Oregon's Final Four run punctuates strong postseason for Pac-12
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2017 #PAC12HOOPS HIGHLIGHTS
1 - OREGON’s trip to the Final Four gave the Conference its first entry since 2008 and marked the first time in NCAA Tournament history that two teams from the Pacific Time Zone, along with Gonzaga, participated in the national semifinals.
3 - Three Pac-12 teams finished the season ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls in #9/3 OREGON, #4/7 ARIZONA and #8/9 UCLA.
>> For the first time since the start of the USA Today Coaches postseason poll in 1994, three Conference teams concluded the season in the top 10.
>> The league placed three teams in the AP top 10 for seven weeks in 2016-17, equaling the longest stretch in league history: 1997-98 (12/23/97 - 2/3/98); 2016-17 (1/23/17, 2/6/17 - 3/13/17).
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).
>> The Pac-12 also had mulitple Sweet 16 participants for the fourth time in the last five years.
10-4 - The Pac-12 posted a 10-4 record (.714) during the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the second-best win percentage (WCC - .750) and third-most victories of any conference (ACC & SEC - 11).
>> The 10 tourney victories were the most for the league since 2007 and tied for fourth-most ever in Conference history (13 - 2001, 1997; 11 - 1998; 10 - 2017, 2007).
PAC-12 TIPOFF
30-WIN TRIO: OREGON’s program-record 33 victories were tied for the fourth-most in a season in Conference history, while ARIZONA and UCLA also recorded win totals in the top 10 in league annals.
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.
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 AP ALL-AMERICANS
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (1st Team)
Dillon Brooks, ORE (2nd)
Markelle Fultz, WASH (3rd)
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ (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.
A KIDD NAMED BALL: UCLA’s Lonzo Ball was named the USBWA Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Year. He’s the third Conference player to receive the organization’s honor along with CALIFORNIA’s Jason Kidd in 1993 and ARIZONA’s Jason Gardner in 2000.
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 from a 2007-08 campaign that featured the likes of future NBA lottery picks Jerryd Bayless, James Harden, Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo.
DRAWING A CROWD: This season’s 108-game Pac-12 regular-season late drew an average of 8,737 fans per game, besting the previous Pac-12 mark of 8,380 set during 2015-16.
MUST-SEE MATCHUPS: The 2016-17 Pac-12 season featured eight 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.
RECORD WATCH
OREGON set a new single-season league record with 248 blocked shots, shattering the previous mark of 225 set by WASHINGTON last season.
UCLA recorded the highest team assist average (21.4 apg) in the Conference since assists became an official NCAA statistic in 1983-84. UCLA’s 771 total assists are the most recorded in league history.
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 threes in a season.
UCLA’s 1,210 made field goals eclipsed the previous record of 1,161 set by the Bruins’ 1968 team.
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.
With a new Conference freshman-record 23.2 points per game, WASHINGTON’s Markelle Fultz became the first freshman to lead the league in scoring since CALIFORNIA’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 1995-96. Fultz is only the third freshman to pace the league in scoring along with Abdur-Rahim and Cliff Robinson (USC, 1977-78).
UCLA’s Bryce Alford entered the Pac-12 career top 10 in three-point field goals as his 329 triples are third-most all-time. Alford’s 1,922 career points 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.
OREGON junior Jordan Bell (235 blocks) moved into fifth on the Pac-12’s career blocked shots list, while COLORADO senior Wesley Gordon (204 blocks) climbed to eighth.
WASHINGTON STATE’s Josh Hawkinson became only the 13th member of the Pac-12 1,000-reobund club, climbing to 12th with 1,015 caroms.
2017 PAC-12 POSTSEASON SCHEDULE & RESULTS
| Tues., March 14 | NIT First Round | #8 CSU Bakersfield 73, #1 CALIFORNIA 66 | Berkeley, Calif. |
| NIT First Round | #6 Boise State 73, #3 UTAH 68 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| Wed., March 15 | NIT First Round | #4 UCF 79, #5 COLORADO 74 | Orlando, Fla. |
| NCAA First Four | #11 USC 75, #11 Providence 71 | Dayton, Ohio | |
| Thurs., March 16 | NCAA First Round | #2 ARIZONA 100, #15 North Dakota 82 | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Fri., March 17 | NCAA First Round | #3 OREGON 93, #14 Iona 77 | Sacramento, Calif. |
| NCAA First Round | #11 USC 66, #6 SMU 65 | Tulsa, Okla. | |
| NCAA First Round | #3 UCLA 97, #14 Kent State 80 | Sacramento, Calif. | |
| Sat., March 18 | NCAA Second Round | #2 ARIZONA 69, #7 St. Mary’s 60 | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Sun., March 19 | NCAA Second Round | #3 OREGON 75, #11 Rhode Island 72 | Sacramento, Calif. |
