Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: Buffs Take Note Of 'Dog-Eat-Dog' Pac-12
January 06, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — We knew it was coming — but maybe we didn't realize it would happen so fast. Just one week into the conference season, Pac-12 basketball is already a topsy-turvy, anything-can-happen affair.
One needs look no farther than Utah, which pays a visit to Boulder on Friday for a meeting with Colorado (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1).
The Utes, picked third in the preseason media poll, headed into the opening weekend of conference play ranked No. 21 in the nation with a resume that included a win over Duke. They headed home with an 0-2 conference record after dropping a pair of games on their Bay Area swing, meaning they will no doubt bring with them a heightened sense of urgency when they visit the Coors Events Center for Friday's game.
The Utes, though, weren't the only ranked team in the conference to stumble in their opening weekend.
UCLA, picked fifth in the preseason poll, entered the weekend ranked No. 25 in the nation. But the Bruins also dropped a pair, losing to Washington in double overtime, then falling at Washington State.
Then there was the flip side. Washington — picked 11th in the preseason poll — emerged from the weekend with a 2-0 record. The Huskies followed their dramatic 96-93 win over the Bruins on Friday with an equally impressive win over USC on Sunday, one in which they erased a 22-point deficit in the second half to take an 87-85 win.
Overall, teams picked No. 9 through 12 in the preseason poll emerged with a 5-3 record.
It was a weekend that definitely caught the attention of coaches around the league, including Colorado's Tad Boyle, who is spending the week impressing upon his players the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity available.
“We have to understand in league play, especially in our league this year, it's dog-eat-dog,” Boyle said. “Look at UCLA, who is a top 25 team, top 25 talent — they're 0-2 in our league. Utah is a top 25 team with top 25 talent, they're 0-2 in our league.”
One thing, though, did stay true to form in the first weekend of play: the home teams took advantage of their edge, posting a 7-3 record. Only Colorado (at Stanford), USC (at Washington State) and Arizona (at Arizona State) managed to collect wins as the visiting team.
“We've got nine home games and nine road games and you'd better hold serve at home,” Boyle said. “Otherwise you'd better figure out how to be a really good road team. We've got to make sure we hold serve at home and it starts Friday night against Utah.”
Obviously, it's early. As Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak told the Utes media earlier this week, “There's a lot of basketball left to play and we don't have anybody on our squad giving up. I'll take our chances with this group that we'll be playing our best basketball at the right time of year, and hope that starts Friday.”
And, as Boyle noted, everyone is still a contender.
“The sense of urgency is there,” Boyle said. “This early in league play, everybody still thinks they have a chance. Utah's lost two games, they've still got a chance to win this league; so does UCLA. So do we, so does everybody. We've got to understand that every opportunity is important.”
JABBAR CANDIDATES TO BATTLE: Friday's Utah-Colorado game will provide a head-to-head matchup between CU's Josh Scott and Utah's Jakob Poeltl, two players on the national Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list. Scott is second in the league in scoring (17.9 points per game) while Poeltl is third (17.7), and Scott is fourth in the league in rebounding (9.5 rpg) while Poeltl is fifth (9.3).
RPI CLIMB: The first weekend of play also resulted in some juggling in the RPI. Colorado maintained its top-25 spot, holding fast at No. 23 in the most recent NCAA RPI. Oregon was the Pac-12's highest ranked team at No. 20, with six other squads in the top 50: Oregon State (25), Arizona (26), USC (32), Utah (33), Arizona State (37) and Cal (44). Oregon State's climbed from No. 36 last week while Washington had the biggest jump of the week: the Huskies moved from No. 145 a week ago to 100.
Overall, the Pac-12 is the nation's No. 2 conference in the CBSSports.com RPI, trailing only the Big 12.
INFINITI CHALLENGE: Boyle is once again participating in the Infiniti Coaches Charity Challenge with the opportunity to earn a $100,000 donation to Special Olympics of Colorado. The voting website is now open at ESPN.com/Infiniti. You do have to register an email address, but it is free of charge. You can vote once per day, per email address. Voting for the first round lasts until Jan. 24 at 10 a.m.
