2017–18 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball season


The 2017–18 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017 followed by the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 10, 2017. The conference schedule began on December 29, 2017. The season was the seventh season under the Pac–12 Conference name and the 59th since the conference was established under its current charter as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959. Including the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, which operated from 1915 to 1959 and is considered by the Pac-12 as a part of its own history, this was the Pac-12's 103rd season of basketball.
Arizona won the regular season conference championship by two games over second-place USC.
The Pac-12 Tournament was held from March 7–10, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Arizona defeated USC in the tournament championship. As a result, the Wildcats received the conference' automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA received bids to the NCAA Tournament. The conference achieved an 0–3 record in the Tournament.

Pre-season

Recruiting classes


TeamESPNRivalsScout247SportsSignees
ArizonaNo. 3No. 3No. 3No. 35
Arizona StateNo. 34No. 36No. 29No. 232
California---No. 544
ColoradoNo. 39No. 25No. 27No. 244
OregonNo. 12No. 13No. 11No. 134
Oregon StateNo. 35--No. 483
StanfordNo. 24No. 12-No. 144
UCLANo. 4No. 5No. 5No. 46
USCNo. 18No. 30-No. 313
Utah---No. 514
WashingtonNo. 32No. 26No. 18No. 664
Washington State---No. 1191

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.
WoodenNaismithRobertsonCousyWestErvingMaloneAbdul-JabbarOlsonTisdale
Rawle Alkins
Deandre Ayton
Bennie Boatwright
Troy Brown Jr.
Shannon Evans II
Aaron Holiday
Michael Humphrey
Jordan McLaughlin
De’Anthony Melton
Chimezie Metu
Kingsley Okoroh
Dusan Ristic
Reid Travis
Allonzo Trier
Thomas Welsh
Kris Wilkes

Preseason All-American teams

Preseason polls

APAthlon
Sports		Bleacher
Report		Blue Ribbon
Yearbook		CBS SportsCoachesESPNKenPomLindy's
Sports		NBC SportsSBNationStreet & Smith'sSports
Illustrated		USBWA
ArizonaNo. 3No. 1No. 3No. 1No. 2No. 5No. 1No. 3No. 2No. 3No. 2No. 1No. 1No. 3
Arizona StateNo. 57No. 93No. 70
CaliforniaNo. 163No. 100No. 208
ColoradoNo. 77No. 95No. 101
OregonRVNo. 34RVNo. 45No. 35No. 32
Oregon StateNo. 82No. 66No. 99
StanfordNo. 42No. 54No. 118
UCLANo. 21No. 18No. 22No. 20No. 18No. 34No. 29No. 14No. 14No. 15No. 20No. 23
USCNo. 10No. 7No. 8No. 11No. 8No. 11No. 11No. 12No. 12No. 12No. 8No. 13No. 9
UtahNo. 71No. 55No. 67
WashingtonNo. 141No. 114No. 117
Washington StateNo. 201No. 230No. 206

Pac-12 Media days

Source:

Midseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.
Wooden MidseasonWooden Late SeasonOlsonRobertsonCousyWestErvingMaloneAbdul-JabbarNaismith
Deandre Ayton
Shannon Evans II
Tra Holder
Aaron Holiday
Jordan McLaughlin
Allonzo Trier
Thomas Welsh

Final Watchlists

Below is a table of notable year end watch lists.
John R. Wooden AwardNaismithMaloneAbdul-Jabbar
Deandre Ayton
Thomas Welsh

Regular season

The Schedule will be released in late September. Before the season, it was announced that for the sixth consecutive season, all regular season conference games and conference tournament games would be broadcast nationally by CBS Sports, FOX Sports, ESPN Inc. family of networks including ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, and the Pac-12 Network.

