There is no clear favorite in the Pac-12 tournament. Any number of teams could win the four-day tournament being held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Last year Colorado won as the sixth seed, proving that you don’t have to be a top seed to win it all.

While any team could win, UCLA is a forerunner, after winning the regular season title and getting the No.1 seed in the tournament. The regular season came down to the wire with four teams being in contention for the top seed.

Along with the Bruins, Cal, Oregon and Arizona all had a chance to win the regular season, but the other three ended the regular season one game behind. Any of these teams have a chance to win along with No.5 seed Colorado or any other sleeper team.

Cal is coming into the Pac-12 tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country winning seven in a row before losing their final game to Stanford. Cal got the No. 2 seed and has the Pac-12 player of the year, Allen Crabbe, on their team. They also have the easiest path to the finals as well not having to play UCLA, Arizona or Colorado until the championship.

Oregon is limping into the tournament losing three of their last five to end the regular season, including a 23-point loss to the Buffs. Oregon had been ranked since Jan. 21 until the end of the season. Despite all of that, Oregon maintained the No. 3 seed and a bye in the first round. The Ducks looked really good for a big portion of the season but have faltered lately and could be a candidate to get upset early in the tournament.

Arizona has been the favorite all season long and was the favorite to win the Pac-12 in the pre-season as well. They were the only team in the Pac-12 to be ranked every week of the season. After a late run by UCLA which had them winning five of their last six,  Arizona fell to the No. 4 seed and will have a tough time getting to the Pac-12 finals. Arizona will most likely have to go through both Colorado and UCLA.

The last of the serious contenders is Colorado who had a hot and cold conference schedule but showed flashes of brilliance. The Buffs also at times looked less than stellar though, so only time will tell which Buffs team shows up in Vegas. After losing to them in the regular season finale, the Buffs will take on Oregon State in the first round of the tournament and will be looking for revenge. Andre Roberson will be back for the tournament, which is good news as he was the Pac-12 defensive player of the year. Roberson missed the final two games of the regular season with a viral illness.

Arizona State or Washington could be dark horses in the tournament. Arizona State’s Jahii Carson was Pac-12 co-Freshman of the Year this year and could have a big tournament. They have the most to gain in the tournament as they are on the bubble to get in the NCAA tournament. If the Sun Devils can have a good showing in the Pac-12 tournament they could punch their ticket to March Madness.

Washington is the No.6 seed and has the easiest road to travel of all teams that didn’t get a bye. The Huskies only have to beat Washington State and Oregon to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. After going 17-14 this year and winning four of their last six, Washington could make some noise in the tournament. After all a six seed did win last year. As we have seen this year every game is up for grabs in the Pac-12. No team is safe and it will be one of the hardest conference tournaments to predict this year. Anything can happen and any team could win. As of now most experts have five teams from the Pac-12 going to the NCAA tournament. We could see more than that if one of the lower seeded teams has a good showing, just as Colorado did last year, which would make this tournament of the utmost importance.

Contact Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu.

In this week’s edition of the CUI Sports Podcast, reporters Scott Annis and Charlie Barkmeier discuss Buffs men’s and women’s basketball teams, Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche, and the World Baseball Classic.

Men’s Basketball

In the past week the men’s basketball team won a big game against the No. 19 University of Oregon Ducks 76-53. The win was one of the most lopsided victories against any ranked team this season. The Buffs followed it up with a disappointing loss against the Oregon State Beavers though 64-58. The Beavers are in last place in the Pac-12 making the loss one of the worst of the season for the Buffs. They will have a chance to avenge the loss as the two teams play again in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament. Andre Roberson was named Pac-12 defensive player of the year as well as to the all-conference team. Spencer Dinwiddie joins him on the all-conference team.

(Josh Shettler/CU Independent Graphic)

Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball Pac-12 tournament has already come and gone. The Buffs accomplished exactly what was expected of them. After getting the No. 4 seed in the first round, the Buffs beat Washington by 11 points in the second round. The Buffs were the higher seed and beat the Huskies just as they were favored. The semifinals proved difficult for the Buffs however as they had to play the top seed, Stanford. The Buffs led at halftime but proved to be no match for the No. 4 nationally ranked Cardinals, as they lost 61-47. The Buffs will have two weeks to rest as they get ready for the NCAA tournament. Arielle Roberson was named Pac-12 freshman of the year. Chucky Jeffrey was named to the all-conference team.

