsgoing our way, we're gonna get this
thing back on track. And theydid. And Saturday I was in studio
(23:30):
and we were talking about Stanford.It was three Q one games still remaining,
and they scored a big one againstColorado. Now they go on the
road for the Oregons. You know, Don, they could play as a
bubble team, and they're still abubble team. Now they're they're doing the
right things, but you know,Don, they're playing themselves with the pressure
on, just like USC lights areon. They now delivered with this win.
(23:53):
They split here against the Oregans,which is absolutely is a possibility,
they're in good shape. I thinkfor the tournament. I think, and
I've said, I forget who Iwas talking to you yesterday, I think
if they split an Oregon and winone in Vegas, they're in for sure.
If they lose both in Oregon,I think they have to win one
(24:15):
in Vegas, maybe two in they'rein. The problem is, and let
me look at this, I actuallydon't have all the scenarios because it they
it's insane. It would take mehours to go and try to figure all
this out. But like how Stanfordgets a five seed, there is a
world where that happens. Like tome, if you are not a top
(24:37):
four seed, We've talked about this. Don you want to be a five
if you're a bubble team because Washingtonis not a game that will that that
game actually helps you if you win, as opposed to in previous years with
the net ranking. Sometimes we havea team sit in that twelve spot with
an RPI and like the two hundreds, you win that game and your RPI
(24:59):
actually goes the wrong. Like,that's not going to be the case.
That five seat is still up forgrabs right now, and they still need
some work to do and the tiebreakerswould have to fall into their favor.
But the point is, whoever thatfive seat is, and if it's USC
or Stanford Arizona is in the fieldright now. But those two teams would
benefit from playing a team like Washington, and Stanford just beat Washington at Washington,
(25:22):
so they'd have some confidence going fromthat. I think it's a good
matchup for them. You know,Stanford one of the better shooting teams in
our league. They have multiple guysthat can make threes against that Washington zone.
So you're right, I mean,if they if they're not going to
get a top four seed, youknow, and this is something you and
I will start talking about more asmatchups. You know, matchups is so
much a part of postseason college basketball, not only in our conference tournament,
(25:45):
but in the NCAA tournament. AndI think Washington is a good matchup for
Stanford, so that maybe should bewhat they're talking about. Is, you
know, our goal, if wecan't get in the top four, let's
really try and get that fifth.See the start the pactual tournament. You
know, don just because we're talkingabout Stanford and I'm not going to take
(26:06):
us down this rabbit hole, areyou might actually know the answer to this?
So next week the awards get handedout, right, the regular season
awards the ninth, So I don'tknow in terms of the timing of our
show and how we're going to dothis but you just talked about Stanford.
The only reason why I'm bringing thisup right now is because defensive Player of
the Year I think is still upfor grabs. And I know Kyler Kelly
(26:30):
what he's done in terms of theblock. I think he's still second in
the country in blocks per game.There's some players right now. Tyler Bay
I think is in the mix.Bryce Wills just talking about Stanford as an
individual on the ball defender, Ithink he's there. I talk to someone
who covers Colorado the other day andthey felt like McKinley wright doesn't get enough
credit for what he does at hisposition. I don't know if he's necessarily
(26:51):
and that makes but the point isa Congo also one of those guys that
award is going to be pretty highlycontested. I think that might be one
of the tighter ones I think wehave in the world. Hell, I
didn't imagine any wheel either. Yeah, you and I talk about this a
lot, and it's how you viewthe award or how you vote for the
award, Like do you just gobased on numbers and analytics and that's how
(27:12):
you would vote. Because Tyler batestop ten and rebounds, blocks and steals
in the league. So if youjust go off of that, he's going
to be Defensive Player of the Year. But if you watch all the games,
and you watch and see what theeffect individuals defensively have on the game,
then you would look at Bryce Wills, you would look at McKinley Wright,
(27:33):
I'm sure there's a couple others.I'm forgetting Remy Martin's a good defender,
and then Kyler Kelly. You lookat his blocks numbers. But to
me, like if you watch Stanfordplay, you see the effect that Bryce
Wills has in how he accepts thechallenge of the other team's best player every
night for the most part, andyou see what that impact is like.
(27:53):
To me, And I said thiswhen I was up there a few weeks
ago for the Civil War, KylerKelly should have more of an effect on
the game than he does. Yes, he does lead the league in block
shots, but he's not anywhere nearthe top and rebounding and with his physical
tools. To me, if Iwas going to vote for him for Defensive
Player of the Year, he shouldbe four blocks and ten rebounds easily,
and he's nowhere near the ten reboundsbecause he doesn't have any discipline with his
(28:18):
shot blocking. He goes after almostevery shot, puts himself out of position,
and then the other team's rebounding onthe other side offensive rebounding. So
and I'm not not look Kyler Kelly'shad had a good year. I just
think if we're talking purely about defensivePlayer of the Year, how do you
view the award? How do youvote for the award? So we'll be
interesting to see who ultimately wins it. One other note too, by the
(28:40):
way, Jean Davis, I don'tthink it's talked to mouth about. Yeah,
his length and athletic ability on thatside of the floor. I actually
think he's pretty good, and maybehe'd been a little underrated on the defensive
end of things, I think,but Bryce Wills has emerged so much this
year that I think he's getting mostof our attention on that side, no
doubt. He's the reason why Ieven brought this up, because he deserves
(29:03):
a lot of um, no doubt. So we got to figure out kind
of the timing. I'm like havinglike a quasi production meeting with Ari who's
not chiming in right now, andyou don about the timing of next week's
podcast because we usually tape on aMonday. So just something to to consider
because next week we're gonna probably haveto have a conversation about a lot of
the awards that are going to gethanded out. We may have to do
(29:26):
the podcast at night next week atnight, a Moonlight podcast next week.
I know, I got a playliston Monday. Um, so well we'll
figure it out. And no onelistened to this podcast actually cares when we
actually go and do this on aMonday, because they're listening on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays. But one thing that theyalways listen out for Don is a player
evaluation that you will give about adude who wants to be in the NBA
(29:52):
from the back twelveth to the NBA. All right, let's talk about Oscar
Silva in again. And I mentionedthis every week when we do this segment,
that I talked to a lot ofscalops and a lot of NBA front
office guys as I go around theleague, and there's been a lot of
talk about Oscar da Silva in thejump he's made this year. You know,
he has much more responsibility with thisgroup, and the thing that people
(30:18):
like about him is his versatility.You know, he's a good athlete.