Records against other conferences

2017-18 records against non-conference foes as of :
Regular Season

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

This is a list of games against ranked opponents only :
DateVisitorHomeSiteSignificanceScoreConference Record
November 20No. 6 Wichita StateCaliforniaLahaina Civic Center • Lahaina, HIMaui InvitationalL 82–920–1
November 20No. 9 North CarolinaStanfordMaples Pavilion • Stanford, CAL 72–960–2
November 23No. 7 FloridaStanfordVeterans Memorial Coliseum • Portland, ORPK80L 87–1080–3
November 24No. 15 XavierArizona StateOrleans Arena • Las Vegas, NVLas Vegas InvitationalW 102–86 1–3
November 24No. 18 PurdueNo. 2 ArizonaImperial Arena • Nassau, BahamasBattle 4 AtlantisL 64–891–4
November 24No. 21 Saint Mary'sWashington StateTitan Gym • Fullerton, CAWooden LegacyW 84–79 2–4
November 26No. 18 Texas A&MNo. 10 USCGalen Center • Los Angeles, CAL 59–752–5
November 26No. 7 Texas A&MArizonaTalking Stick Resort Arena • Phoenix, AZValley of the Sun ShootoutW 67–64 3–5
December 6WashingtonNo. 2 KansasSprint Center • Kansas, KSW 74–65 4–5
December 9ColoradoNo. 13 XavierCintas Center • Cincinnati, OHL 69–964–6
December 10No. 16 Arizona StateNo. 2 KansasAllen Fieldhouse • Lawrence, KSW 95–85 5–6
December 10No. 12 GonzagaWashingtonHec Edmundson Pavilion • Seattle, WAL 70–97 5–7
December 16No. 25 CincinnatiUCLAPauley Pavilion • Los Angeles, CAL 63–775–8
December 21No. 14 KansasStanfordMaples Pavilion • Stanford, CAL 54–755–9
December 23No. 7 KentuckyUCLASmoothie King Center • New Orleans, LACBS Sports ClassicW 83–756–9'

Team rankings are reflective of AP Poll when the came was played, not current or final ranking''

Conference schedule

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

Points scored

Through March 5, 2018

Rankings

The Pac-12 had 3 teams ranked and 1 other receiving votes in the preseason Coaches' Poll & AP Poll. There was no coaches poll during week 2 and officially started voting during week 3.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 15, 2017, California head coach Cuonzo Martin resigned. On March 24, the school hired assistant coach Wyking Jones as the new head coach. On March 16, 2017, Washington fired Lorenzo Romar after fifteen years as head coach. On March 19, 2017, the school hired Mike Hopkins as head coach.

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and Pac-12 records are from time at current school.
TeamHead coachPrevious jobSeasons at schoolOverall recordPac-12 recordPac-12 titlesNCAA TournamentsNCAA Final FoursNCAA Championships
ArizonaSean MillerXavier9th244–73 121–41 51000
Arizona StateBobby HurleyBuffalo3rd47–41 17–30 0000
CaliforniaWyking JonesCalifornia 1st8–17 2–10 0000
ColoradoTad BoyleNorthern Colorado8th163–105 70-66 0300
OregonDana AltmanCreighton8th203–79 91–47 2500
Oregon StateWayne TinkleMontana4th53–65 22–43 0400
StanfordJerod HaaseUAB2nd27–29 13–17 0000
UCLASteve AlfordNew Mexico5th113–52 52–32 0300
USCAndy EnfieldFlorida Gulf Coast5th87–72 32–52 0200
UtahLarry KrystkowiakNew Jersey Nets 7th129–94 59–60 0400
WashingtonMike HopkinsSyracuse 1st17–7 7–4 0000
Washington StateErnie KentOregon4th44–72 15–50 0600

Notes:

Pac-12 Tournament

The conference tournament is scheduled for Wednesday–Saturday March 7–10, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, NV. The top four teams had a bye on the first day, March 7, 2018. Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

NCAA Tournament

Three teams from the conference were selected to participate: Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State.
SeedRegionSchoolFirst FourFirst RoundSecond RoundSweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourChampionship
No. 4SouthArizona
N/A
eliminated by No. 13 Buffalo 68–89–––––
No. 11MidwestArizona Stateeliminated by No. 11 Syracuse 60–56––––––
No. 11EastUCLAeliminated by No. 11 St. Bonaventure 65–58––––––
3 BidsW-L :TOTAL:

