Pac-12's Oregon Ducks soaring into Phoenix for NCAA Final Four

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE RELEASE (PDF)

#PAC12HOOPS STARTING FIVE

1 - Advancing to its first Final Four since winning the inaugural NCAA national title in 1939, OREGON is the first Pac-12 Conference member to reach the Final Four since UCLA in 2008.
>> The Ducks will look to add a 17th national championship to the Conference’s tally, which would mark the league’s first since ARIZONA in 1997 and surpass the ACC for the most of any conference.

3x30, 4x25 - For the first time in the Conference’s 101-season history, three teams reached at least 30 overall victories.
>> USC set a program record with 26 wins to give the Conference four 25-win teams in a single season for just the second time in its 101-season history (2006-07).

4 -  Four consecutive years the Pac-12 has advanced a team to the Elite Eight - the only conference in the country to accomplish the feat (2014 & 2015 - ARIZONA; 2016 & 2017 - OREGON).

10-3 - The Pac-12 owns a 10-3 record (.769) through the second week of NCAA Tournament play, tying for the fourth-most victories by Conference members in one tournament.
>> 13 wins - 2001, 1997; 11 - 1998; 10 - 2017, 2007.

33 -  OREGON’s program-record 33 victories are tied for the fourth-most in a season in Conference history.
>> 35 - Arizona (1988), UCLA (2008); 34 - Arizona (2015); 33 - Arizona (2014), Oregon (2017); 32 - UCLA (2006), Arizona (2017); 31 - UCLA (1995), Stanford (2001), Oregon (2016), UCLA (2017); 30 - 14 teams tied.

PAC-12 TIPOFF

WELCOME BACK: The NCAA Final Four returns to the West for the first time in 22 years when Pac-12 member ARIZONA STATE hosts at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., April 1 and 3. The last time the event was staged in the West was in 1995 in Seattle where UCLA won its record 11th national championship.

Fittingly for 2017 in Phoenix, and for the first time in NCAA Tournament history, two teams from the Pacific Time Zone will participate in the national semifinals as Gonzaga joins OREGON in the Final Four.

PAC-12 DANCE CARD FULL IN PHOENIX: Not only does the Pac-12 have a participant in this week’s Final Four in OREGON, but the league will be represented at several other events during the week in Phoenix.

State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships
Thursday, March 30 - GCU Arena
Bryce Alford, UCLA (Men’s 3PT)
Torian Graham, ARIZONA STATE (Men’s 3PT)
Heather Corral, WASHINGTON (Women’s 3PT)
Sydney Wiese, OREGON STATE (Women’s 3PT)

NABC Reese’s All-Star Game
Friday, March 31 - Univ. of Phoenix Stadium - CBS Sports Network
Bryce Alford, UCLA (West)
Josh Hawkinson, WASHINGTON STATE (West)
Tad Boyle, COLORADO (West Coach)

WEST COAST AP-PRECIATION: Four Pac-12 standouts were named to one of the three AP All-America Teams, which were the most selections of any conference in the country and tied for the most-ever by the Conference along with four AP All-Americans in 1975.

2017: Lonzo Ball, UCLA (1st), Dillon Brooks, ORE (2nd), Markelle Fultz, WASH (3rd), Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ (3rd)
1975: Dave Meyers, UCLA (1st); Gus Williams, USC (2nd), Lionel Hollins, ASU (3rd); Ron Lee, ORE (3rd)

Ball is the first Conference player to earn AP First Team All-America accolades since James Harden in 2009. Additionally, Ball (1st Team) and Brooks (2nd) are the first pair of Consensus All-Americans from the Conference since Brandon Roy (WASH) and Leon Powe (CAL) in 2006.

DRIVE FOR 500: OREGON (Men’s Final Four) and STANFORD (Women’s Final Four) will be vying for the Pac-12’s ninth and 10th NCAA Team National Championships of the 2016-17 academic year. Titles by the Ducks and Cardinal would be the 497th and 498th for the league all-time, putting the Conference of Champions closer to becoming the first collegiate athletic conference to reach 500 combined national team titles.

2016-17 NCAA Team Titles by Pac-12 members
(no other league has more than two, to date)
Women’s Cross Country - Oregon
Men’s Water Polo - California
Women’s Soccer - USC
Men’s Soccer - Stanford
Women’s Volleyball - Stanford
Skiiing - Utah
Women’s Indoor Track & Field - Oregon
Women’s Swimming & Diving - Stanford

NEW DAWG AND BEAR IN CHARGE: WASHINGTON has named longtime Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins its new head coach, while CALIFORNIA has elevated assistant Wyking Jones to fill its head coaching vacancy.

PAC-12 IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Pac-12 Conference has won more NCAA basketball titles (16) than all other conferences in the country save the ACC, which also owns 16 . . . Oregon’s Tall Firs won the first NCAA Championship in 1939. Stanford claimed the national title in 1942, followed by Utah in 1944 and California in 1959 . . . UCLA established a basketball dynasty that included 10 titles in 12 seasons and a winning streak of seven consecutive NCAA crowns . . . In 1997, Arizona became the sixth different Pac-12 institution to capture the NCAA basketball title.

Records of the following schools were later voided by the NCAA: UCLA (1980 ­– 5-1), OSU (1980 – 0-1, 1981 – 0-1, 1982 – 2-1), CAL (1996 – 0-1).

Note: Several current Pac-12 members competed in the NCAA Tournament while members of other conferences.  Those teams and their records are Arizona (2-3), Arizona State (7-7), Colorado (9-12), Oregon (2-2), Oregon State (5-4), Utah (35-30).

