Colorado University Athletics
Pac-12 Making National Noise Early
December 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Roughly a month into the season, the Pac-12 is already staking claim to being one of the stronger basketball conferences in the nation.
No doubt, it's early. But the most recent NCAA RPI rankings had 10 Pac-12 teams in the top 100, second in the nation to the ACC (11).
It is still the time of year when a team's RPI can swing wildly in the span of a week. Conference games haven't started, and the huge disparity in nonconference schedules means teams can jump — or fall — dramatically after just a game or two.
Still, even the early rankings are at least a rough indicator of a conference's strength.
The latest NCAA RPI had Colorado as the highest-ranked Pac-12 team, checking in at No. 16. The Buffs were followed by Oregon (17), Utah (23), Oregon State (27), Arizona State (42), USC (45), UCLA (50), Stanford (60), Washington (78), Arizona (83), Cal (125) and Washington State (301).
Of course, the RPI doesn't come close to reflecting the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches' polls — but the Pac-12 is still well-represented there. Arizona, Oregon and Utah are ranked in the top 25 of both polls, with UCLA, Cal and Colorado also receiving votes in at least one of the polls.
With the conference season ready to begin in three weeks, here are some of the Pac-12 highlights thus far:
BIG WINS: While a number of conference schools have notched head-turning victories, it would be hard to find a bigger win thus far than UCLA's 87-77 win over then-No. 1 Kentucky on Dec. 3.
Other quality wins by conference teams over ranked opponents include Arizona's victory at No. 13 Gonzaga; ASU's win at No. 18 Texas A&M; and Oregon's win over No. 20 Baylor.
Big games on tap this weekend include BYU at Colorado, ASU at Kentucky, UCLA at Gonzaga and Oregon State at Kansas.
BALANCED SCORING: At midweek, two teams had two scorers in the conference's top 10. Utah's Jacob Poeltl was second with a 21.3 average and Jordan Loveridge was eighth at 15.8 per game while Colorado's Josh Scott was fourth (18.3 ppg) and George King 10th (15.0 ppg). Scott and Poeltl are also in the top three in the league in rebounding, with Poeltl second (9.9 per game) and Scott third (9.8).
ATTENDANCE LEADERS: It's no surprise that Arizona is leading in average home attendance thus far, with the Wildcats pulling in 14,437 per game for their first five home games. Right behind Arizona is Utah (13,239), followed by Cal (9,212), Colorado (7,538) and UCLA (7,362).
HOME SWEET HOME: As of Thursday, four conference teams — Oregon, UCLA, Utah and Washington — had yet to play a true road game, but had played at least two games on a neutral floor. Washington State, meanwhile, finally left Pullman on Thursday after six straight home games, but the Cougars didn't have to go far. Their first road game of the year was 9.4 miles away in Moscow against the University of Idaho.
COLLIER MOVING UP: After a rough start to the season, CU point guard Dominique Collier is among the Pac-12 leaders in several categories. The Buffs sophomore is tied for 10th in steals (1.4 per game), fifth in 3-point percentage (10-for-21, .476) and 11th in assist-turnover ratio (1.4). Teammate Josh Fortune is ninth in assist-turnover ratio (1.7).
GOOD FORTUNE: Fortune, by the way, is clearly blossoming after sitting out last year following his transfer from Providence. The CU junior is averaging more points, rebounds and assists per game at CU than he did in his last year at Providence, despite playing nine minutes less per game.
TEAM LEADERS: Colorado is leading the Pac-12 in several team categories, including scoring (83.9 points per game), scoring margin (plus-13 points per game), 3-point percentage (.423) and free throw percentage (.746). CU finished eighth in scoring offense and scoring margin last season and fifth in free throw percentage.
LAS VEGAS CLASSIC: After Saturday's home game with BYU, Colorado will begin play in the Las Vegas Classic — with two of the games in Boulder.
The Buffs will play Nicholls State on Friday and Hampton on Saturday, with both games scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
The following week, they'll travel to Las Vegas for two games in Orleans Arena. CU will face Penn State in an 8:30 p.m. contest on Dec. 22, then face either SMU or Kent State the following night in either the championship game or third-place game.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