He's got pretty good measurables long arms. But the fact that he can guard
multiple positions, he can step outand hit a three. He can play
on the post. They do alot of ball screening action with him,
getting him on the move. He'sgot pretty good hands. But they envisioned
him as the traditional multi positional defenderthat can make a three, So you're
(30:45):
three in d guy basically, whichare valuable in the NBA. I think
his ability to make threes now hispercentage still isn't great, but it's better
than it was. But you lookat him shoot and you say, okay,
with multiple reps in time to spentbehind the NBA line, you would
say to yourself, eventually he's goingto be a serviceable NBA three point shooter.
(31:07):
And you put that with the athleticismin the ability to guard different players
in different positions, he now becomesa valuable NBA player. I haven't looked
to see how many draft boards he'son. Also I know is that his
name keeps coming up in my conversationswith people that I talked to, so
we'll see. He's probably a littletoo smart. For the NBA to Silva.
(31:32):
So we'll see how that plays out. But certainly he's got a lot
of options, and we'll see afterthis season. You know where he's at
in terms of an NBA player.More likely for him NBA or overseas because
by the way, if he speakingof him being too smart, if he
does go overseas, language won't bean issue. Seven languages he speaks.
(31:53):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.And the guy's like already authored something on
cell reproduction or I mean, theguy's too smart for our for our pay
grade. Dam But he's got options. And you even wonder if you will
play professional basketball. I haven't talkedOscar specifically about it, but you know,
he's he's going to graduate from Stanfordand seems to have a huge interest
(32:15):
in the field that he's studying atStanford. You wonder if he's a guy
that turns down professional basketball to gointo the field. But he's certainly going
to have a chance if he wantsit, to play in the NBA.
For sure. From the scouts thatyou talk to, how much does performance
in a conference tournament help shape draftstock? I don't think it. I
(32:37):
mean, you certainly want as muchmomentum as you can have behind you,
meaning having coming off a great season. But NBA personnel people don't even really
look at the numbers unless they're reallyskewed in one way or another, like
one one way up or down,Like if you shoot, you know,
twenty six percent from the three pointline, they would look at that,
(32:59):
but they're not saying wild da Silvahad average twenty in the PAC twelve tournament,
He's now a lottery pick, Likeit doesn't work like that. They
evaluate what they see in terms ofwhat I said, the measurables, you
know, how you affect the game, what they project you as more than
anything like who can you be atthe next level. So certainly it doesn't
(33:19):
hurt to have a great PACK twelvetournament. But rarely are you going to
see a guy come out of nowhereand be on everyone's draft board or get
drafted just because of how they playedin the conference tournament. So won't won't
be a difference maker. I'm justthinking in my head, if there was
a big time performance the last sevenyears in the conference tournament, not that
(33:40):
like them push some guy's stock outof nowhere, but maybe had that loud
moment I got it. I'd haveto go back to maybe some of my
notes from from previous years and tryto figure that out. It certainly doesn't
hurt, though, Mike. Andwhen you head into the draft process and
I get my guys, you knowwe're riding some guys are riding some pretty
(34:02):
good momentum off of the NCAA tournamentor just their regular season, and so
you know you can get in thedoor. I guess easier that way,
but you're not getting drafted just basedon what your numbers or what you did.
I got a couple guys off thetop of my head, eating the
way he played in the conference tournament, and they got bounced early in Arizona.
(34:25):
But he ended up, obviously,you know, having a really good
second half of the season. Notto discount your point, and but Deandreidan's
the number one pick in whatever drafthe's gone. But no matter what,
this leads to my second guy,Jordan Bell, who came out I won't
say came out of nowhere, butmy look, I mean, don you
had him, you worked him outgetting ready for the draft. Like Jordan,
(34:49):
I thought, helped himself out tremendouslyin the nc double A tournament.
Again, it didn't hurt him,and you know it. It just they
don't evaluate like that though. Theysay, well, that's great. Maybe
he's up for the moment, likeif you play well in the NCAA tournament.
Oh, he's not afraid of themoment. That's one more box you
can check. But I don't thinkit's like driving people up up individual team's
(35:14):
draft boards by a performance in theNCAA tournament. But look, I'd rather
I'd rather test that theory on theupside or in the downside, you know
what I mean, Like it's betterto be going in there having coming off
some good performances versus versus not allright, one more name as I goes,
you know, square peg roundhole onyou because you're not biting on this,
which is fine. But Tyler Dorseyanother guy who had some big shots
(35:37):
in the tournament and then obviously inthe NCAA tournament. I will leave it
at that because I hear exactly whatyou're saying. By the way, you
were mentioned Oscar na silva, whichis how we got on this. I
was wrong. Six languages, notseven, English, German, Portuguese,
Spanish, French, and Latin.I don't even know if I want to
count the Latin deal, but Iwill. And then the stem stem cell
(35:59):
research that Yeah, So basically he'sstudying certain cell functions and discovering what inhibiting
them does to the sound, howthat minimize how that can minimize disease,
which, by the way, kindof if you if you notice, yeam,
I haven't asked for da Silva ina postgame interview all season because I
didn't want to make me look dumb. You know, I didn't want him
like I didn't want to. Ididn't want him to to to you know,
(36:22):
answer questions more eloquent, eloquently thanI was asking them. Yeah,
no, which probably would have happenedbecause it would have happened, for he's
that sharp, honestly knowing what he'sworking on. He actually presented in a
conference. I remember talking about thisin Baltimore, UM a while back.
He had presented there. I'm kindof now hoping he doesn't play pro because
it sounds like the world could actuallyuse some of the research that he is
(36:44):
he's working on. So, uh, he's either way going to be highly
successful whatever avenue he decides to uhto head down um down before we get
going here. Jonah Matthew is goingto be on the podcast tomorrow. You
and I had an opportunity to hangwith him for about thirty minutes time.
