Thursday at Staples

OK, it's the first TV timeout of the first game (Arizona State-USC) of Thursday's Pac 10 quarterfinals in the Staples Center.

Arizona State needs to beat USC (I believe) to get an at-large bid on Sunday. Oregon needs to beat Washington State tonight and maybe win again Friday night to get a bid (I believe). Arizona got in (I believe) by beating Oregon State Wednesday night but could certainly remove all doubt with a win over Stanford in the late game this evening.

Stay tuned . . .

10:30
It's over . . . for now.

Stanford just turned in a dominant second half, pounding the ball inside to the Lopez Twin on just about every position to prevail, 75-64.

So the second semifinal Friday night (8:30) pits the Cardinal and Washington State (which held on to beat Oregon a few hours ago, 75-70).

What have we learned today?

That the teams that finished 1-4 in the regular-season standings are the conference's four best team, with Arizona State the fifth best, Oregon sixth best and Arizona seventh best. Washington would have knocked off Cal Wednesday night if Jon Brockman would have been healthy, so let's make them eighth best.

But, other than Arizona State, Oregon and Arizona losing Thursday, pretty much everything else went right for the conference's "bubble" teams Thursday

A whole mess of bubble-types across the country, including Dayton (Atlantic 10), Florida and Mississippi (SEC) and Maryland (Atlantic Coast) also lost.

The coaches and players at Arizona State and Oregon should root like heck for Michigan State to beat Ohio State Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament.

I think Arizona is the safest bet of the three to get in, regardless of whatever else happens between now and Sunday.

Thaaaaaaaaaaat's all, folks, until Friday!

6:45
Huge turnaound in the last few seconds of the first half for Oregon. The Ducks trailed by 20 points before Malik Hairston hit a jumper from the left wing, then the Ducks got a steal and a 3 by LeKendric Longmire at the buzzer and suddenly they're down by 15 points at intermission and got some mo(mentum). But they're going to have to play a whole lot better than they did over the first 20 minutes. The Cougars cut their defense to freakin' ribbons.
6:20
Game 3 and Washington State is comfortably in control of Oregon, 20-8, a little more than nine minutes into things.

Does Oregon get an at-large bid if it doesn't beat the Cougars? Gut feeling: nope.

4:20
The Bruins have a bunch of subs in the game with a little more than two minutes to go, which means . . . it's UCLA vs. USC Friday night at 6. It's the first time the Bruins and Trojans will meet in conference tourney history! Fire up!

3:50
Kevin Love opened the second half by hitt three 3's in a row. This is the best the Bruins have played in a while. They are up 51-35 with 15:57 to play.

3:24
This "Pendergraph didn't go over Jefferson's back on the dunk" stuff is reaching epic proportions. No one who has watched the replay thinks Pendergraph crashed in the USC forward on the play.

Guess what: The play is over. No amount of debating is going to change the outcome. USC won. ASU lost. and the Sun Devils will be sweating, big time, on Sunday.

But they DO deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament.

As for UCLA-Cal game, it appears as if the Bruins aren't going to need any miracle (or, if you're a Cal fan, "illegal") shots from Josh Shipp to pull this one out. The Bruins are in front at intermission, 39-25.

If they don't self destruct over the final 20 minutes, the Bruins will have the No. 1 seed in the West securely in their grasps.

2:34
Just got out of the media/interview room and Sendek is being very diplomatic in his assessment of the call that negated Pendegraph's apparent score-tying dunk. That's a smart move, I believe.

I think of the 10-person committee in Indianapolis deciding who to use the final few at-large bids on get details of the game and how close the Sun Devils came to knocking off a very good USC team, well, that can only enhance ASU's hopes.

Whining about getting mistreated by the officials wouldn't . . .
2:04
USC advances . . . and ASU Coach Herb Sendek and his players are none too happy about it. The Trojans prevailed, 59-55, so will play the winner of the next-up game between UCLA and Cal Friday night at 6 o'clock.

The the officials' call that irked Sendek & Co. was the follow dunk by Jeff Pendergraph with 16.9 seconds to play that apparently tied the score. But it was waved off after Pendergraph was called for going over Davon Jefferson's back. According to some who had a better view of the play that I did (including those who had a chance to see the TV replay), it was a bad call.

Here comes for whining about Pac 10 officiating . . .

And it's not going to do a darn bit of good, boys and girls.

Anyway, USC is in the semifinals and continues to improve its tournament seed.

As for the Sun Devils, a win in this would have have put them squarely in the NCAA Tournament field. Now Sendek and his guys are going to be doing major sweating between now at 3 p.m. PT Sunday when the field is unveiled on Sunday.

ASU is one of the 34 best at-large candidates. But, if forced to say, that the Sun Devils are "in" or "out", I'd lean toward "sorry, guys".

12:51
Bang! Ty Abbott and James Harden combined for a steal of an O.J. Mayo dribbled, and Abbott dunked in transition with a second to go, to cut USC's lead to 32-30 at intermission.

It was a pretty solid half of basketball. The Trojans hurt themselves with 10 turnovers. USC has used three different defenders against Harden.

Now, if the Sun Devils can outscore the Trojans by three points over the next 20 minutes, I will call them official "tournament locks".

There's the motivation, guys . . .

12:28
The Trojans are getting into a much better rhythm, offensively, and attacking ASU's zone with much more purpose.

By the way, I need a nap . . .
12:15 p.m.
My press seat is right behind the USC bench but everything is calm so far. Sun Devils lead, 6-5.