Time flies and it is now early March. After two months of competition, the Pac10 regular season has come to an end, and the league's internal rankings have also been released.
1. Arizona State University (16 wins, 2 losses)
2. University of Washington (14 wins and 4 losses)
3. UCLA (13 wins and 5 losses)
4. University of California, Berkeley (11 wins, 7 losses)
5. University of Arizona (9 wins and 9 losses)
6. Washington State University (8 wins, 10 losses)
7. Oregon State University (7 wins, 11 losses)
8. Stanford University (6 wins and 12 losses)
End of season: Oh no, the Devils have truly become the leader of the Pac10 league.
However, this result is not surprising, because this team has demonstrated its strength since the opening game of the invitational tournament.
Whether in core ability or game experience, they have reached this level, and the lack of key talents has been alleviated to the greatest extent under Sandek's rotation adjustments.
The regular season is over, and the league playoffs will begin immediately.
Arizona State University's first-round opponent is Stanford University.
Last season, Stanford was the second-ranked team in the Pac10 league, but after the Lopez brothers left, they didn't even recruit a single four-star high school student this season. The people in the admissions office were like masters of slacking off, and the team's strength plummeted.
Facing this opponent from last season's semi-finals, they led by double digits at halftime and eventually won easily to advance to the semi-finals.
Their semifinal opponent is the University of Arizona.
The Wildcats failed to get revenge after being beaten badly by the Devils last season. At the end of the season, Bayless "ran" to the NBA, and the trident was left with only Budinger and Hill, and their strength was greatly reduced.
Facing this mortal enemy, the Devil's team naturally showed no mercy and eventually defeated their opponent 86 to 56, adding another colorful chapter to the history of grievances between the two teams.
It’s worth mentioning that this score was exactly the score that Bayless wanted to beat the Devils by.
It turns out that as long as you run fast, you don’t have to go through the trough with the team.
In the final, Arizona State University's opponent was the University of Washington, which was ranked second in the regular season.
The University of Washington is not a powerful school. It was ranked third from the bottom in the league last season and has not been able to recruit any four-star players in the new season.
However, the addition of one person made their strength soar, that is, “the strongest 175cm on earth” Thomas.
Because of his height, Thomas failed to become a four-star high school student, but he played a freshman season at the University of Washington that slapped everyone in the face.
He averaged 15.5 points, 3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, leading the team in scoring and assists, and leading the team to rank second in the league, ahead of UCLA.
Apart from being short, he is almost omnipotent, with top-notch jumping ability, lightning-fast breakthroughs, and stable outside shooting. He also has a tough character and a big heart, making him a natural leader.
Of course, Xu Yong was not surprised at all by Thomas' performance.
Because there may be all kinds of fake players in the NBA, but the small guys who can enter the NBA and leave their footprints, such as "The Worm" Bogues and Isaiah Thomas, cannot be weak.
The Devils had a tough time in this final. There was nothing wrong with their offense, but they really had no way to deal with Thomas.
Because Thomas is so fast, especially his first step is as fast as lightning, no one on the Devils team can keep up.
Although he is short, his organizational ability is not weak at all. He can always pass the ball to his teammates in time when encountering help defense.
This game was a bit like the one against Memphis in last season's championship game.
But unlike that game, the Devils were the ultimate winners.
It wasn't that they finally found a way to defend Thomas, but that they won the offense.
Harden and Xu Yong both scored over 20 points, DeRozan and Ayers also scored 16 points and 14 points respectively.
Four players scored 70+ points. They were very precise in their attacks last season, but this season they were directly covered with firepower.
After winning the league championship and holding up that small championship trophy, their expectations, or ambitions, were also raised.
"Xu, now we have a chance to compete for that bigger trophy, right?" Albert asked Xu Yong again with a smile.
The bigger trophy, of course, is the league championship.
This time Xu Yong nodded.
Compared to the beginning of the season, they do have this possibility now.
Two days after the league finals, all the Devils players sat in front of the TV again to watch the divisional game.