Here's a quick sneak peek of thatconversation. As a seniors were Quinn,
(37:07):
Me, Quinn, Daniel Nick.I've all looked into the brackets because the
shart last year. We want tomake a treadman obviously, so Quinn's all
about knows all about the Bubba,talk all about the standings. And we
just came together after losing to theMountain Schools, and I had just had
a team meeting with the team isjust like, guys, this is it
like we have no we have noroom for error. We have to get
these two wins. We want toif you want to go to the postseason,
and the whole team mentality, whichis all money in everybody, get
(37:30):
the full effort, and we happento come out with those two wins and
the vibe of the team right nowjust we're going to keep on rolling with
the mentality to be We're not doneyet. We have to play Youth Slam
on Saturday, get that win andmove to the tournament and try as many
wins as we can. Jonah Matthewis an awesome interview once again that is
going to be released on Wednesday.Don You and I have continued to do
(37:52):
this podcast two times a week.Tuesday we go through everything that's happening in
the conference and what's about to happen, and then Wednesday the show drops with
an interview. All those interviews completelyevergreen. You can go back and listen
to to any of them just toget a better sense of our guest,
whether it's mccroner from a week ago, a Sean Miller. At the start
of the year, Payton Pritchard dida drive from Portland's Eugene with us on
(38:13):
the podcast one time. So greatopportunity to get to know some of the
players and coaches in this conference alittle bit better. Dot, where are
you at this week? You're callinggames force. I am actually in Corvallis
for both on Thursday and Saturday.So Stanford OSU on Thursday. What's exciting
about that is Trace Tinkle five pointsaway from the all time scoring record at
(38:37):
Oregon State, going to pass Garypaid the great Gary Payton on Thursday night.
So looking forward to that and thenSenior Day. I guess it's a
day game on Saturday, but yeah, I'm going to be up there for
both. But obviously we'll have oureyeballs on the entire conference and what's happening
in an important week for a lotof teams in our conference as it turned
(38:57):
as it pertains to them getting intothe NCAA Tournament, but also for seating
in Vegas the following week. Soa lot to talk about and looking forward
to this week all the way around. Yes, it will be an exciting
time, there's no doubt. Thursday, by the way, that game six
pm Pacific time, Stanford Oregon State, crucial game for the cardinal once again,
another opportunity. Can't afford a losshere. A lot of the bracketologists
(39:22):
have him in that field once againsix pm Pacific time, pac twelve Network.
And then on Saturday, there isa ton going on. We got
the women's tournament in action. Notto mention, we got some Colorado Utah
basketball. That one tips off ateleven thirty am Pacific time. Speaking of
the Ladies Conference tournament right around thecorner, we got that coming up this
week, Donny, you and Iare going to be in Vegas for the
(39:42):
men's tournament. Pack Dash twelve dotcom, slash tickets, and for a
preview of what's happening in the women'stournament. I know Ashley and Mary have
you covered on the inside Pack twelveIt's basketball podcast with Trops every single Tuesday.
Donn. Always a blast working withyou, my friend. Looking forward
to Senior in person in Vegas andenjoy the games this week. Yep,
awesome man M
Ah, Jill raap the ball baby, Let's go. This is Inside the
Pack twelve podcast. Put on apair of your headphones and fall back gets
into some ballcasts, just having theball chat about the best conference in the
nation, all facts. This istruly for the whole bluffer was yet who
(00:24):
wonn? Then gunn they didn't getin buggers. How about we discussing all
the Trojan's husky stucks to Carlo,then the claver Bears, Beaver's Son,
Devil's Cats in fluence, the Buffalosand Uns, I bot ever forget got
insight, opinions, and plenty ofspecial guests, coaches and players, be
right as an Inside is Gold andYoung Pack twelve legends and the lums of
death analysis. We go far,but you're on the stores to take you
(00:47):
from conference play all the way tothe final four with some whole kind of
swords, just walking you through thegame. I hit your host Mike Gamm
and the board dumber play. Heyoh, bubbles are bursting all over the
count tree. They just stn't seemto be bursting on the West coast in
the PAC twelve conference. Welcome toanother brand new edition of the podcast.
(01:07):
Don we Got some we got somecrazy news, crazy finish down the stretch
here, some game we don't evenknow look much like on the women's side,
and I know Oregon was able toclinch and they didn't need the final
day of the regular season on thewomen's side to claim another outright title and
get that number one seed in Vegasfor the women's tournament which is kicking up
this week. But there's been seedingissues. Not sure who was going to
(01:30):
be where on that side. Onthe men's side of things here, it
is insane. Everything is still upfor grabs right now. Well, what's
interesting is we talked so much aboutconsistency early in the conference season, and
then this weekend four teams had sweepsusc UCLA in the Bay Areas School,
Stanford and Cal all won both thisweekend. So this theme when we get
(01:55):
to this time of year with oneweek left in the regular season, of
who can get hot. Ucla hasgotten hot. Let's see if they can
stay hot and win the regular seasonconference championship seven straight wins now right now
for Metron and Squad who was aguest on last week's podcast. If you're
a UCLA fan, highly encourage youto go back to listen. Remember all
the interviews are guest interviews. There, they're pretty evergreens. You can always
(02:19):
just kind of find out stating that'snot necessarily the about the matchups this upcoming
week. But the point is uclaseven game winning streak. Don You and
I have been talking about this fora few weeks, and that is thirteen.
We felt like was going to bethe number to win the conference,
and only two teams right now canhit number thirteen. Lucky number thirteen at
least this year. UCLA is oneof those teams. They gets sc this
(02:39):
week. Jonah Matthews, by theway, from the Trojans will be on
Wednesday's edition of this podcast, andthen Oregon at home against the Bay Area
schools. They're sitting eleven and five. They now have an opportunity to get
to thirteen wins. Let me askyou this, yam, what would you
rather have if we're talking about gettingto thirteen? Would you rather have UCLA
(03:00):
road game at USC or Oregon twohome games against Stanford and Cal. That's
a tough one. I guess youwould say, if I only have to
win one, I maybe take mychances with UCLA because it's only one instead
of having trying trying to win two. Yeah, you know, you had
brought up the extra game thing,and initially I felt like, give me
(03:23):
the easier schedule, and then yousold me on it in case some point
is ASU right, I mean theyhad to go. You know, a
week ago we were talking about thison the podcast. You know, they
control their own esta an opportunity towin four in a row and that would
have given them fourteen wins on theseason, and it's it's a rap.
They go and win the regular seasonconference crown, but not the case.
I'm with you, I take oneless game, but it's real close,
(03:46):
and O're agon still undefeated at homeand quite frankly, they're better basketball team
than the Bay Area schools right now, although Stanford is is making a push
coming back a row for Stanford,which is remarkable. Also, I had
mentioned bubbles bursting. I do wantto say this. Joeln already ESPN's bracketologist
who pretty much gets it right interms of the teams that are in the
(04:09):
dance right now. Seven teams fromthe PAC twelve in the NC Double A
Tournament field. That's what his numberis. I haven't seen everyone else is
Jerry pod I would assume the othermajor bracketologists also have seven only because Jerry
Palm he's had six in for awhile. And now Ucla with the wins
that they just scored, probably that'sseventh team for both those bracketologists. But
(04:31):
the point is the bubble teams DonStanford, Ucla, and USC this past
week six and zero handling business andcrunch time. And what's crazy is it?
