All season long, we’ve talked about how weak of a conference the Pac-12 has been this year. We anticipated that the only way the Pac-12 would get more than one team in would be to have a team other than the Washington Huskies win the Pac-12 Tournament. Well, obviously, the Oregon Ducks defeated Washington in last night’s championship game to earn the conference’s automatic bid. But there was one more surprise today when the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced. A third Pac-12 team was actually selected. No, don’t get your hopes up. Murry Bartow still isn’t taking this year’s UCLA Bruins to the Big Dance. The surprise was the selection of the Arizona State Sun Devils for one of the First Four play-in games. As far as other conferences go, the Big Ten has eight teams while both the ACC and the SEC each have seven. The Big 12 is sending six teams and the American and the Big East are both sending four teams. Of the Power Six conferences, the Pac-12 has the fewest teams in this year’s tournament and even the American Conference, which isn’t one of the Power Six, has more than the Pac-12. Well, at least the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors have decided that it’s time to reign in Larry Scott by establishing a board of presidents and an Athletic Directors’ Council, headed by Arizona AD Dave Heeke, has been created. Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star explains: When Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott held his annual press conference Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, he was accompanied by Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano. It was a long overdue change. Scott has always gone solo. It has always been about Larry. But Pac-12’s presidents and athletic directors have finally changed that course. This is no longer The League of Larry. Eight of the presidents who hired Scott in 2009 and essentially allowed him to bypass the ADs, have since been replaced. Now the ADs, not Scott, are in charge of setting policy; Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke is the new chairman of the ADs’ council. Well, that sounds like a good first step towards fixing the Pac-12’s problems. But, for now, it doesn’t change the fact that, in this year’s NCAA Tournament, it’s going to be a little hard to “Back the Pac.” Here is this year’s full NCAA Tournament bracket. Go Bruins!<doc-sep>Oregon will go dancing again. The No. 6 seed Ducks will be in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in seven years after defeating No. 1 seed Washington in the Pac-12 Championship. Junior guard Payton Pritchard led the way for the Ducks. He had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the 68-48 win. Before Saturday's games Jerry Palm projected Washington will be a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon was not projected to be in the tournament before winning the title. 2019 Pac-12 Tournament schedule, scores Location: T-Mobile Arena -- Las Vegas Stream: fuboTV (Try for free) | Follow live: CBS Sports App All times Eastern; some start times approximated Check out the updated Pac-12 Tournament bracket here. 2019 Pac-12 Tournament live updates, highlights If you are unable to view the live updates below, simply click here. Thanks for stopping by. 2019 Pac-12 Tournament scores, results Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game -- Saturday, March 16 Game 11 -- No. 6 Oregon 68, No. 1 Washington 48 Semifinals -- Friday, March 15 Game 9: No. 1 Washington 66, No. 5 Colorado 61 Game 10: No. 6 Oregon 79, No. 2 Arizona State 75 (OT) Quarterfinals -- Thursday, March 14 Game 5: No. 1 Washington 78, No. 8 USC 75 Game 6: No. 5 Colorado 73, No. 4 Oregon State 58 Game 7: No. 2 Arizona State 83, No. 7 UCLA 72 Game 8: No. 6 Oregon 66, No. 3 Utah 54 First Round -- Wednesday, March 13 Game 1: No. 8 USC 78, No. 9 Arizona 65 Game 2: No. 5 Colorado 56, No. 12 Cal, 51 Game 3: No. 7 UCLA 79, No. 10 Stanford 72 Game 4: No. 6 Oregon 84, 11 Washington State 51<doc-sep>Jaylen Nowell and Nahziah Carter scored 14 points each, and Washington held off a late Colorado rally for a 66-61 victory in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals Saturday night. The top-seeded Huskies led by 14 before the Buffaloes cut the lead to 60-56 with 1:01 left. McKinley Wright hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to cut Washington’s lead to three, but the Buffaloes let David Crisp get behind them for a breakaway layup to seal it. After struggling in the first half, Washington (26-7) kicked its long-armed, swarming defense into a faster gear and the fifth-seeded Buffaloes (21-12) had trouble handling it. Colorado shot 2 of 16 from 3-point range in the second half and had 18 turnovers overall, leading to 24 Huskies points. Advertisement Washington had 13 steals and held the Buffaloes to 32 percent shooting to earn a spot in Saturday night’s title game against Oregon or Arizona State. Tyler Bey had 22 points and 11 rebounds, but Wright was held to seven points on 1-of-10 shooting. The Buffaloes were looking to recapture the magic of 2012, when they won four games in four days to win the Pac-12 title. Colorado climbed the first two rungs in Las Vegas, grinding out a low-scoring win over California, outlasting Oregon State after blowing most of a 21-point lead. Washington’s zone gave the Buffaloes all kinds of trouble in two regular-season meetings. The Huskies opened with 12 straight points in a seven-point win in Boulder and led by up to 15 in a nine-point win in Seattle. The Buffaloes got off to a much better start in Round 3. Colorado handled Washington’s defensive pressure without much trouble and used a pair of 8-0 runs to lead 33-27 at halftime. Washington missed its first five shots and went 4 for 15 from the 3-point arc, but held Colorado scoreless for a nearly four-minute stretch to keep the Buffaloes close. Advertisement The Huskies kept their defensive mojo going into the second half. Contesting shots and jumping into passing lanes, Washington shut the Buffaloes down, going on a 10-0 run to go up 43-35. Colorado missed its first nine shots of the second half and had four turnovers against Washington’s