Tennis

The CU tennis team had a strong showing against No. 27 Arizona State this week but still lost 4-2. Junior Winde Janssens got her first win against a ranked opponent. This pointed towards good things for the Buffs, as just days later the secured their first Pac-12 victory against the University of Arizona 4-2. It was the first conference win for the Buffs in nearly two years. The Buffs record now stands at .500 at 6-6. The Buffs next five matches will all be on the road and four will be Pac-12 matches.

Skiing

It was a great week for the CU ski team as they clinched their 19th national championship and the schools 25th. It was also the second time the Buffs have won the skiing title in the last three years. The national championship was held in Vermont, making it the ninth title the Buffs have won in the east nearly equaling the 10 they have won in the west. The Buffs came back from a 54-point deficit to clinch the victory in the Nordic Freestyle events with a win and two runner ups. Utah took second with Vermont coming in third. This is head coach Richard Rokos’ seventh national title, tying him with legendary Bill Marolt who won seven straight in the 70’s.

Track and Field

The Buffs sent three members of the track team to the indoor national championships. Senior Emma Coburn, senior Aric Van Halen, and senior Joe Morris all traveled to Fayetteville, Ark. to compete in different events. Morris missed getting to the finals of the 60-meter race as he placed only fifth in his heat. He placed 11th overall. Van Halen placed 14th overall in the men’s 3,000 meter run. He earned second team All American honors for his race. Van Halen started well but fell off with about 1,000 meters left in the race. The real star of the event was Coburn who won the national championship for the mile. This was the first national championship in the indoor mile for CU. Her time was the seventh fastest ever for an NCAA runner. Coburn led for almost the entire race to claim her second championship. She was the 2011 3,000-meter steeplechase champion, but this is her first indoor championship.

Men’s Golf

The men’s golf team had one of their best showings of the year as they won the Bandon Dunes Championship in Bandon Oregon. The Buffs were two under par for the tournament and were the only school under par as Fresno State came in second at three over par. The Buffs were in first or second place throughout the entire tournament. Two weeks ago the Buffs placed last in a tournament and it is the first time the Buffs have gone from worst to first in back-to-back tournaments ever. Eight teams were ranked higher than the No. 79 Buffs this week including No. 3 Washington. The Buffs have now won two tournaments this year, their first two since 2008 and only the fourth time they have ever won multiple tournaments in a year.

Women’s Golf

In Mesa, Ariz. this week the women’s golf team didn’t have as much luck as the men, as they placed only 10^th in the Notre Dame Clover Cup out of 16 teams. The Buffs finished 49 over par for the weekend after a 16 over par showing on the final day. The Buffs have finished in the top ten three times this season. No. 5 Oklahoma won the even by 18 strokes. Jennifer Coleman led the Buffs and finished in 15^th place. The Buffs have a couple weeks off and before playing in Maui, Hawaii for the Anuenue Spring Break Challenge at The Bay Course at Kapalua starting on March 25.

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu

A slow shooting start has the Buffs basketball team down three early in Palo Alto, Calif. Against the Cardinal the Buffs are shooting only 25%. At the same time they are letting the Cardinal shoot 46 percent.

The Buffs leading scorer is Spencer Dinwiddie with six points. Chasson Randle has five points for Stanford. The Cardinal had built a 10 point lead at one point but the Buffs started coming back cutting the score to 17–14.

The Buffs are trying to win their eighth game of their last ten and their 19th overall. After losing to Arizona State and beating Utah last week the Buffs are on a Calif. road trip playing at Stanford and at Cal.

The Cardinal has turned the ball over five times but Colorado hasn’t made enough shots to take advantage of the mistakes. If the Buffs are going to have any shot at winning this game they need to start making shots, especially Askia Booker who is still without a point in the game.

UPDATED:

At halftime the Cardinal lead the Buffs by one point 32–31. The Buffs came back from a poor start in which they were down by as many as 10. The only time the Buffs led was at 2–0.

The Buffs shot only 37.9 percent  from the field and Spencer Dinwiddie led all Buff scorers with 10 points. Andre Roberson had eight points and five rebounds, well on his way to his 37th career double double.

