Pac-10 Conference Tournament Preview

Just as I did for the Big East yesterday, here is my game by game preview of the Pac-10 basketball tournament starting tomorrow night in Los Angeles (sorry no cool bracket like yesterday).

First Round

Stanford vs Oregon St. - Stanford isn't any good, but Oregon St. is awful unless on their home court. Mr. President's brother-in-law is going home early again at this event.

Oregon vs Arizona St. - It's the same deal for Oregon as with Oregon St. Arizona St. has been playing a little better the last couple of weeks. Sun Devils will pull the upset.

Second Round

USC vs Cal – USC has a lot of people on the bandwagon because of its hot play lately. In this inconsistent league, there is no way the chalk pick is winning when that chalk pick finished fourth in the league. That and Cal point guard Brandon Smith won't turn the ball over the way USC really needs a point guard to to win. Cal wins.

Arizona vs Stanford – Derrick Williams and Momo Jones will break the Cardinal, again.

UCLA vs Arizona St. - The Sun Devils aren't good enough to win multiple games in this tournament, especially against a team like UCLA trying to improve its NCAA seeding (that is avoiding the 8-9 game).

Washington vs Washington St. - We have seen twice already this season that this is a bad matchup for the Huskies. With Klay Thompson's suspension lifted for Washington St., it will happen a third time.

Semifinals

Arizona vs Cal – These two played one of the best games of the season at Cal going triple overtime before the aforementioned Brandon Smith blew a layup that allowed Arizona to escape with a win. With a lot more to play for, Cal will upset Arizona.

UCLA vs Washington St. - UCLA should have lost to Washington St. last Saturday. With Thompson back on the roster, the Cougars will win the game setting up a crazy bid-stealer matchup in the final.

Final

Cal vs Washington St. - The Cougars are the better team despite their lower finish in the standings, but Cal will win because Washington St. throws clunkers in at inopportune and unpredictable times. With that reputation, picking them to reach the final is a risk and there is no way I am predicting them to win the tournament. Cal will steal a bid from somebody.