| NCAA Second Round | #3 UCLA 79, #6 Cincinnati 67 | Sacramento, Calif. | |
| NCAA Second Round | #3 Baylor 82, #11 USC 78 | Tulsa, Okla. | |
| Thurs., March 23 | NCAA West Regional Semifinal | #11 Xavier 73, #2 ARIZONA 71 | San Jose, Calif. |
| NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal | #3 OREGON 69, #7 Michigan 68 | Kansas City, Mo. | |
| Fri., March 24 | NCAA South Regional Semifinal | #2 Kentucky 86, #3 UCLA 75 | Memphis, Tenn. |
| Sat., March 25 | NCAA Midwest Regional Final | #3 OREGON 74, #1 Kansas 60 | Kansas City, Mo. |
| Sat., April 1 | NCAA National Semifinal | #1 North Carolina 77, #3 OREGON 76 | Glendale, Ariz. |
PAC-12 AWARDS NOMINEES & WINNERS
CONSENSUS ALL-AMERICA
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 2nd Team
ASSOCIATED PRESS ALL-AMERICA
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 2nd Team
Markelle Fultz, WASH - 3rd Team
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ - 3rd Team
TJ Leaf, UCLA - HM
USBWA ALL-AMERICA
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 2nd Team
NABC ALL-AMERICA
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 2nd Team
Markelle Fultz, WASH - 3rd Team
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ - 3rd Team
THE SPORTING NEWS ALL-AMERICA
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 2nd Team
Markelle Fultz, WASH - 3rd Team
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ - 3rd Team
NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - NABC, USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award, Sporting News, USA Today, and CBSSports.com
JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (Top 5 Finalist)
Dillon Brooks, ORE (National Ballot)
Markelle Fultz, WASH (National Ballot)
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ (National Ballot)
TJ Leaf, UCLA (Midseason Top 25)
NAISMITH TROPHY
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (Final 4 Finalist)
USBWA OSCAR ROBERTSON TROPHY
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (Top 5 Finalist)
Markelle Fultz, WASH (Midseason Watch List)
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ (Midseason Watch List)
TJ Leaf, UCLA (Midseason Watch List)
NCAA ALL-MIDWEST REGIONAL TEAM
Jordan Bell, ORE (Most Outstanding Player)
Dillon Brooks, ORE
Tyler Dorsey, ORE
USBWA ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (District IX Player of the Year)
Jordan Bell, ORE (IX)
Dillon Brooks, ORE (IX)
Markelle Fultz, WASH (IX)
Kyle Kuzma, UTAH (VIII)
TJ Leaf, UCLA (IX)
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ (IX)
Ivan Rabb, CAL (IX)
Derrick White, COLO (VIII)
NABC ALL-DISTRICT 20
Lonzo Ball, UCLA - 1st Team
Dillon Brooks, ORE - 1st Team
Ivan Rabb, CAL - 1st Team
Markelle Fultz, WASH - 1st Team
Lauri Markkanen, ARIZ - 1st Team
TJ Leaf, UCLA - 2nd Team
Kyle Kuzma, UTAH - 2nd Team
Reid Travis, STAN - 2nd Team
Josh Hawkinson, WSU - 2nd Team
Derrick White, COLO - 2nd Team
Sean Miller, ARIZ - Coach of the Year
NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME POSITIONAL AWARDS
Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year
Lonzo Ball, UCLA (Finalist)
Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year
Bryce Alford, UCLA (Finalist)
Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year
Dillon Brooks, Oregon (Finalist)
Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Lauri Markkanen, Arizona (Finalist)
TJ Leaf, UCLA (Finalist)
LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Josh Hawkinson, WSU - 1st Team
NABC ALLSTATE GOOD WORKS TEAM
NOMINEES
Sam Singer, California
Stephen Thompson Jr., Oregon State
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
| Bryce Alford | UCLA | G | Sr. | 6-3 | 185 |
| Lonzo Ball | UCLA | G | Fr. | 6-6 | 190 |
| Dillon Brooks** | ORE | F | Jr. | 6-7 | 225 |
| Markelle Fultz | WASH | G | Fr. | 6-4 | 195 |
| Kyle Kuzma | UTAH | F | Jr. | 6-9 | 221 |
| TJ Leaf | UCLA | F | Fr. | 6-10 | 225 |
| Lauri Markkanen | ARIZ | F | Fr. | 7-0 | 230 |
| Ivan Rabb | CAL | F | So. | 6-11 | 220 |
| Reid Travis | STAN | F | Jr. | 6-8 | 245 |
| Derrick White | COLO | G | Sr. | 6-5 | 200 |
** two-time All-Pac-12 First Team honoree
ALL-PAC-12 SECOND TEAM
| Kadeem Allen | ARIZ | G | R-Sr. | 6-3 | 205 |
| Jordan Bell | ORE | F | Jr. | 6-9 | 225 |
| Josh Hawkinson | WSU | F | Sr. | 6-10 | 230 |
| Chimezie Metu | USC | F | So. | 6-11 | 225 |
| Allonzo Trier | ARIZ | G | So. | 6-5 | 205 |
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
| Rawle Alkins | ARIZ | G | 6-5 | 220 |
| Lonzo Ball | UCLA | G | 6-6 | 190 |
| Markelle Fultz | WASH | G | 6-4 | 195 |
| TJ Leaf | UCLA | F | 6-10 | 225 |
| Lauri Markkanen | ARIZ | F | 7-0 | 230 |
Honorable Mention (receiving at least three votes): Malachi Flynn (WSU, G), Charlie Moore (CAL, G)
PAC-12 ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
| Kadeem Allen | ARIZ | G | R-Sr. | 6-3 | 205 |
| Marcus Allen | STAN | G | Sr. | 6-3 | 190 |
| Jordan Bell | ORE | F | Jr. | 6-9 | 225 |
| Chris Boucher** | ORE | F | Sr. | 6-10 | 200 |
| Derrick White | COLO | G | Sr. | 6-5 | 200 |
** 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)