Jeremy Adams has proven valuable off the bench scoring seven points, which has been helpful as Askia Booker didn’t have a point in the first half, missing all five of the shots he took. Adams hit the Buffs only  3–pointer as they went 1–8 from behind the arc. This is CU’s 358th straight game with a 3–pointer.

In the first half the Buffs hit eight of their nine free throws which has been an issue at times this season for the Buffs. They will need to continue to shoot at a high percentage from the charity stripe if they want to pull ahead in the second half against the Cardinal.

Stanford’s Chasson Randle has 10 points to lead all Cardinal scorers. Josh Huestis has only two points in the game but is controlling the boards with seven rebounds. Huestis is out-rebounding the top rebounder in the nation in Roberson.

Cardinal guard Aaron Bright has four assists compared to the Buffs who as a team have only two. The Buffs need to spread the ball around and play more of a team game.

The game is back and forth, with both teams needing an in conference win. If this continues the game will come down to the wire and make for exciting basketball.

UPDATED:

The Buffs started slow in the second half just as they did in the first half. The Cardinal went on a 11–2 run to start the second half but the  Buffs answered with an 8–0 run of their own starting with 14:45 left in the game.

The Cardinal lead 45–44 with 10 minutes left in the game.

Stanford led by as many as 10 in the second half but after a seven minute stretch with only three points, Xavier Johnson hit a floater in the lane. This ignited something in Dinwiddie as he quickly made five points on back to back buckets to bring the game within two points.

Dinwiddie leads all scorers with 15 points. The Buffs are still shooting only 21 percent from 3–point  range as they are 3 of 13. The Cardinal have hit seven from behind the arc and are shooting 50% from downtown.

The Buffs haven’t led in the game since they were up 2–0 at the beginning of the game. They have started to put something together though, and look to be putting a scare in the Cardinal who looked to be putting the game away as they built their lead to ten.

FINAL UPDATE:

After being down most of the game the Buffs finally pulled away in the second half and after withstanding a comeback beat the Cardinal 65–63. The Buffs won both games against the cardinal this year.

The Cardinal (16–13, 7–9) led by as many as 10 early in the second half but the Buffs (19–8,9–6) didn’t give up. After coming back the Buffs led by as many as six but couldn’t let down their guard as the Cardinal came back and made a game of it.

With 26 seconds left in the game Spencer Dinwiddie made a dunk to put the Buffs up four but had a bad technical foul which could have brought the game to one possession but Aaron Bright missed one of the technical free throws. The Buffs were then up three and after two free throws by Andre Roberson the Buffs led by five.

A quick three pointer by the Cardinal had them within two, and after a missed free throw by Dinwiddie Stanford had one more chance with 2.4 seconds left in the game. The Cardinal got a good look as Dwight Powell had a dunk, but it came after the buzzer and the game was over.

Free throws have been a problem area for the Buffs all season and it almost cost them the game tonight. They will need to get better from the line if they expect to make any noise in the conference tournament or the NCAA tournament.

This is the first time since 2001 the Buffs have won three straight in–conference road games. Roberson led all scorers with 24 points and forward Andy Brown led all Stanford scorers with 17.

After starting slow in both halves the buffs ended the game with a better shooting percentage than the Cardinal 42.9 percent to 39. The Buffs still had a problem with the 3–point shot on both ends of the floor. CU shot only 22.2 percent while giving up 47.4 percent to the Cardinal.

The Buffs final road game is Saturday against Cal. In their first meeting the Buffs beat the Bears in boulder by 10. The Buffs return home to Boulder for their final two games against the two Oregon teams next week.

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu.

In this week’s edition of the CUI Sports Podcast, reporters Scott Annis and Charlie Barkmeier discuss Buffs men’s and women’s basketball teams, the athletic renovations, the NFL combine, the NBA, Oscar Pistorius and Danica Patrick.

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu and Staff Writer Charlie Barkmeier at Charles.barkmeier@colorado.edu.

See what people were talking about on social media during Sunday’s All-Star basketball game. Trends include Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Chris Paul, who led the two star teams. The west won for the third straight year.

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu

In this week’s episode of the Sports Podcast, reporters Scott Annis and Charlie Barkmeier discuss Buffs men’s and women’s basketball, the National Basketball Association All-Star game, and whether or not the C-Unit should have rushed the court after the Arizona game.

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu and Staff Writer Charlie Barkmeier at Charles.barkmeier@colorado.edu.