National Invitation Tournament

Five teams from the conference were selected to participate: USC, Utah, Stanford, Oregon & Washington.
SeedBracketSchoolFirst RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
1USCUSCdefeated No. 8 UNC Asheville 103–98eliminated by No. 4 Western Kentucky 75–79
2Saint Mary'sUtahdefeated No. 7 UC Davis 69–59defeated No. 3 LSU 95–71defeated No. 1 Saint Mary's 67–58OTdefeated No. 4 Western Kentucky 69–64eliminated by No. 4 Penn State 66–82
3USCStanforddefeated No. 6 BYU 86–83eliminated by No. 2 Oklahoma State 65–71
3Notre DameOregondefeated No. 6 Rider 99–86eliminated by No. 2 Marquette 92–101
5Saint Mary'sWashingtondefeated No. 4 Boise State 77–74eliminated by No. 1 Saint Mary's 81–85
5 BidsW-L :TOTAL:

Index to colors and formatting
Pac-12 member won
Pac-12 member lost

Awards and honors

Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Pac-12 offices named one or two players of the week each Monday.
WeekPlayer of the WeekSchoolRef.
Nov. 13Allonzo TrierArizona
Nov. 20Tra HolderArizona State
Nov. 27Tra Holder Arizona State
Dec. 4Deandre AytonArizona
Dec. 11Shannon Evans IIArizona State
Dec. 18Jordan McLaughlinUSC
Dec. 25Aaron HolidayUCLA
Jan. 1Deandre Ayton Arizona
Jan. 8McKinley Wright IVColorado
Jan. 15Daejon DavisStanford
Jan. 22Justin BibbinsUtah
Jan. 29Dušan RistićArizona
Feb. 5Noah DickersonWashington
Feb. 12Tres TinkleOregon State
Feb. 19Aaron Holiday UCLA
Feb. 26Reid TravisStanford
Mar. 5Aaron Holiday UCLA

Totals per School

SchoolTotal
Arizona4
Arizona State3
UCLA3
Stanford2
Colorado1
Oregon State1
USC1
Utah1
Washington1

All-Americans

AP

First Team
Honorable Mention
USBWA
First Team
NABC

First Team
Sporting News

First Team
Third Team
USBWA

District IX: Player of the Year
District IX: All-District Team
NABC
District 20

First team
Second team
Voting was by conference coaches.

Individual awards

All-Pac-12

;First Team
NameSchoolPos.Yr.Ht., Wt.Hometown
Deandre Ayton‡ArizonaFFr.7-1, 250Nassau, Bahamas
Justin BibbinsUtahGSr.5-8, 150Carson, Calif.
Noah DickersonWashingtonFJr.5-8, 150Atlanta, Ga.
Tra HolderArizona StateGSr.5-8, 150Los Angeles, Calif.
Aaron HolidayUCLAGJr.5-8, 150Chatsworth, Calif.
Jordan McLaughlinUSCGSr.5-8, 150Etiwanda, Calif.
Chimezie Metu†USCFJr.5-8, 150Lawndale, Calif.
Tres TinkleOregon StateFR-So.5-8, 150Missoula, Mont.
Reid Travis††StanfordFR-Jr.6-8, 150Minneapolis, Minn.
Allonzo Trier†ArizonaGJr.6-5, 205Seattle, Wash.

;Second Team
NameSchoolPos.Yr.Ht., Wt.
David ColletteUtahFSr.6-10, 220
George KingColoradoGR-Sr.6-2, 200
Payton PritchardOregonGR-Sr.6-10, 230
Dusan RisticArizonaCSr.7-0, 245
Thomas WelshUCLACSr.7-0, 245

;Honorable Mention
NameSchoolPos.Ht., Wt.
Deandre Ayton‡ArizonaF7-1, 250
Daejon DavisStanfordG6-3, 175
Jaylen NowellWashingtonG6-4, 190
Kris WilkesUCLAG6-8, 195
McKinley Wright IVColoradoG6-0, 185