In there's talk three weeks ago orfour weeks ago about our teams cannibalizing
themselves, and they did, butnot enough. It almost helped that they
(04:51):
cannibalize each other. Nobody ran awaywith it, you know. Oregon came
back to the pack, Colorado cameback to the pack a little bit,
and so it helped the other teamsget ahead. Now those teams earned it,
they won games, they've beaten people. But the point is that if
you had had three or four teamsnot losing through this last two, three,
four weeks of the season, weain't getting seven in. But because
(05:14):
that hasn't happened, it's allowed moreteams to get into the mix. And
here you sit with a week togo with seven teams in the tournament.
Which is incredible. All right,I want to talk to you about some
of these teams, UCLA, Oregon, ASU, Colorado team all of a
sudden that is reeling and no longercontrols its own destiny for a top four
seed in Vegas. They obviously haveto win in Salt Lake City against Utah
(05:36):
this week, and they need Arizonato go and lose one to the Washington
Schools in order for them to geta four seeds. So that's how tight
this deal is right now. Notto mention USC obviously still in the conversation
at ten and seven, also fora four seed. But before we get
into some more scenarios, I wantto get your take at the top right
now. We spent a lot oftime on last week's show talking about the
(05:58):
Bruins, and honestly, I thinkas the seven game winning streak has gone
on, you and I have becomemore and more believers. I felt good
after the Arizona win when they heldyou of Ada twenty five percent from the
floor. I felt great. Iwas fully buying in after the road win
in Boulder against Colorado, and nowafter what I just saw, I don't
(06:21):
don like you could not only makeyou could pick them legitimately in Vegas to
win this thing. I mean youhad them for the ASU game. That
game was on Pact Wolve network.Don They make it impossible. They make
it so difficult for the opposition toscore. They're so damn active. The
blocks of deflections that mccronan talked aboutlast week, I mean that is that's
(06:42):
on full display right now with them. And I think what's happened yam Is,
especially in this win streak, isthey're they've gotten more confidence offensively,
their their offense is operating much moreefficiently. I think roles have been determined
in the offense. I think mickIn playing around with the lineup and trying
different combinations in different you know,rotations. I think he's figured a lot
(07:06):
of stuff out about that team.But why wouldn't you pick him right now?
They've won seventh straight. That ArizonaState game is one of the best
games I've done in a couple ofyears in terms of the atmosphere there,
in terms of the level of competition, in terms of the star power.
Remy Martin was unbelievable in a lossfor them, and then just how the
(07:27):
game ended with Hawk has a tough, wonderable pull at the buzzer to win
it. But I think UCLA themore this goes on, the more confident
they get. And here's here's thebest news for them. Yeah, they
have the entire week off, soyou rip off seventh straight. You get
to kind of exhale a little bithere all week and get ready for a
game against usc An important game becauseI think it could really solidify you into
(07:49):
the NCAA tournament. And then youget another couple of days. And if
you didn't get another couple of days, and now, because of what you've
done on this win streak, youdon't have to play Thursday in Vegas all
of a sudden. So everything's setup really nicely for UCLA. But again
they've earned it with how they've playedthe last three four weeks. Here.
You know you you started this podcastby asking me that question about would you
(08:11):
rather UCLA with one game on theroad or or again with two games at
home? Not for nothing? Imean, I know it's a road game,
but it's not like you're getting ona plane. If you're not mccronin
squad like you kind of treat itlike a home game, don't you?
Other than the atmosphere. Yeah,you have a bus ride instead of not
having a bus ride. But Ithink with what's at stake, you know,
(08:35):
the first game was sold out inPauli because obviously you get SCN UCLA
fans. This game will be soldout in Galen. Could you get both
sets of fans there? So that'sgoing to be a monster game, a
great as atmosphere and not just UCLA. Both teams are playing for something,
so motivated teams should be high intensity, high level. Looking forward to seeing
(08:58):
that game this weekend. All right, Oregon, right now, let's shift
to that squat because they're coming offa win against Oregon State, which,
to be honest with you, theydominated in that game. I was doing
the pregame show with Casey Jacob simand he went through some of the numbers.
I didn't even realize this, andI think it's important to note here.
Peyton Pritchard historically has had some roughgames against Oregon State. I think
(09:20):
he was afrigan about like ten pointsper game. But he goes off in
this one, you know, twentythree points, another nine of eighteen five
three type performance. They dominate inthat win. But I think the biggest
news from an Oregon perspective, Ionly only played five minutes been fally Dante
logged five minutes in that game,didn't score, had a decent pass when
(09:43):
he had the one assist. Butto me, Don like, that's still
the game changer for this program ifhe's able to give them meaningful minutes here
amy in the tournament, and we'llprobably increase the more it goes along.
Like if he played five on Thursday, I'm assuming this the day he'll play
ten and then he'll play fifteen.So if they win a couple of games
(10:03):
in Vegas, hopefully his minutes areup to the twenty plus range by the
time you get to the NCAA tournament. But he gives him another dimension.
He's long, he provides more rimprotection, He's a better score down there
than any of their other post players. So yeah, they need him to
have an effect on the game,and hopefully those minutes will increase so he
(10:26):
can have more of an impact onthe game for Oregon. If there's one
coach in this conference that I knowcan figure it out, it's Dan Altman.
But Don, when a guy goesdown, remember a couple of years
ago, Chris Bouchet gets hurt,he doesn't playing the tournament. Yes,
some regard, I almost think that'seasier for a team because it's like,
Yo, it's done, he's notcoming back. Let's move on Claudie Green
one of those other type of players. Different reasons because of the academic ineligibility.
(10:50):
But it's like, yo, we'replaying without this dude, Dante.
You're kind of waiting here for him, and now he's back. When you're
actually a player on that team andyou're Dan Oltman who's coaching, how do
you how do you mix this up? How do you make sure that it
doesn't totally disrupt what you want todo on the floor. Well, I
think the messages we play with whowe got and right now Dante isn't playing,
(11:15):
so we got to win with whowe got. Do we want him
back? Yes, and hopefully hewill be back. And I think now
that he is back, does itgive your team a jolt? Probably?
