Roundup: Oregon women's basketball controls destiny after instant classic

What a game in Eugene Monday night. Oregon women’s basketball outlasted UCLA 101-94 in overtime, and GoDucks.com editor Rob Moseley notes that Oregon controls its destiny for the Pac-12 regular season title in his game story. The Ducks round out the regular season with a two-game trip to the Arizona schools.

During the loss to the Ducks, UCLA guard Jordin Canada became the Pac-12’s all-time assists leader, surpassing Sonja Henning’s mark of 757 (she played at Stanford). She now has 765 career assists.

One of the, how should we say, oddest stories to come out of the 2018 Winter Olympics is how Elizabeth Swaney’s qualified for the Olympics in women’s halfpipe skiing (CBS Sports). The short of it is this – Swaney, a Cal grad and East Bay native, showed up at a bunch of international events and did very basic runs so she wouldn’t fall, slowly scoring points to work her way up the rankings (she skied for Hungary, where her grandparents were born). Here’s her qualifying run in Pyeongchang; it’s hilarious how serious the broadcasters take her, and her raising her hands in triumph at the end is awesome. Oh, and you have to check out her highlight video on YouTube, made back in 2015 to start her campaign to represent Hungary in the Olympics. It’s the funniest thing ever. Elizabeth Swaney is my hero.

Stanford is the No. 16 overall seed in the latest NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee top 16 rankings, meaning that if the tournament started today, the Cardinal would be a No. 4 seed and potentially have a rematch with top-ranked UConn in the Sweet 16.

Nick Madrigal was unstoppable on Monday for the No. 2 Oregon State baseball team, going 4 for 4 with a pair of RBIs in Monday's 15-3 win over New Mexico to help the Beavs move to 4-0 on the year (The Oregonian).

After dropping a pair of contests to the Washington schools this past weekend, the Buffs men's basketball team has its sights set on the Pac-12 Conference Tournament title. Pat Rooney details coach Tad Boyle's thoughts on his team reaching The Big Dance and how he doesn't want to think about the NIT just yet.

Bruce Pascoe points out that Arizona men’s basketball is two wins away from making Dusan Ristic the winningest player in program history. At 109, he is one behind both 2016-17 Oklahoma City Blue legend Kaleb Tarczewski and our very own Matt Muehlebach.

Go figure – Utah gymnastics dropped one spot to No. 4 after a huge victory over No. 2 UCLA over the weekend (The Salt Lake Tribune). Of course, it’s all about the team score and not the wins and losses in gymnastics, but still kinda crazy to think about.

Washington softball is now 12-0 after a pair of eight-run wins over Lamar Monday in Texas (The Seattle Times). The Dawgs have shut out nine opponents already and Kirstyn Thomas leads the NCAA with eight home runs and 23 RBI.

From the end of last week – Washington State football has added a home-and-home with Kansas for 2027 (Pullman) and 2028 (Lawrence). Hopefully the Jayhawks will be good by then. Michael Preston of CougCenter has more in the link.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports believes that Arizona State men’s basketball is a team that didn’t make the NCAAs last year that could make some noise in March this year.

Barton Simmons of CBS Sports considers USC linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator Johnny Nansen one of the 10 best recruiters of the 2018 recruiting cycle.