‡ Pac-12 Freshman of the Year
;Honorable Mention
NameSchoolPos.Yr.Ht., Wt.
Deandre AytonArizonaFFr.7-1, 250
Aaron HolidayUCLAGJr.5-8, 150
Jordan McLaughlinUSCGSr.5-8, 150
Matisse Thybulle‡WashingtonFJr.6-5, 195
Kenny WootenOregonFFr.6-9, 220

‡Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
;Honorable Mention
;First Team
NameSchoolPos.Ht., Wt.GPAMajor
Nick HamiltonCaliforniaG6-4, 1853.75Media studies & legal studies
Dorian Pickens‡†††StanfordG6-5, 2103.42Communication
Jeff PollardWashington StateF6-9, 2403.72Undeclared
Gligorije RakocevicOregon StateF6-11, 2503.70Digital communication arts
Stephen Thompson Jr.Oregon StateG6-4, 1903.73Digital communication arts

;Second Team
NameSchoolPos.Ht., Wt.GPAMajor
Malachi FlynnWashington StateG6-1, 1703.48Undeclared
Jayce JohnsonUtahC7-0, 2353.49Psychology
Chimezie MetuUSCF6-11, 2253.18Law, history & culture
Tres Tinkle††Oregon StateG6-8, 2203.42Speech communication
Parker Van Dyke††UtahG6-3, 1813.26Economics

;Honorable Mention

Home game attendance

TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7Game 8Game 9Game 10Game 11Game 12Game 13Game 14Game 15Game 16Game 17Game 18Game 19TotalAverage% of Capacity
ArizonaMcKale Center14,64414,644†13,49614,30113,62614,644†14,04814,39214,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†14,644†230,94714,43498.56%
Arizona StateWells Fargo Arena14,1005,6976,6406,1895,3948,68210,7979,30810,64613,69313,45911,53613,94312,37714,02514,233†11,73711,895180,25110,60375.19%
CaliforniaHaas Pavilion11,8587,0836,4056,1026,1777,8317,8136,7586,5896,9158,888†7,7218,1077,5318,5818,4826,5527,851125,3867,37662.20%
ColoradoCoors Events Center11,0647,7406,4517,4276,6106,5126,9337,7408,5197,4778,787†7,6456,3858,3237,0088,176111,7337,44967.32%
OregonMatthew Knight Arena12,3647,2326,4288,1006,9167,6887,1536,2496,9056,9089,6617,4589,20212,364†12,364†9,9389,4199,94012,364†156,2898,68370.22%
Oregon StateGill Coliseum9,6044,5883,8745,4383,9853,5714,3443,9008,110†4,4814,7516,4825,3306,3014,2355,6304,9636,14786,1305,06652.74%
StanfordMaples Pavilion7,2336,2763,1032,7992,9987,233†3,1453,3034,0314,2934,4974,0874,0146,0793,6014,8943,6255,23373,2114,30759.54%
UCLAPauley Pavilion13,8006,7827,0358,3295,9736,10910,0185,7678,0897,6398,73910,1648,02810,51912,8378,89013,001†137,9198,62062.46%
USCGalen Center10,2586,3272,4023,1255,3472,7123,5194,0413,1042,5183,6694,8224,1166,1444,3224,54210,258†70,9684,43643.24%
UtahJon M. Huntsman Center15,0009,8879,69012,06413,26413,89613,12513,54312,12312,37811,24114,03814,358†13,14113,59813,751190,09712,67384.48%
WashingtonAlaska Airlines Arena10,0005,8835,6096,4285,3284,8584,9039,7494,8564,4525,9155,8048,25610,000†6,90410,000†8,1709,2586,4809,912133,0167,00170.01%
Washington StateBeasley Coliseum11,6712,4242,3402,1293,1832,2404,1652,1783,4772,5403,1784,607†2,8032,2492,9242,5923,14846,1772,88624.72%
Total11,8001,542,1247,74966.66%

Bold – At or Exceed capacity
†Season High