I mean they know how big andhow good he is and how how much
he can help them win, somaybe that will give him a spark here,
you know, as we finished theregular season and go into the PAC
twelve tournament. But certainly depth wise, he helps them across that front line,
(11:39):
and I guess we'll have to waitand see as time goes on how
much is he going to be ableto play and how much he is going
to affect the game for them.Case we go down the list here,
Asu and Colorado, both of theseteams deal with some losses a little bit
of different circumstances. For a SUit's two straight, two straight losses,
(12:01):
compared to a Colorado team that allof a sudden, the losses are are
mounting up for them, and Ithink they're kind of limp in there's a
chance that they don't get a topfour seed in Vegas. I thought that
they were the safer pick only becauseof the known commodities, and I feel
like you get what you see iswhat you're going to get from that team.
But now they've lost three straight.Who are you more worried about right
(12:22):
now heading into you to Vegas.Well, I'm concerned about Colorado because when
you have a late conference losing streak, a lot of times you would point
that to maybe younger players getting worndown, maybe younger players not able to
adjust to game plans, changing thingsof that nature. But that's clearly not
the case with Colorado. They're aveteran team. We talked about that all
(12:46):
year. That's why they were pickedso high in the conference in the preseason
media poll and buy a lot ofdifferent publications and all that. And I
watched that game at Stanford yesterday andStanford has picked their level back up and
they're playing really well. But itjust didn't I didn't love watching Colorado the
body language in the in the fireand the intensity, like I didn't see
(13:07):
that in a meaningful game for them. You know, they're in the NCAA
tournament. And remember I asked TadBoil this question. Remember I asked him,
I said, isn't it better thatyou talk about trying to win the
regular season conference title to keep youmotivated because at that point maybe you've done
that. Well, guess what.This has kind of happened for them.
And I'm not in that locker room, so I don't know. But it
(13:28):
is interesting that Colorado is still safelyin the NCAA Tournament, but they lost
games down the stretch and didn't staymotivated to win the regular season conference title
and here they are at ten andseven. So kind of ironic that we
asked tad that one a month anda half ago, and it kind of
played out that that's the situation they'rein now that they're in the tournament,
(13:50):
but the regular season title is outof reach. Now. Yeah, I'm
with you on more concerned about CUthan ASU right now. But from a
sundevil's perspective, you just saw them, you had them for the UCLA game,
they lose that one. Is theresomething that you would point to that's
at least a cause for concern becauseI actually felt like they played well enough
(14:11):
to win the UCLA game. Um, you know, I just got beat
and that's gonna happen, Mike,Mike, They're on the wrong road trip
this weekend, that's all. Theywere playing against the hottest team in the
conference in UCLA. And by theway, going into that UCLA game,
Arizona State had won six in arow. Yeah, So I don't think
there's any cause for concern. Theywent up against a hot, motivated UCLA
(14:31):
team and then a superior, supremelymotivated USC team that knew that they had
to win both this weekend to getthemselves back in the NC tournament conversation.
So I don't think ASU they playedwell against UCLA. Ucla just beat them,
and then you know, SC playedawfully well. And that's the point
of this whole conference is when ourteams are right and playing like they should
(14:54):
be, they're tough to beat,especially on the road. And that's what
Arizona State ran into this weekend,and Arizona for that matter. Don You
and I've talked about this on thispodcast. I've been asked this a bunch
and I'm sure you have as well. But from an Oregon perspective, the
reason why I like them in Vegasis the Peyton Pritchard factor. The best
player on the floor, and he'scarried them two wins. I'm now watching
(15:16):
Remy Martin have that type of impactin a lot of these games, most
recently. The cow one certainly isone that I can think of. And
I referenced that because that was awin compared to some of the losses.
But you mentioned how he was ableto play in that game. I'm gonna
throw Jahee Carson. Was that likeseven years ago when he had a big
(15:37):
tournament in Vegas and big individual games? Ken, Remy, is he good
enough in your mind to get themto three straight wins? Oh? One?
Hundred percent. I mean, andwe've seen that over the years.
You mentioned Carson, but there's beennumerous examples of guys putting the team on
their back Listen, if there wasno Peyton Pritchard this year, Remy Martin
(15:58):
would be winning the Player of theYear in the conference going away, like
easily winning it. But Pritchard's hadthat kind of year. He's just had
more moments, more game winners.That thirty eight point game he had at
McHale stands out, But Remy iscapable, and Remy's had I think we'd
be talking even more about Remy Martinif it weren't for Pritchard, we would.
You know, he had thirty inPaul the other night. It almost
(16:22):
got his team a victory against UCLA, but it wasn't talked about as much
because you know, you're talking aboutPritchard and what he's been doing. But
I think we're gonna see a motivatedmember. Remy was hurt last year in
the Pac twelve tournament. I thinkyou're going to see a motivated Remy Martin
and Arizona State team. I wouldn'tbe surprised if he got hot and they
(16:44):
made a run in that thing.Arizona USC once again. Joonah Matthews are
going to be on the podcast tomorrow. You know what, I don't want
to talk about them in a secondbecause Arizona they lose the game against USC
the other day with issue twenty sixeight percent something. I think it was
like twenty eight percent by the way, God, I actually don't have my
note in front of me. DonThey had a twenty five percent field goal
(17:07):
percentage game in a loss at homeagainst UCLA. That was the worst shooting
performance in the Arizona men's basketball teamhas had at mcale ever. And then
they shoot twenty eight percent against USCand a loss. They still lose the
Ucla game the other day. Theyshot a little bit better forty four percent
in the game. I'm actually like, I'm I'm I don't know what to
(17:30):
get to make of this basketball team. And I think at this point of
the season it's easy to say it'sfreshman, but is it is that the
only thing that you can point to. I think I think you have to
start there that you're relying on freshmanto, you know, make decisions and
make play. Remember, Josh Greendidn't make the trip, so that was
part of the factor of maybe themnot being as good offensively. Um,
(17:55):
but you know, your best playeris z Ignagy and he's a post player.
So those we see and we're seeingit right now with other guys in
the league. If you're a postplayer, by this time, they're just
figuring out a way to take youout a game. So Naji hasn't been
as dominant because other teams have said, look, he's our best player.
We're not letting him get twenty fiveand ten on us, so we're just
(18:17):
going to double him or do whateverwe have to do. And then as
there's been enough offense around him towin games, and I just think it's
there isn't with Arizona. They're they'rejust not good enough offensive offensively to be
consistent, especially on the road,and you just wonder can their defense rise
(18:38):
up and carry them in Vegas?I think it can and maybe maybe these
freshmen, you know, once youget a break, meaning you finish the
regular season and then okay, okay, now it's the postseason, maybe that'll
give them a spark and maybe that'llthat'll get them to pick their level up.
