Last night’s upset by Stanford over Arizona State has already reverberated throughout the Bracketology world, where our own Chris Dobbertean has replaced ASU with Washington as one of the last four in the NCAA Tournament field after the Huskies came back to beat Oregon State last night. Here’s how he assesses UW’s resume:
Pac-10 Tournament Fallout From Around SB Nation
It wasn’t easy but the Huskies were able to advance to the Pac-10 semis, as they needed to mount a comeback to beat Oregon State Thursday, Unfortunately, since Arizona State was eliminated in the game before, Washington will have to hope they can meet Cal in the final for one last shot at a quality win. Washington owns home wins over Texas A&M and Cal. However, December losses at Texas Tech and against Georgetown in Anaheim are missed opportunities in a weak bubble year.
Bracketology 101, another great bracket projection site, also has the Huskies as one of their last four in. While an encouraging sign for Husky fans, UW’s standing is still tenuous at best. Beating Stanford and reaching the championship of the conference tournament would seem to be the safest outcome for the Huskies, short of winning the whole thing.
They also float the idea that the conference still could be looking at anywhere between one and three bids:
If Washington were to lose to Stanford and if Cal wins the tourney then it would still be possible for the league to get one bid (that’s unlikely). The most likely scenario is for Washington and Cal to both win their semifinal games, and then for both teams to get in regardless of who wins the title. Another possible scenario would be for UCLA to beat Cal and then beat Washington in the final. The league would then get three bids as the Huskies would grab one of the final at-large bids because of their two Top 25 wins.
Here’s the best of the rest from SB Nation’s Pac-10 sites:
Bruins Start The "New Season" On A Good Note: Beat Arizona To Advance To The Final-4 (!) - Bruins Nation
Before anyone gets too excited we are going to take on either Oregon or Cal. We don't matchup well against any of those teams because both of them have athletic and speedy backcourts. We can't also count on our guys to come back with 40 minutes of effort and defense because we got what we were going to get this afternoon at Staples. ... We got our win on a Thursday. You know what happens to a Ben Howland team when the weekend comes around. Not going to hold my breath.Game 31 Recap: Washington 59, Oregon State 52 - Building The Dam
Perhaps the biggest play in the game came early in the second half, when Josh Tarver was able to force a steal but missed a wide open, uncontested dunk. His brother, Seth, was able to come back and score a basket on the ensuing possession to give Oregon State at 12 point lead at 35-23, but Washington scored the next eight points of the game and took the momentum from that point on. That 8-0 burst was part of a 22-4 run for the Huskies that transpired in just six minutes of game clock.Should the Pac-10 Tournament Rotate Away From Staples Center? - California Golden Blogs
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