Time flies to the beginning of March. After two months of competition, the Pac10 League regular season has come to an end, and the league's internal record rankings have also been released.
First, Arizona State University (16 wins and 2 losses)
Second, University of Washington (14 wins, 4 losses)
Third, UCLA (13 wins, 5 losses)
Fourth, University of California, Berkeley (11 wins, 7 losses)
Fifth, University of Arizona (9 wins, 9 losses)
Sixth, Washington State University (8 wins, 10 losses)
Seventh, Oregon State University (7 wins, 11 losses)
Eighth, Stanford University (6 wins, 12 losses)
End of the season: Damn, the Devils are now the leaders of the Pac10.
However, this result is not surprising, because from the opening game of the invitational tournament, this team has already shown its strength.
Whether it is core abilities or game experience, they have reached this level, and the lack of key talents has been alleviated to the greatest extent by Sandek's rotation adjustments.
The regular season is over, and the league playoffs are about to begin.
Arizona State University's first-round opponent is Stanford University.
Stanford was the second-ranked team in the Pac10 last season, but after the Lopez brothers left, they didn't even recruit a four-star high school student this season. The people in the admissions office are like fishing masters, and the team's strength is directly plummeted.
Facing their opponent in last season's semifinals, they led by double digits at halftime and eventually won easily and advanced to the semifinals.
Their opponent in the semifinals was the University of Arizona.
The Wildcats failed to complete their revenge after being beaten by the Devils last season. At the end of the season, Bayless "ran" to the NBA. The Trident still had Badinger and Hill, and its strength was greatly damaged.
Faced with this mortal enemy, the Devils naturally showed no mercy, and finally defeated their opponent 86-56, adding another highlight to the history of grudges between the two teams.
It is worth mentioning that this score was exactly the score Bayless wanted to win against the Devils.
Facts have proved that as long as you run fast, you don't have to go through troughs with the team.
In the finals, Arizona State University's opponent was the University of Washington, which ranked second in the regular season.
The University of Washington is not a wealthy school. It was third from the bottom in the league last season, and it failed to recruit any four-star players in the new season.
However, the addition of one person made their strength soar, "The Strongest 175 on Earth" Thomas.
Due to height issues, Thomas failed to become a four-star high school student, but he played a freshman season at the University of Washington that shocked everyone.
Averaged 15.5 points, 3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, leading the team in scoring and assists, leading the team to overtake UCLA and ranking second in the league.
Apart from being short, he can do almost anything, with top jumping ability, lightning-fast breakthroughs, stable outside shooting, and he has a tough character, a big heart, and is a natural leader.
Of course, Xu Yong was not surprised at all by Thomas's performance.
Because there may be various parallel imports in the NBA, but small men who can enter the NBA and leave their footprints, such as "Little Bugs" Bogues, such as Thomas Jr., cannot be weak.
The Devils had a tough time in this final. There was no problem with their offense, but they really couldn't take advantage of Thomas.
Because Thomas is so fast, especially the first step as fast as lightning, no one on the Devils team can keep up.
And although he is short, his organizational skills are not weak at all, and he can always get the ball to his teammates in time after encountering help.
This game is a bit like the one against Memphis in last season's championship game.
But unlike that game, the Devils ended up winning.
It's not that they finally found a way to defend Thomas, but that they won the attack.
Harden and Xu Yong both scored 20+ points, and DeRozan and Ayers also scored 16 and 14 points respectively.
Four people scored 70+ points. They were able to attack accurately last season, and this season they have direct firepower coverage.
After winning the league championship and holding the modest championship trophy, their expectations, or ambitions, were also raised.
"Xu, now do we have a chance to compete for that bigger trophy?" Albert asked Xu Yong again with a smile.
The bigger trophy is naturally 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 conference finals, the Devils were once again sitting in front of the TV watching divisional games.
In the same scene, except DeRozan who looked a little nervous, everyone else was already relatively relaxed.
After all, everything is stressful only for the first time. Once you get familiar with it, you will become familiar with it.
And more importantly, they are absolutely sure of their own strength this season. Even if they are placed in the same conference as North Carolina, it is completely justified.
Xu Yong didn't know where he found melon seeds and peanut mineral water, and a group of people drank it while waiting.
This year's divisions were divided faster than in previous years. Soon the divisions of the East, Central and West, and South districts were completed one after another, leaving only the last West district.
Because it is the last section, there are advertisements in the middle.
"By the way, why is there no North District?" DeRozan couldn't help but asked 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 later he figured it out.
"Have you heard of pumpkin?" Xu Yong asked.
DeRozan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. It seemed that there was indeed no pumpkin!
Xu Yong smiled. Actually, there is no serious explanation for why there is no North District.
If you have to dig deeper, it is probably the population.
If you include Canada, the largest state in the northern United States, into the NCAA territory, then the North Division will naturally be included.
"The seed rankings of our league teams this year are relatively low." Harden discovered Hua Dian.
Xu Yong cracked a melon seed and recalled it. It seemed that this was indeed the case. Second-ranked Washington State was only the fourth seed in the Southern District.
Although the Pac10 League still has 6 teams shortlisted for the championship this year, it is obvious that the NCAA Organizing Committee is not very optimistic about the strength of the Pac10 League this year.
"It won't be lower than last year." Xu Yong said with a confident tone.
His words made the team members nod one after another, and then they began to crack 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 they are guaranteed to be correct this time.
[What Xu Yong said is right], this has become their habitual thinking.
Of course, Xu Yong didn't just come here, because after observing this division for two consecutive years, he can roughly draw a conclusion: These people in the NCAA organizing committee are really not just for free.
UCLA's record last season was not necessarily as high as the other three championship teams, but the content and strength presented in the game can be seen, so they were still the No. 1 seed in the conference, and they deserved to reach the semi-finals. Their seeding.
In fact, the crazy three are indeed prone to upsets, but that is the standard [survivor bias]. Most of the time, the championship is a process where the big fish eats the small fish. The ones who finally reached the semi-finals last season were all from their respective divisions. top seed.
The content of the game presented by Arizona State University this season is similar to that of UCLA last season.
Because the University of Connecticut is not in a division, they may not be the No. 1 seed, but there is a high probability that they will be the No. 2 seed.
Shortly after Xu Yong finished speaking, the last division of the Western District also began.
The team members' eyes became more and more excited as the seed columns were filled up one after another.
No. 4 seed, University of Memphis.
No. 3 seed, University of Missouri.
When he reached the No. 2 seed, Xu Yong also turned his attention to TV.
No. 2 seed, University of Connecticut Huskies!
The No. 1 seed hasn't been announced yet, but the answer has been revealed, because they are the only team left that hasn't been sorted yet.
"We are No. 1!" Albert couldn't help shouting excitedly.
Cheers also rang out in the locker room, they were the top seed!
Xu Yong couldn't help but nodded repeatedly.
This result was even 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 rotation, but UConn's rotation is actually average.
The championship may still be a bit far away, but the chance of reaching the semi-finals is already very good.
And this No. 1 seed can be regarded as giving them the opportunity.
After the division, the program also announced the competition locations for the three stages.
The zones within the first phase are also different, but the location of the second phase is fixed.
When the second stage of the game was seen, cheers echoed through the locker room again.
University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL Cardinals.
Just by looking at the name, you can tell that this is in Phoenix!
Now it's good, not only the weather, but also the right location and people are in place.
It would be inappropriate not to reach the semi-finals now!