But certainly the offense has been theproblem for Arizona this year when they
(19:00):
haven't won. Did you think wewe'd be saying that at this point of
the year. No, I didn't. And I'm surprised because Mannion highly regarded,
Green, highly regarded, naj notnot as highly regarded, but still
highly regarded. You know, usuallyyou see the bumps in the road along
(19:21):
the way, but that gets youto hear and you're like, Okay,
they figured it out. And youknow they've had moments, all three of
those guys, but just not asconsistent as you would think it would be
by this point in the season.Ye, here's the other thing. And
I sound like a slave to themoment because if they win, they sweep
the Washington's and all of a sudden, it's two game winning stream heunting into
(19:41):
Vegas, right, and maybe thatgives them a jolt too, yam.
Like this human nature thing, especiallythis time of year, is a big
deal. Like feel like we're seeingit with UCLA. Like you win a
game that gives you a little bit, then you win another, then another
then and then your confidence is justrolling and it can change in an instant,
It can change in a half,it can change in one game,
(20:03):
and you're right, Arizona could havea great week of practice this week,
blow out both Washington schools. Allof a sudden, they're feeling great heading
into Vegas and they rip off threeor four in a row and win the
thing. I wouldn't be surprised bythat. Yeah, because at the same
time, the human nature aspect ofit. I could also point to usc
because imagine if those guys don't haveit for postavention, Joonah Matthews don't get
(20:25):
sick and that flu blood is notreaking havoc in that locker room against the
Mountain schools. Maybe they beat Coloradoin that basketball game, and you know,
maybe it's a you know, athree or four game winning streak for
them as opposed to just winning twoin a row and making sure they're on
the right side of the bubble.Yeah. And you know, look at
Stanford and if you want to talkabout human nature, a couple of things
(20:48):
happened that the silva thing happened.You know, Will's got injured. They're
not real deep anyway, they loseseven of eight and most of the time
you would see you would look atand we've seen it. You and I've
talked about over the years season over, but not not this Stanford team.
They now flip it around and winforeign a row. So how do you
think they're feeling now that they've gonethrough the adversity of losing seven of eight,
(21:11):
Now they've won four in a row. So that's a human nature thing
times too, because you you dealtwith the adversity and spun it back around.
So now you're really feeling good aboutyourself heading into last week of the
season they go to the Organs.I feel like if they get a split
in Oregon, Stanford does that,they'll still keep some of that momentum heading
into Vegas. And I'm really impressedwith Jared Hoss and his staff and how
(21:36):
they've been able because it was notgood. I was there like three weeks
ago or four weeks ago when theywere in the middle of that, losing
seven of eight, and you're kindof scratching your head looking around, going,
man, this thing could end poorly, and it hasn't. They've turned
it around, and so congrats tothem and how they've done that, and
we'll see how this week affects thembefore they get to Vegas. Yeah,
(21:56):
it's wild about that. I actuallytalked to it's a coach house. Last
week and it was almost like heknew something that no one else knew.
It still felt like he was reallybad confident. And maybe it's because you
point to some of those losses withthe seven of eighth that they had and
they don't have the silva or whatbasically let's call it two games more or
(22:21):
less, right, a game anda half or whatever it was, and
then still working back in and thenjust you know, a couple of final
possessions of games and they're losing,like it's still knocking on the door,
you know what. Yeah, you'reright about your thought because and this is
what's funny as we go around thisleague. He said to me that I
think I was there. They hadlost five of six and I was there
(22:42):
and I said, you know,is it anything? He's like, you
know what done? He's like,we feel like it's not an area.
He's like, we've gotten a coupleof bad breaks, We've gotten a couple
you know, injuries. He's like, but we're right there. And when
I finished talking to him, like, well that's not good. Like you've
lost five or six, but youfeel like there's nothing you should fix And
turns out. He was exactly right. There wasn't anything to fix. They
(23:06):
just needed to stay with it,get a ball to bounce their way,
get a couple breaks, and theyhave. Their defense has been consistent all
year. It's been shocking how goodit's been. But then, you know,
so to your point, yeah,I think he did know that if
we just get a couple of thingsgoing our way, we're gonna get this
thing back on track. And theydid. And Saturday I was in studio
(23:30):
and we were talking about Stanford.It was three Q one games still remaining,
and they scored a big one againstColorado. Now they go on the
road for the Oregons. You know, Don, they could play as a
bubble team, and they're still abubble team. Now they're they're doing the
right things, but you know,Don, they're playing themselves with the pressure
on, just like USC lights areon. They now delivered with this win.
(23:53):
They split here against the Oregans,which is absolutely is a possibility,
they're in good shape. I thinkfor the tournament. I think, and
I've said, I forget who Iwas talking to you yesterday, I think
if they split an Oregon and winone in Vegas, they're in for sure.
If they lose both in Oregon,I think they have to win one
(24:15):
in Vegas, maybe two in they'rein. The problem is, and let
me look at this, I actuallydon't have all the scenarios because it they
it's insane. It would take mehours to go and try to figure all
this out. But like how Stanfordgets a five seed, there is a
world where that happens. Like tome, if you are not a top
(24:37):
four seed, We've talked about this. Don you want to be a five
if you're a bubble team because Washingtonis not a game that will that that
game actually helps you if you win, as opposed to in previous years with
the net ranking. Sometimes we havea team sit in that twelve spot with
an RPI and like the two hundreds, you win that game and your RPI
(24:59):
actually goes the wrong. Like,that's not going to be the case.
That five seat is still up forgrabs right now, and they still need
some work to do and the tiebreakerswould have to fall into their favor.
But the point is, whoever thatfive seat is, and if it's USC
or Stanford Arizona is in the fieldright now. But those two teams would
benefit from playing a team like Washington, and Stanford just beat Washington at Washington,
(25:22):
so they'd have some confidence going fromthat. I think it's a good
matchup for them. You know,Stanford one of the better shooting teams in
our league. They have multiple guysthat can make threes against that Washington zone.
So you're right, I mean,if they if they're not going to
get a top four seed, youknow, and this is something you and
I will start talking about more asmatchups. You know, matchups is so
much a part of postseason college basketball, not only in our conference tournament,
(25:45):
but in the NCAA tournament. AndI think Washington is a good matchup for
Stanford, so that maybe should bewhat they're talking about. Is, you
know, our goal, if wecan't get in the top four, let's
really try and get that fifth.See the start the pactual tournament. You
know, don just because we're talkingabout Stanford and I'm not going to take
(26:06):
us down this rabbit hole, areyou might actually know the answer to this?
