oskidunker said:

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https://pac-12.com/article/2021/03/07/bracket-set-2021-pac-12-mens-basketball-tournament-presented-new-york-life

Usc gets Covid after the time limit. Cal is advanced to the championship. Ucla gets covid Cal declared winner. Would you win your bet if you picked Cal to win the tournament?

Walton will do every game we play in, including the championship.

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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https://pac-12.com/article/2021/03/07/bracket-set-2021-pac-12-mens-basketball-tournament-presented-new-york-life

Usc gets Covid after the time limit. Cal is advanced to the championship. Ucla gets covid Cal declared winner. Would you win your bet if you picked Cal to win the tournament?

Walton will do every game we play in, including the championship.

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Nice little scenario.

Hey, if we win the conference tourney, we'd better give Mark Fox a lucrative extension!

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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NathanAllen said:

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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HoopDreams said:

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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ucla coach said we should cancel the pac 12 tourney because of COVID risk

what he really means is what you are saying

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NathanAllen said:

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I'd love to see this for many reasons (although, I'd never wish COVID on another person, so let's say COVID protocol for SC/Oregon/UCLA), one of the main reasons being the thought exercise of seeding a team that went 3-17 in conference play.

Also, Vanover/Arkansas could be a potential two-seed, so I wouldn't rule that out in this hypothetical.

Back to serious world, if I were a decision-maker in the conference, I would vote not to do any of this, for the same reasons I listed above. Get your four teams to the NCAA Tourney in the best shape possible.

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NathanAllen said:

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KoreAmBear said:

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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Finally things are set up well for us.

--Furd is demoralized as they should be for producing winners like Hawley and Atlas
--we match up well v. CU because they don't have much length
--SC Covid
--Oregon/UCLA Covid

See you in Indy. But of course as with Cal, all our starters would get Covid and we lose to Justice Sueing and tOSU in a 2/15 seed matchup by 50. The end.

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I'd love to see this for many reasons (although, I'd never wish COVID on another person, so let's say COVID protocol for SC/Oregon/UCLA), one of the main reasons being the thought exercise of seeding a team that went 3-17 in conference play.

Also, Vanover/Arkansas could be a potential two-seed, so I wouldn't rule that out in this hypothetical.

Back to serious world, if I were a decision-maker in the conference, I would vote not to do any of this, for the same reasons I listed above. Get your four teams to the NCAA Tourney in the best shape possible.

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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NathanAllen said:

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Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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Also, it would likely get a team into the tournament that wouldn't otherwise make it and that's good for the Pac-12.

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I disagree. I'd rather cancel the tournament and not risk the health of the four teams already projected as getting into the tournament rather than running the risk of one of those teams going into the NCAA Tournament with missing players.

If I were a conference official, I'd be asking myself, would we rather risk having USC play without Evan Mobley or Colorado without McKinley Wright in the NCAA Tournament (or a team having to shut down and miss it altogether) to add a fifth team like Oregon State? My answer is no. I'd rather have a full-strength USC make it to the Sweet 16 or further than a half-strength USC and Oregon State both lose in the first round. But that's just me.

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NathanAllen said:

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bearister said:

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Cal is a -6.5 dog to Furd. In any event, the smart money is on the Bears, who covered the spread in both prior contests. If Oscar da Silva either doesn't play or plays on a bad foot, consider wagering your 401 (k) on the Bears.
The next post is a peace offering to the color commentator of the Cal vs Furd game.

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Are you sure about that? Cal lost by 15 at home. I don't remember what the spread was, but I find it hard to believe it was -15 in Berkeley.

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NathanAllen said:

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bearister said:

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NathanAllen said:

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bearister said:

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Cal is a -6.5 dog to Furd. In any event, the smart money is on the Bears, who covered the spread in both prior contests. If Oscar da Silva either doesn't play or plays on a bad foot, consider wagering your 401 (k) on the Bears.
The next post is a peace offering to the color commentator of the Cal vs Furd game.