RECORD WATCH

OREGON has set a new single-season league record with 241 blocked shots, shattering the previous mark of 225 set by WASHINGTON last season.

UCLA (354) set a new Conference single-season three-pointers made mark, while ARIZONA STATE (328) and OREGON (327) joined the Bruins in becoming only the fourth, fifth and sixth teams in league history to reach 300 made three pointers in a season along with OREGON (350 in 2007, 304 in 2002) and WASHINGTON (305 in 2011).

Coming off an eight-block effort against Kansas and Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player performance, OREGON junior Jordan Bell (231 blocks) has moved into fifth on the Pac-12’s career blocked shots list. COLORADO senior Wesley Gordon (204 blocks) climbed to eighth while OREGON’s Chris Boucher (189) finishes two shy of the top 10.

With 274 assists, UCLA’s Lonzo Ball shattered the Pac-12 freshman single-season assists mark and ranks second on the all-time single-season list.

UCLA’s Bryce Alford entered the Pac-12 career top 10 in three-point field goals as his 329 triples (T4th active in NCAA) are third most all-time. Alford’s 1,922 career points are the most among players from Power 6 programs this season and rank 24th in Conference history.

UCLA’s Bryce Alford (116 3FG) and ARIZONA STATE’s Torian Graham (108 3FG) cracked the Conference’s single-season top 10 in made threes, finishing in second and seventh places, respectively.

2017 PAC-12 TOURNAMENT

Allonzo Trier was named Most Outstanding Player in helping No. 7 Arizona outlast No. 5 Oregon 83-80 on Saturday, March 11 in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game. It marked the first Conference title game between two AP top 10 opponents.

The Wildcats and Trier - who missed three of Arizona’s four losses due to a 19-game suspension - got their payback by avenging their only two regular-season league losses to UCLA and Oregon en route to a sixth tourney title and second in the last three seasons.

In the event’s first year in Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena, the tournament set records for highest-attended quarterfinal session (18,153, Session 4), highest-ever single-session attendance (19,224, Session 5), and total all-session attendance (86,910).

FIRST ROUND
#8 ARIZONA STATE 98, #9 STANFORD 88 (OT)
#5 CALIFORNIA 67, #12 OREGON STATE 62
#7 COLORADO 73, #10 WASHINGTON STATE 63
#6 USC 78, #11 WASHINGTON 73

QUARTERFINALS
#1 OREGON 80, #8 ARIZONA STATE 57
#5 CALIFORNIA 78, #4 UTAH 75
#2 ARIZONA 92, #7 COLORADO 78
#3 UCLA 76, #6 USC 74

SEMIFINALS
#1 OREGON 73, #5 CALIFORNIA 65
#2 ARIZONA 86, #3 UCLA 75

CHAMPIONSHIP
#2 ARIZONA 83, #1 OREGON 80

2017 PAC-12 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Torian Graham, ARIZONA STATE
Derrick White, COLORADO
Dillon Brooks, OREGON
Tyler Dorsey, OREGON​
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZONA
Allonzo Trier, ARIZONA - Most Outstanding Player

2016-17 PAC-12 AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Dillon Brooks, OREGON
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Lonzo Ball, UCLA
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jordan Bell, OREGON
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Chimezie, Metu, USC
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Josh Hawkinson, WSU
COACH OF THE YEAR: Sean Miller, ARIZONA

ALL-PAC-12 FIRST TEAM

** two-time All-Pac-12 First Team honoree

ALL-PAC-12 SECOND TEAM

Honorable Mention (receiving at least three votes): Jabari Bird (CAL, Sr., G), Chris Boucher (ORE, Sr., F), Tyler Dorsey (ORE, So., G), Drew Eubanks (OSU, So., F), Torian Graham (ASU, Sr., G), Jordan McLaughlin (USC, Jr., G), Thomas Welsh (UCLA, Jr., F)

PAC-12 ALL-FRESHMEN TEAM

Honorable Mention (receiving at least three votes): Malachi Flynn (WSU, G), Charlie Moore (CAL, G)

PAC-12 ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

** two-time All-Defensive Team honoree

Honorable Mention (receiving at least three votes): Lonzo Ball (UCLA, Fr., G), Aaron Holiday (UCLA, So., G), Kyle Kuzma (UTAH, Jr., F), De’Anthony Melton (USC, Fr., G), Kingsley Okoroh (CAL, Jr., C)

PAC-12 AWARDS NOMINEES & WINNERS

ALL-AMERICANS - OUTLET (TEAM)
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - Unanimous Consensus First Team All-American: USA Today (1st), NABC (1st), Sporting News (1st), USBWA (1st), Wooden Award (1st), Associated Press (1st)
Dillon Brooks, Oregon - Consensus Second Team All-American: USA Today (1st), NABC (2nd), Sporting News (2nd), USBWA (2nd), Wooden Award (2nd), Associated Press (2nd)
Markelle Fultz, Washington - NABC (3rd), Sporting News (3rd), Associated Press (3rd)
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona - USA Today (3rd), NABC (3rd), Sporting News (3rd), Associated Press (3rd)

NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - USA Today, USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award

JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD TOP 5 FINALISTS (ann. 3/25)
Lonzo Ball, UCLA

NAISMITH TROPHY TOP 4 FINALISTS (ann. 3/19) 
Lonzo Ball, UCLA

OSCAR ROBERTSON NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR TROPHY FINALIST (announced 3/13)
Lonzo Ball, UCLA

LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALISTS (ann. 2/15)
Josh Hawkinson, Washington State

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