In the same scene, except for DeRozan who looked a little nervous, everyone else was relatively relaxed.
After all, you’ll only be nervous the first time you do something, but once you get used to it, it will be easy.
What’s more important is that they are absolutely confident in their own strength this season. Even if they are placed in the same division as North Carolina, they will not be at all at a disadvantage.
Xu Yong didn't know where he got the melon seeds, peanuts and mineral water, and the group of people drank them while waiting.
This year's divisions came faster than in previous years. Soon, the divisions for the East, Central and West, and South districts were all completed, leaving only the last West district.
Because it was the last zone, there were commercials in the middle.
"By the way, why is there no North District?" DeRozan couldn't help but ask curiously.
As a "virgin" who has never played in a tournament, he is inevitably curious about this division.
In fact, Xu Yong was also curious about this at first, but he figured it out later.
"Have you heard of northern melon?" Xu Yong asked.
DeRozan was stunned, then shook his head, as if there was indeed no pumpkin!
Xu Yong smiled. Actually, there was no official explanation as to why there was no North District.
If we have to delve deeper, it's probably population.
If you include Canada, the largest state in the northern United States, into the NCAA territory, then the Northern Division will naturally exist.
"The seeding rankings of our league teams are relatively low this year." Harden found the highlight.
Xu Yong cracked some melon seeds and recalled it. It seemed to be true. The second-ranked Washington State was only the fourth seed in the South Region.
Although the Pac10 Conference still has six teams qualified for the tournament this year, it is obvious that the NCAA organizing committee is not optimistic about the strength of the Pac10 Conference this year.
"It won't be lower than last year." Xu Yong said in a firm tone.
His words made the team members nod their heads one after another, and then they started cracking melon seeds with peace of mind.
Although I don’t know the reason, most of Xu Yong’s words have been proven to be correct, and he will definitely be right this time.
[What Xu Yong said is right], this has become their habitual thinking.
Xu Yong certainly did not just come up with this comment without any reasoning, because after observing this division for two consecutive years, he could roughly draw a conclusion: these people on the NCAA organizing committee are really not just there to do nothing.
UCLA's record last season was not necessarily as good as the other three championship contenders, but the content and strength presented in the game were visible, so they were still the No. 1 seed in the division in the end, and they deserved their seeding by reaching the semi-finals.
In fact, the Big Three is prone to upsets, but that is standard "survivor bias". More often than not, the tournament is a process of the big fish eating the small fish. Last season, those who made it to the semi-finals were all the top seeds in their respective divisions.
The game content presented by Arizona State University this season is similar to that of UCLA last season.
Because the University of Connecticut is not divided into zones, they may not necessarily become the No. 1 seed, but they will most likely be No. 2.
Shortly after Xu Yong finished speaking, the division of the last district, the West District, began.
The players' eyes became more and more excited as the seed columns were filled one by one.
No. 4 seed, University of Memphis.
No. 3 seed, University of Missouri.
When it came to the No. 2 seed, Xu Yong also turned his attention to the TV.
No. 2 seed, UConn Huskies!
The No. 1 seed has not yet been announced, but the answer has been revealed because they are the only team left that has not been ranked.
"We are No. 1!" Albert couldn't help but shout out excitedly.
Cheers also rang out in the locker room, they are the top seed!
Xu Yong couldn't help but nod repeatedly.
This result was better than he expected.
And it’s not in the same district as North Carolina or Duke, which is already a very good result.
Because the Devils' biggest weakness is still rotation, but Connecticut's rotation is actually average.
The championship may still be a bit far away, but the chances of reaching the semi-finals are already very great.
And this No. 1 seed also gave them the right time.
After the division was completed, the program also announced the venues for the three stages of the competition.
The zones in the first phase are also different, but the locations in the second phase are fixed.
When the venue for the second stage of the competition was seen, cheers once again filled the locker room.
University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL's Cardinals.
As the name suggests, this is in Phoenix!
Now it’s good, not only the right time, but also the right place and the right people are all in place.
It would be inappropriate not to make it to the semi-finals now!