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Are you sure about that? Cal lost by 15 at home. I don't remember what the spread was, but I find it hard to believe it was -15 in Berkeley.

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I stand corrected, Sir. We were a 5.5 dog in Game 1 and miserably failed to cover; We were a 10.5 dog in Game 2 and, I think, 19 down in the second half, but Furd sh@it the bed and Cal covered.

I don't feel as confident in my assessment as I did....but if da Silva is compromised...GO BIG OR GO HOME!

He seems to be the guy we have no answer to.

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That makes more sense to me. Thanks for checking!

With or without da Silva, I'm bullish on Cal's chances in this game. They won't lose to Furd three times in one season, right? RIGHT?!

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Big C said:

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A Haase team is the kind you want to face in March.

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HoopDreams said:

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I don't know about this 'tough to beat same team 3 times' stuff

and I don't know if Cal will beat stanford or not

but if Cal does beat Stanford it would be the second time in two years to stuff any glimmer of hope for Stanford

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HoopDreams said:

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Jerod Haase said on Tuesday of his team and da Silva's status, "As I said after the USC game, and we're still at the same spot, that the entire team is kind of beat up right now. Oscar is day-to-day. We're going to practice here in an hour, so we'll see what he can do today. But I don't know with any certainty.

"He wants to play. I think it's within the realm of possibility. But at this point, it's day-to-day with him. I think how he practices today will be important for that."

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bearister said:

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Well, as good a thread as any for trivia:

USC's Evan Mobley has been named Pac-12 freshman of the year, defensive player of the year and player of the year.

Question: Who is the only other player from a major conference to sweep all three awards in the same season? Axios

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NathanAllen said:

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Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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NathanAllen said:

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Big C said:

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Well, we would pretty much have to get a little help from the virus being the one to defeat some of our opponents.

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This is one of many reasons why I'd never be a good hoops coach, but if I'm the coach of a team that is already locked into the NCAA tourney, I'm only playing backups and hoping for a first-round loss. There is literally nothing to gain from this tournament for teams like Oregon/USC/UCLA/Colorado and a ton to lose if you get key players into COVID restrictions for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Especially Oregon, which already has the regular-season conference title and a short bench.

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Also, it would likely get a team into the tournament that wouldn't otherwise make it and that's good for the Pac-12.

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I disagree. I'd rather cancel the tournament and not risk the health of the four teams already projected as getting into the tournament rather than running the risk of one of those teams going into the NCAA Tournament with missing players.

If I were a conference official, I'd be asking myself, would we rather risk having USC play without Evan Mobley or Colorado without McKinley Wright in the NCAA Tournament (or a team having to shut down and miss it altogether) to add a fifth team like Oregon State? My answer is no. I'd rather have a full-strength USC make it to the Sweet 16 or further than a half-strength USC and Oregon State both lose in the first round. But that's just me.

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Big C said:

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NathanAllen said:

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bearister said:

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NathanAllen said:

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bearister said:

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Cal is a -6.5 dog to Furd. In any event, the smart money is on the Bears, who covered the spread in both prior contests. If Oscar da Silva either doesn't play or plays on a bad foot, consider wagering your 401 (k) on the Bears.
The next post is a peace offering to the color commentator of the Cal vs Furd game.

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Are you sure about that? Cal lost by 15 at home. I don't remember what the spread was, but I find it hard to believe it was -15 in Berkeley.

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I stand corrected, Sir. We were a 5.5 dog in Game 1 and miserably failed to cover; We were a 10.5 dog in Game 2 and, I think, 19 down in the second half, but Furd sh@it the bed and Cal covered.

I don't feel as confident in my assessment as I did....but if da Silva is compromised...GO BIG OR GO HOME!

He seems to be the guy we have no answer to.

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That makes more sense to me. Thanks for checking!

With or without da Silva, I'm bullish on Cal's chances in this game. They won't lose to Furd three times in one season, right? RIGHT?!

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What gives me confidence about this game is the number of times we've beaten them over the past four seasons, each time being (probably) the underdog. And with the teams we've had! A Haase team is the kind you want to face in March.

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