So next week the awards get handedout, right, the regular season
awards the ninth, So I don'tknow in terms of the timing of our
show and how we're going to dothis but you just talked about Stanford.
The only reason why I'm bringing thisup right now is because defensive Player of
the Year I think is still upfor grabs. And I know Kyler Kelly
(26:30):
what he's done in terms of theblock. I think he's still second in
the country in blocks per game.There's some players right now. Tyler Bay
I think is in the mix.Bryce Wills just talking about Stanford as an
individual on the ball defender, Ithink he's there. I talk to someone
who covers Colorado the other day andthey felt like McKinley wright doesn't get enough
credit for what he does at hisposition. I don't know if he's necessarily
(26:51):
and that makes but the point isa Congo also one of those guys that
award is going to be pretty highlycontested. I think that might be one
of the tighter ones I think wehave in the world. Hell, I
didn't imagine any wheel either. Yeah, you and I talk about this a
lot, and it's how you viewthe award or how you vote for the
award, Like do you just gobased on numbers and analytics and that's how
(27:12):
you would vote. Because Tyler batestop ten and rebounds, blocks and steals
in the league. So if youjust go off of that, he's going
to be Defensive Player of the Year. But if you watch all the games,
and you watch and see what theeffect individuals defensively have on the game,
then you would look at Bryce Wills, you would look at McKinley Wright,
(27:33):
I'm sure there's a couple others.I'm forgetting Remy Martin's a good defender,
and then Kyler Kelly. You lookat his blocks numbers. But to
me, like if you watch Stanfordplay, you see the effect that Bryce
Wills has in how he accepts thechallenge of the other team's best player every
night for the most part, andyou see what that impact is like.
(27:53):
To me, And I said thiswhen I was up there a few weeks
ago for the Civil War, KylerKelly should have more of an effect on
the game than he does. Yes, he does lead the league in block
shots, but he's not anywhere nearthe top and rebounding and with his physical
tools. To me, if Iwas going to vote for him for Defensive
Player of the Year, he shouldbe four blocks and ten rebounds easily,
and he's nowhere near the ten reboundsbecause he doesn't have any discipline with his
(28:18):
shot blocking. He goes after almostevery shot, puts himself out of position,
and then the other team's rebounding onthe other side offensive rebounding. So
and I'm not not look Kyler Kelly'shad had a good year. I just
think if we're talking purely about defensivePlayer of the Year, how do you
view the award? How do youvote for the award? So we'll be
interesting to see who ultimately wins it. One other note too, by the
(28:40):
way, Jean Davis, I don'tthink it's talked to mouth about. Yeah,
his length and athletic ability on thatside of the floor. I actually
think he's pretty good, and maybehe'd been a little underrated on the defensive
end of things, I think,but Bryce Wills has emerged so much this
year that I think he's getting mostof our attention on that side, no
doubt. He's the reason why Ieven brought this up, because he deserves
(29:03):
a lot of um, no doubt. So we got to figure out kind
of the timing. I'm like havinglike a quasi production meeting with Ari who's
not chiming in right now, andyou don about the timing of next week's
podcast because we usually tape on aMonday. So just something to to consider
because next week we're gonna probably haveto have a conversation about a lot of
the awards that are going to gethanded out. We may have to do
(29:26):
the podcast at night next week atnight, a Moonlight podcast next week.
I know, I got a playliston Monday. Um, so well we'll
figure it out. And no onelistened to this podcast actually cares when we
actually go and do this on aMonday, because they're listening on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays. But one thing that theyalways listen out for Don is a player
evaluation that you will give about adude who wants to be in the NBA
(29:52):
from the back twelveth to the NBA. All right, let's talk about Oscar
Silva in again. And I mentionedthis every week when we do this segment,
that I talked to a lot ofscalops and a lot of NBA front
office guys as I go around theleague, and there's been a lot of
talk about Oscar da Silva in thejump he's made this year. You know,
he has much more responsibility with thisgroup, and the thing that people
(30:18):
like about him is his versatility.You know, he's a good athlete.
He's got pretty good measurables long arms. But the fact that he can guard
multiple positions, he can step outand hit a three. He can play
on the post. They do alot of ball screening action with him,
getting him on the move. He'sgot pretty good hands. But they envisioned
him as the traditional multi positional defenderthat can make a three, So you're
(30:45):
three in d guy basically, whichare valuable in the NBA. I think
his ability to make threes now hispercentage still isn't great, but it's better
than it was. But you lookat him shoot and you say, okay,
with multiple reps in time to spentbehind the NBA line, you would
say to yourself, eventually he's goingto be a serviceable NBA three point shooter.
(31:07):
And you put that with the athleticismin the ability to guard different players
in different positions, he now becomesa valuable NBA player. I haven't looked
to see how many draft boards he'son. Also I know is that his
name keeps coming up in my conversationswith people that I talked to, so
we'll see. He's probably a littletoo smart. For the NBA to Silva.
(31:32):
So we'll see how that plays out. But certainly he's got a lot
of options, and we'll see afterthis season. You know where he's at
in terms of an NBA player.More likely for him NBA or overseas because
by the way, if he speakingof him being too smart, if he
does go overseas, language won't bean issue. Seven languages he speaks.
(31:53):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.And the guy's like already authored something on
cell reproduction or I mean, theguy's too smart for our for our pay
grade. Dam But he's got options. And you even wonder if you will
play professional basketball. I haven't talkedOscar specifically about it, but you know,
he's he's going to graduate from Stanfordand seems to have a huge interest
(32:15):
in the field that he's studying atStanford. You wonder if he's a guy
that turns down professional basketball to gointo the field. But he's certainly going
to have a chance if he wantsit, to play in the NBA.
