NCAA Tournament Predictions: Pac-10
Written March 3, 2009 by Jack Jones
With today’s college basketball betting article Craig Trapp takes a look at the teams from the Pac-10 conference, and how they are going to perform come NCAA Tournament time.
The Pac-10 has five teams that are going to make the big dance, but there aren’t really any teams other than that on the bubble. If a team other than these five is going to join March Madness, they are going to have to win the conference tournament to do so.
Arizona State
This is Craig’s top rated team in the conference and should be in contention for a #4 seed. They will have a tough matchup in the Sweet 16 with a #1 seed and Craig thinks they will lose in that round via a close game. He does like Coach Sendek’s bunch to possibly pull off an upset because they are locking down teams with their matchup zone, holding opponents to only 58 points per game. The offense is very efficient and led by James Hardin, so teams better not sleep on the Sun Devils.
Washington
It seems like nobody ever talks about the Huskies, but this is a very solid program that has garnered yet another 20 win season and is leading the Pac-10. The offense is very balanced with four double digit scorers and this squad should end up with a #3 or #4 seed if they finish strong. Their weakness is a soft strength of schedule and they could be a team ripe for an upset in the tournament.
UCLA
It’s hard to believe just how far the Bruins have fallen in the last couple of weeks, as they got to as high as #10 in Craig’s overall power rankings. However, this team then lost three of their next four, giving up over 78 points per game during that stretch. That isn’t the trademark of a Ben Howland defense. You can’t count out the Bruins though as they just won a tough game at Cal and with Collison and Shipp they have more tournament experience than any other Pac-10 team. If they can win the Pac-10 they should get a higher seed, but this team is likely heading towards a #4 or #5 seed due to their recent struggles.
California
Coach Montgomery has brought the same kind of success to the Bears program that he brought to his teams Stanford. Cal is a year ahead of schedule and has enough wins to make the big dance, but a loss to Oregon State hurt their seeding. This team is inexperienced so Craig doesn’t see them getting past the first round of the tournament.
Arizona
The Wildcats have some big wins over Gonzaga and UCLA which should propel them into the touranment. The team was on the bubble a few weeks ago but won seven of eight games, including upsets of Washignton and UCLA, to get on solid ground. with all of the early season turmoil this team faced, they should be happy just to make the tournament and will most likely be bounced out in the first round.
Overall Craig thinks that the Pac-10 is a mediocre bunch and if two teams make the Sweet 16 that would be considered an overachievement. If you are looking to win more of your March Madness bets then take a look at the college basketball picks offered by Craig. He studies the NCAA basketball odds in-depth each night in order to come up with consistent winners for his clients.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- SEC Tournament Predictions & NCAA Projections
- NCAA Tournament Predictions: ACC
- ACC Predictions for the 2009 NCAA Tournament
- NCAA Basketball Odds on Big Ten Teams To Win the Tournament
- Big East Teams in the 2009 NCAA Tournament
One Response to “NCAA Tournament Predictions: Pac-10”
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I’ve got Washington beating UCONN….surprise, surprise. The other Pac-Ten teams will off the radar early. Temple even beats Arizona St. today…….gosh, what a surprise that would be. Merry Christmas.
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