The future looks bright for Huskies. Bracketologists project they'll make the NCAA tournament and a basketball statistician says UW will finish tied for fifth in Pac-12.
Following last week’s 1-1 split in Los Angeles, the Washington men’s basketball team rose to No. 49 in the RPI.
It’s the highest this season the Huskies have been in the ratings, which is considered one of the top evaluating tools for the NCAA tournament selection committee that picks the 36 at-large bids for the 68-team field. Thirty-two teams are awarded automatic berths.
A week ago, UW was 72nd in the RPI. It’s previous season high had been 57th.
The Pac-12 has eight teams among the top 60 in the RPI. Here’s a look at where the conference teams stand in the ratings: Oregon (3), Utah (14), USC (19), Colorado (20), Arizona (34), California (39), UW (49), Stanford (57), Oregon State (64), UCLA (68), Arizona State (73) and Washington State (168).
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For the second straight week, ESPN’s bracket guru Joe Lunardi included the the Huskies in his projected NCAA tournament bracket. UW, which is 10th, has a better seed this week than it did last week when Lunardi had them 12th.
Here’s a look at the conference teams in his bracket with the seeding in parenthesis: Oregon (3), Arizona (6), USC (6), Utah (7), Colorado (8), UW (10), California (11) and UCLA (12).
CBSsports.com’s bracketologist Jerry Palm also projects the Huskies will be among the seven Pac-12 teams to make the NCAA tournament.
Here’s a look at the seven conference tournament teams in his bracket: Oregon (3), Utah (5), Colorado (6), USC (6), Arizona (7), UW (9) and California (11).
POMEROY’S PROJECTIONS:
— Basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy projects the Huskies will go 4-5 in their remaining nine regular-season games and finish 18-12 overall and tied for fifth in the conference at 10-8.
Here’s a look at Pomeroy’s projected Pac-12 finish: 1. Oregon (14-4), 2. Arizona (12-6), t-3. USC (11-7) and Utah (11-7), t-5. Colorado (10-8) and UW (10-8), 7. California (9-9), 8. UCLA (8-10), t-9. Oregon State (7-11) and Stanford (7-11), 11. Arizona State (6-12) and 12. Washington State (3-15).
WASHINGTON’S NCAA TOURNAMENT RESUME
Overall: 14-7
Pac-12: 6-3 (t-2nd)
SOS Rank: 34th
RPI: 49th
vs. RPI Top 50: 3-4
vs. RPI Top 100: 6-6
Best wins: USC (19), Colorado (20) and Texas (22)
Worst losses: Oakland (141) and UC Santa Barbara (98)
MIDSEASON AWARDS
— Halfway through the conference race, Pac-12 Networks analyst Corey Williams doled out his midseason awards. He picked Washington’s Andrew Andrews as the player of the year and UW’s Dejounte Murray as the freshman year. Williams tabbed USC’s Andy Enfield as the coach of the year and projected Oregon would win the regular-season championship.
LINKS:
— Oregon’s Dillon Brooks won the Pac-12 player of the week award after leading the Ducks to a pair of road wins last week. The sophomore forward scored a game-high 24 points in Oregon’s 83-75 victory at then-No. 18 Arizona, which snapped the Wildcats’ national-best 49-game home win streak. He poured in 18 points and six rebounds in a 91-74 win at Arizona State.