For sure. From the scouts thatyou talk to, how much does performance
in a conference tournament help shape draftstock? I don't think it. I
(32:37):
mean, you certainly want as muchmomentum as you can have behind you,
meaning having coming off a great season. But NBA personnel people don't even really
look at the numbers unless they're reallyskewed in one way or another, like
one one way up or down,Like if you shoot, you know,
twenty six percent from the three pointline, they would look at that,
(32:59):
but they're not saying wild da Silvahad average twenty in the PAC twelve tournament,
He's now a lottery pick, Likeit doesn't work like that. They
evaluate what they see in terms ofwhat I said, the measurables, you
know, how you affect the game, what they project you as more than
anything like who can you be atthe next level. So certainly it doesn't
(33:19):
hurt to have a great PACK twelvetournament. But rarely are you going to
see a guy come out of nowhereand be on everyone's draft board or get
drafted just because of how they playedin the conference tournament. So won't won't
be a difference maker. I'm justthinking in my head, if there was
a big time performance the last sevenyears in the conference tournament, not that
(33:40):
like them push some guy's stock outof nowhere, but maybe had that loud
moment I got it. I'd haveto go back to maybe some of my
notes from from previous years and tryto figure that out. It certainly doesn't
hurt, though, Mike. Andwhen you head into the draft process and
I get my guys, you knowwe're riding some guys are riding some pretty
(34:02):
good momentum off of the NCAA tournamentor just their regular season, and so
you know you can get in thedoor. I guess easier that way,
but you're not getting drafted just basedon what your numbers or what you did.
I got a couple guys off thetop of my head, eating the
way he played in the conference tournament, and they got bounced early in Arizona.
(34:25):
But he ended up, obviously,you know, having a really good
second half of the season. Notto discount your point, and but Deandreidan's
the number one pick in whatever drafthe's gone. But no matter what,
this leads to my second guy,Jordan Bell, who came out I won't
say came out of nowhere, butmy look, I mean, don you
had him, you worked him outgetting ready for the draft. Like Jordan,
(34:49):
I thought, helped himself out tremendouslyin the nc double A tournament.
Again, it didn't hurt him,and you know it. It just they
don't evaluate like that though. Theysay, well, that's great. Maybe
he's up for the moment, likeif you play well in the NCAA tournament.
Oh, he's not afraid of themoment. That's one more box you
can check. But I don't thinkit's like driving people up up individual team's
(35:14):
draft boards by a performance in theNCAA tournament. But look, I'd rather
I'd rather test that theory on theupside or in the downside, you know
what I mean, Like it's betterto be going in there having coming off
some good performances versus versus not allright, one more name as I goes,
you know, square peg roundhole onyou because you're not biting on this,
which is fine. But Tyler Dorseyanother guy who had some big shots
(35:37):
in the tournament and then obviously inthe NCAA tournament. I will leave it
at that because I hear exactly whatyou're saying. By the way, you
were mentioned Oscar na silva, whichis how we got on this. I
was wrong. Six languages, notseven, English, German, Portuguese,
Spanish, French, and Latin.I don't even know if I want to
count the Latin deal, but Iwill. And then the stem stem cell
(35:59):
research that Yeah, So basically he'sstudying certain cell functions and discovering what inhibiting
them does to the sound, howthat minimize how that can minimize disease,
which, by the way, kindof if you if you notice, yeam,
I haven't asked for da Silva ina postgame interview all season because I
didn't want to make me look dumb. You know, I didn't want him
like I didn't want to. Ididn't want him to to to you know,
(36:22):
answer questions more eloquent, eloquently thanI was asking them. Yeah,
no, which probably would have happenedbecause it would have happened, for he's
that sharp, honestly knowing what he'sworking on. He actually presented in a
conference. I remember talking about thisin Baltimore, UM a while back.
He had presented there. I'm kindof now hoping he doesn't play pro because
it sounds like the world could actuallyuse some of the research that he is
(36:44):
he's working on. So, uh, he's either way going to be highly
successful whatever avenue he decides to uhto head down um down before we get
going here. Jonah Matthew is goingto be on the podcast tomorrow. You
and I had an opportunity to hangwith him for about thirty minutes time.
Here's a quick sneak peek of thatconversation. As a seniors were Quinn,
(37:07):
Me, Quinn, Daniel Nick.I've all looked into the brackets because the
shart last year. We want tomake a treadman obviously, so Quinn's all
about knows all about the Bubba,talk all about the standings. And we
just came together after losing to theMountain Schools, and I had just had
a team meeting with the team isjust like, guys, this is it
like we have no we have noroom for error. We have to get
these two wins. We want toif you want to go to the postseason,
and the whole team mentality, whichis all money in everybody, get
(37:30):
the full effort, and we happento come out with those two wins and
the vibe of the team right nowjust we're going to keep on rolling with
the mentality to be We're not doneyet. We have to play Youth Slam
on Saturday, get that win andmove to the tournament and try as many
wins as we can. Jonah Matthewis an awesome interview once again that is
going to be released on Wednesday.Don You and I have continued to do
(37:52):
this podcast two times a week.Tuesday we go through everything that's happening in
the conference and what's about to happen, and then Wednesday the show drops with
an interview. All those interviews completelyevergreen. You can go back and listen
to to any of them just toget a better sense of our guest,
whether it's mccroner from a week ago, a Sean Miller. At the start
of the year, Payton Pritchard dida drive from Portland's Eugene with us on
(38:13):
the podcast one time. So greatopportunity to get to know some of the
players and coaches in this conference alittle bit better. Dot, where are
you at this week? You're callinggames force. I am actually in Corvallis
for both on Thursday and Saturday.So Stanford OSU on Thursday. What's exciting
about that is Trace Tinkle five pointsaway from the all time scoring record at
(38:37):
Oregon State, going to pass Garypaid the great Gary Payton on Thursday night.
So looking forward to that and thenSenior Day. I guess it's a
day game on Saturday, but yeah, I'm going to be up there for
both. But obviously we'll have oureyeballs on the entire conference and what's happening
in an important week for a lotof teams in our conference as it turned
(38:57):
as it pertains to them getting intothe NCAA Tournament, but also for seating
in Vegas the following week. Soa lot to talk about and looking forward
to this week all the way around. Yes, it will be an exciting
time, there's no doubt. Thursday, by the way, that game six
pm Pacific time, Stanford Oregon State, crucial game for the cardinal once again,
another opportunity. Can't afford a losshere. A lot of the bracketologists
(39:22):
have him in that field once againsix pm Pacific time, pac twelve Network.
And then on Saturday, there isa ton going on. We got
the women's tournament in action. Notto mention, we got some Colorado Utah
basketball. That one tips off ateleven thirty am Pacific time. Speaking of
the Ladies Conference tournament right around thecorner, we got that coming up this
week, Donny, you and Iare going to be in Vegas for the
(39:42):
men's tournament. Pack Dash twelve dotcom, slash tickets, and for a
preview of what's happening in the women'stournament. I know Ashley and Mary have
you covered on the inside Pack twelveIt's basketball podcast with Trops every single Tuesday.
Donn. Always a blast working withyou, my friend. Looking forward
to Senior in person in Vegas andenjoy the games this week. Yep,
awesome man M
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