Oregon State lost to Washington and almost lost again to WSU, but it made up for those by defeating ASU. They will go into the Pac-12 tournament as the team to beat.
Despite losing three of its last seven games, ASU has played well overall. Two losses came against OSU and the third was a heartbreaking buzzer-beater off an offensive rebound against California.
With the return of sophomore forward Courtney Range, Cal won eight in a row, including a victory over ASU, before being upset by USC. The upcoming weekend against Stanford will be telling in if Cal has regained its preseason expectations.
Stanford is 0-2 against ASU by a combined four points. If they had changed two possessions, or made three layups that they missed, they would be No. 2 in the power rankings. Instead, they lost to ASU and Arizona.
Washington’s last two weeks have been wildly inconsistent. The Huskies were destroyed by Cal and Stanford before handing OSU its first (and only, to date) Pac-12 loss of the year. The next weekend, Washington lost to Utah.
WSU has already gone through three gut-wrenching losses in February: a three-point loss to Cal, a one-point loss to Oregon, and then a five-point loss to OSU in which the Cougars led by 16 early. They’re in the middle of the Pac-12 but could be a serious contender come tournament time.
Oregon has quietly been playing very well lately; the Ducks have won four of their last six games, including a victory over WSU. Junior forward Jillian Alleyne is a smidgen behind the NCAA leading rebounder and is a top-30 field goal shooter.
USC’s victory over Cal leapfrogged the Trojans over UCLA. USC’s defense has been strong: The only teams that have scored at least 70 points on them are Stanford and OSU.
UCLA has been consistently mediocre. The Bruins defeat the teams they’re expected to and haven’t had any true upsets this season. They’re 2-0 against USC, but that’s the strongest team that the Bruins have defeated.
Colorado, on the other hand, upset WSU after losing to both UC schools the weekend before. Colorado held the Cougars to just 51 points off 33 percent shooting.
The Wildcats have two Pac-12 victories this season. One was an overtime victory against Oregon. The other was an upset over the Stanford Cardinal where senior guard Candice Warthen broke out for 19 points.
A victory over Washington isn’t as impressive as Arizona’s over Stanford, even if the Utes are 1-0 against Arizona, too.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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