Stakes are high for this week's Pac-12 Tournament in Vegas
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#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE
20 - A Conference tournament champion will be crowned for the 20th time as the 2017 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament presented by New York Life makes its debut in new 18,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this week. The tourney, which started with a four-year run from 1987-90, has been played each year since 2002, including the past five years in Las Vegas.
3x10 - For the first time in Conference tournament history, three teams will enter the event with Associated Press top 10 rankings.
3x25 - For the first time in Conference history, three teams have reached the 25-victory plateau during the regular season.
>> Should USC become the fourth team to reach 25 wins, it would tie the Conference record of four 25-win teams in a single season (2006-07).
3 - Three Pac-12 teams are ranked in the top 10 of this week’s AP Top 25 poll in #3 UCLA, #5 OREGON and #7 ARIZONA - the only conference in the nation with three in the top 10.
>> It marks the sixth week this season the league placed three teams in the top 10, the second-longest stretch in league history:
1997-98: 7 weeks (12/23/97 - 2/3/98); 2016-17: 6 weeks (1/23/17, 2/6/17 - 3/6/17)
4 - The Pac-12 leads the country with four of the 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year Award:
>> Lonzo Ball, Fr., UCLA
>> Dillon Brooks, Jr., OREGON
>> Markelle Fultz, Fr., WASHINGTON
>> Lauri Markkanen, Fr., ARIZONA
PAC-12 TIPOFF
Pac-12 Awards Nominees & Winners
ALL-AMERICANS - Outlet (Team)
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - USA Today (1st), Sporting News (1st)
Dillon Brooks, Oregon - USA Today (1st), Sporting News (2nd)
Markelle Fultz, Washington - Sporting News (3rd)
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona - USA Today (3rd), Sporting News (3rd)
NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - USA Today
JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD
FINAL 15 NATIONAL BALLOT (announced 3/4)
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona
Dillon Brooks, Oregon
Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Markelle Fultz, Washington
>> Most selections of any conference in nation
NAISMITH TROPHY TOP 10 FINALISTS (3/1)
Lonzo Ball, UCLA
OSCAR ROBERTSON NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR TROPHY & WAYMAN TISDALE NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
MIDSEASON WATCH LISTS (announced 1/23)
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona
Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Markelle Fultz, Washington
TJ Leaf, UCLA
>> Most selections in nation
USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS
DISTRICT VIII
Kyle Kuzma, Utah
Derrick White, Colorado
DISTRICT IX
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (District Player of the Year)
Jordan Bell, Oregon
Dillon Brooks, Oregon
Markelle Fultz, Washington
TJ Leaf, UCLA
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona
Ivan Rabb, California
NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME POSITIONAL AWARDS FINALISTS (announced week of 3/6)
Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year
Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year
Bryce Alford, UCLA
Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year
Dillon Brooks, Oregon
Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona
TJ Leaf, UCLA
NABC ALLSTATE GOOD WORKS TEAM
NOMINEES
Sam Singer, California
Stephen Thompson Jr., Oregon State
LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALISTS (anncd. 2/15)
Josh Hawkinson, Washington State
DRAWING A CROWD: This season’s 108-game Pac-12 slate drew an average of 8,737 fans per game, besting the previous mark of 8,380 set during 2015-16.
EVERY GAME’S A BATTLE: Through 106 league games as of March 4:
>> Average scoring margin is 13.4 ppg.
>> 48 have been decided by single digits.
>> 16 have been decided by one possession (3 pts or less).
>> 9 decided by a team’s final possession.
>> 3 overtime games (4 total OT periods), tied for fourth fewest in Conference season since 1979.
MUST-SEE MATCHUPS: The 2016-17 Pac-12 regular season featured six clashes between ranked teams, the most in the league since 2007-08 including the seventh meeting of top-5 teams (#5 UCLA at #4 Arizona) in Conference history.
INSIDE THE POLLS: ARIZONA’s 96 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 dates back to 2013 and is the second-longest nationally behind Kansas’ streak of 160. OREGON’s stretch of 26 consecutive appearances is its longest in program history.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Seven of the 16 Pac-12 Player of the Week awards went to freshmen, tying the most in a season since the award was created in 1983, matching the seven rookie selections in 2007-08.
ARIZONA’s Sean Miller is the 21st coach in league history to reach 100 career Conference victories. His .743 winning percentage in league games (107-37) is third to only John Wooden (.810) and Lute Olson (.764) among those to reach 100 wins.
OREGON (6.8 bpg, 2nd in NCAA) is ahead of WASHINGTON’s Pac-12 single-season record block mark of 6.59 set last season.
UCLA (314) and ARIZONA STATE (309) are only the fourth and fifth teams in league history to reach 300 made three pointers in a season along with OREGON (350 in 2007), WASHINGTON (305 in 2011), and OREGON (304 in 2002).
While not on pace to break marks, UCLA’s offense has proven to be one of the most-prolific in modern Conference and Division I history as it would rank among the best of the past three-plus decades in several categories:
>> 91.3 PPG - highest in league since 1990-91 (UCLA, 92.3), highest nationally since 2008-09 (VMI, 93.8)
>> 52.6% FG - highest in league since 1995-96 (UCLA, 52.8%), highest nationally since 2006-07 (Florida, 52.6%)
>> 21.7 APG - highest in league since assists became official NCAA stat in 1983-84, highest recorded in Conference since 1979-80 (OSU, 21.7), highest nationally since 1995-96 (Kentucky, 21.8)
>> 314 3FG - 2nd-most in a season in league history
At his current clip of 23.2 points per game, WASHINGTON’s Markelle Fultz is aiming to become the first freshman to lead the league in scoring since CALIFORNIA’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 1995-96 (Conference freshman record 21.1 ppg). Fultz would be only the third freshmen to pace the league in scoring along with Abdur-Rahim and Cliff Robinson (USC, 1977-78). He’s on pace to be the first Division I player since 1997-98 to average at least 23 points, five rebounds and five assists in a season.
With 241 assists, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball has set a new Pac-12 freshman single-season assists mark and is seventh on the all-time single-season list. At 7.8 apg, he would need seven more games to break the league record of 294 set by ARIZONA STATE’s Ahlon Lewis in 1998. Ball is on pace to be the first Conference player to average at least 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a season since Jason Kidd in 1993-94.
UCLA’s Bryce Alford has entered the Pac-12 career top 10 in three-point field goals as his 317 triples (5th active in NCAA) are tied for fifth all-time. Alford’s 1,874 career points are the most among active players from Power 6 programs (17th active in NCAA) and rank 26th in Conference history.
UCLA’s Bryce Alford (104 3FG) has cracked the Conference’s single-season top 10 in made threes, currently in seventh place and 16 shy of Salim Stoudamire’s record mark of 120 set in 2005. ARIZONA STATE’s Torian Graham (98 3FG) is close behind tied for eighth.
The 55 career double-doubles for WASHINGTON STATE senior Josh Hawkinson are the highest active total in NCAA Division I. Hawkinson is also fourth among active Division I players in rebounding with 1,003 career caroms, a total which currently ranks 12th in Pac-12 history.
OREGON junior Jordan Bell (211 blocks) has moved into sixth on the Pac-12’s career blocked shots list, while COLORADO senior Wesley Gordon (200 blocks) is just behind in eighth and OREGON’s Chris Boucher (186) is five shy of the top 10.