Pac-12 Power Rankings
1. UCLA (23-6, 12-4) - With two more wins, Ben Howland will become the fourth active Pac-12 coach to reach 400.
2. Oregon (23-6, 12-4)
3. Arizona (23-6, 11-6)
4. Cal (20-9, 12-5) - The Golden Bears will have eight days between tonight's regular-season finale against Stanford and their start of the Pac-12 tournament. Cal coach Mike Montgomery laughed when asked if, like Kentucky, he'd organize a game of dodgeball. He hadn't played the game since junior high.
5. Colorado (19-9, 9-7)
6. Arizona State (20-10, 9-8) - Guard Jahii Carson, along with UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad, is a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Award, honoring the nation's top freshman.
7. USC (14-15, 9-7) - Guard Jio Fontan has a sprained right wrist. Ari Stewart, who's been out with a broken left hand, could play this week.
8. Stanford (17-13, 8-9)
9. Washington (16-13, 8-8)
10. Oregon State (14-16, 3-13) - If Joe Burton scores six points and Ahmad Starks 23, they'll join teammates Roberto Nelson and Devon Collier by having more than 1,000 career points.
11. Utah (11-17, 3-13) - Jared DuBois hit all 13 of his free throws last week and leads the league with an 89.9 percent clip.
12. Washington State (11-18, 2-14)
This week's games
Tonight
• No. 23 UCLA at Washington State, 7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• Stanford at Cal, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
• USC at Washington, 9:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Thursday
• No. 19 Oregon at Colorado, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Oregon State at Utah, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday
• No. 23 UCLA at Washington, noon (Ch 13)
• No. 19 Oregon at Utah, 12:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• Arizona State at No. 18 Arizona, 2:30 p.m. (FSAZ)
• Oregon State at Colorado, 2:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
• USC at Washington State, 4:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Finley five
Five facts, takeaways, opinions and hunches from Tuesday's conference call:
1. It's not lonesome at the top. Three teams can win a share of the league title this week - Oregon, UCLA and Cal. In a two-team tiebreaker, the winner of the season series gets the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament. If those two teams have split, teams examine their record against the third-place team, and down the line, until one wins. In a three-way tie, the winner is one with the best head-to-head against the other two teams. If that doesn't settle it, the teams look at their records, as above. To know: Cal swept Oregon and split with UCLA. The Ducks swept UCLA.
2. Ken Bone's in trouble. The Washington State coach went 57-46 in his first three years before this season skippering his Cougars to an 11-18 (2-14) mark. That's enough to make one worry about his job status. "That's not something I'm concerned about right now," he said. "I'm concerned about UCLA and USC and the Pac-12 tournament." Bone said "things that are not under my control, I'm not worried about them, in any capacity of life."
3. Artis will take it slow. Oregon guard Dominic Artis won't play his full complement of minutes after returning this week from injury last week, coach Dana Altman said. Artis will play more in Las Vegas.
4. The Beavers are remodeled. Craig Robinson said Nike's rebranding of Oregon State's logo and uniforms, announced Monday, was "very exciting for me personally, but it's extremely exciting for Beaver Nation." He called the new logo "sleeker" and said grumbling fans will get "more used to it" and "be more excited about it."
5. Tim Floyd who? Amid reports that USC spoke with Tim Floyd - who quit as the Trojans' coach before moving to UTEP - interim coach Bob Cantu said he's trying to worry about what he can control with regards to whether he keeps his job. "I think the more you win, it helps your chances, for sure," Cantu said. "I've kinda just stayed out of that."
Last week's results
Wednesday
• USC 89, Arizona 78
• Colorado 65, Stanford 63
• UCLA 79, Arizona State 74 (OT)
Thursday
• Cal 64, Utah 46
• Oregon 85, Oregon State 75
Saturday
• USC 57, Arizona State 56
• Cal 62, Colorado 46
• UCLA 74, Arizona 69
Sunday
• Washington 72, Washington State 68
• Stanford 84, Utah 66
RPI
The RPI rankings of the Pac-12's teams, according to RealTimeRPI.com:
14. Arizona
27. Colorado
30. UCLA
43. Cal
50. Oregon
72. Stanford
82. Washington
89. USC
94. Arizona State
186. Oregon State
187. Utah
192. Washington State
The big number
40
Of the 98 Pac-12 games this season, 40 were decided by five or fewer points.
Dear Pundit
Track down the Pac-12 Pundit on Twitter at @patrickfinley or at azstarnet.com/pac12pundit, and he'll answer your questions all week long. A sampling:
Warmest seat? Favorite player? Best moment this season? MVP vs POY? COY? -Adam
A: Rapid-fire answers: Wazzu's Ken Bone, Oregon State center Joe Burton (watching the big man move is like seeing John Belushi dance) and maybe, in terms of drama, the Sabatino Chen disallowed three. I think Allen Crabbe or Shabazz Muhammad is your MVP or Player of the Year (I don't parse the two interpretations). Coach of the year: Altman.
Who's on your all Best Name team? What do you think about Sparky and Oregon State's cool, hip new looks? - David
A: Any Pac-12 all-name team starts with Bak Bak and Andrew Andrews. Both the new walk-around Sparky and Oregon State logo were good ideas, executed very poorly.
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