pressure. Oregon 79, Arizona State 75, OT: Louis King scored 19 points, Payton Pritchard added 18 and Oregon outlasted Arizona State 79-75 in overtime Friday night in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals. The sixth-seeded Ducks (22-12) dominated early, went into a second-half funk and fought their way back in a foul-filled second half. Advertisement Oregon’s Ehab Amin hit a corner 3-pointer with 1:32 left in regulation to tie the game at 67 and neither team could score again, sending the game to overtime. The Ducks scored the first eight points of overtime, but the Sun Devils rallied to tie it on Rob Edwards’ three free throws with 58 seconds left. Arizona State’s Luguentz Dort missed a potential tying 3-pointer and King made one of two free throws with 8.8 seconds left to seal it. Oregon moves to Saturday night’s title game against top-seeded Washington. Advertisement Listless in the first half, the second-seeded Sun Devils (22-10) seemed to take control with an 18-1 run that turned a seven-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead. Dort had 16 points and Edwards 15 for the Sun Devils, who could have a second straight anxious wait on Selection Sunday. The Ducks have been at their high-flying defensive best since coach Dana Altman switched to a lineup with three 6-foot-9 players. Oregon held five straight teams to 61 points or less, a program first since 1982-83, and locked down its first two Pac-12 tournament opponents to reach the semifinals. Arizona State blew most of a 23-point, second-half lead before pulling away from UCLA 83-72 in the quarterfinals. Advertisement The Sun Devils were out of sorts early in the semifinals, frustrating coach Bobby Hurley by playing almost exclusively 1 on 1 instead of running the offense. Arizona State missed its first six shots and point guard Remy Martin went off early with an injury. Martin returned, though wasn’t much of a factor and the Sun Devils only got marginally better against Oregon’s defense. The Ducks blocked seven of Arizona State’s shots, changed several others and scored 15 points off seven turnovers to lead 35-28 at halftime. Fortunate to be down just seven, the Sun Devils were the aggressors early in the second half. Behind its defense and two long Martin 3-pointers, Arizona State went an 18-1 run to go up 46-38 and held the Ducks without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. Advertisement Oregon finally righted itself and created a few turnovers that led to easy baskets, pulling within one and keeping the Sun Devils within reach.<doc-sep>What an up-and-down season it has been for the Ducks. Countless injuries, blown leads, and bad losses. That all changed once Dana Altman (who just recently signed a contract extension through the 2024-2025 season) plugged in Francis Okoro into the starting lineup and forced Payton Pritchard to be the only guard amongst a bunch of big men. Now, after 4 wins in 4 days in the Sin City, the Oregon Ducks are named the PAC-12 Tournament champions and steal a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Oregon Ducks: (Starters) Louis King - 15 Points Paul White - 14 Points, 6-10 FG Francis Okoro - 2 Points Kenny Wooten - 4 Points, 7 Rebounds, 4 Blocks Payton Pritchard - 20 Points, 7 Assists, 6 Rebounds, 4 Steals, 7-9 FG (Reserves) Will Richardson - 8 Points Ehab Amin - 2 Points Miles Norris - 0 Points Victor Bailey Jr. - 3 Points, 4 Rebounds Washington Huskies: (Starters) Noah Dickerson - 6 Points, 6 Rebounds, 4 Turnovers Hameir Wright - 5 Points Jaylen Nowell - 8 Points Matisse Thybulle - 4 Points David Crisp - 5 Points, 6 Assists (Reserves) Jamal Bey - 7 Points Tonight’s Observations: Oregon and Washington have played each other 306 times and this is the first time the two programs have met up in a tournament championship game. Payton Pritchard has been playing out of his mind in the PAC-12 Tournament. He has averaged 16.3 PPG, 4.3 APG, and 2.0 SPG in 4 games. 9 turnovers in the 1st half didn’t make Dana Altman too happy going into the locker room. Kenny Wooten was seen punching himself in the head after starting the game 0-3 from the field and missing several alley-oop finishes. Washington struggled from three-point land in the 1st half (2-11 3PT). The Ducks are up by two points over Washington headed into halftime of the Pac-12 Tournament Championship. #GoDucks | #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/2gnDaMMwoB — Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) March 17, 2019 Matisse Thybulle became the all-time career steals leader in PAC-12 history (322). He passed Gary Payton and is now considered to be one of the best defenders in NCAA history. He should be a lock for the Naismith Defense Player of the Year. Jaylen Nowell, the PAC-12 Player of the Year, was in foul trouble early on in the 2nd half and struggled throughout the game. Once Wooten got his first block, the momentum completely shifted towards the Ducks. Oregon was on 14-0 run for about 6 minutes and they didn’t look back. Did you know Payton could dunk? With his left?? I didn’t! Payton Pritchard "THROWS IT DOWN" pic.twitter.com/0U8BwKM5kV — Kevin Wade (@KwadeSays) March 17, 2019 Oregon has held Washington to their season-low in points twice this season with 48 tonight and 47 back on March 9th. Washington struggled mightily scoring the ball on the big stage. The Huskies only made 18 field goals and got to the free throw line an extremely sad 8 times. QUACK ATTACK! The Oregon Ducks are DANCING after blasting top-seeded Washington by 20 in the Pac-12 title game! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/Xaw0yeYjjj — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2019 On a side note, I loved hearing the crowd chant “JUST LIKE FOOTBALL”. The University of Oregon has had the University of Washington’s numbers this school year. Looking forward to next week, the Oregon Ducks are going to be a tough team to knock off in March Madness. They are extremely hot entering the tournament as they are on a 8-game winning streak and I expect Oregon to be a 12-seed. What a special night for U of O basketball. Go Ducks! NCAA Tournament Selection Show - March 17th on CBS @ 6 PM ET *Arden Cravalho is a senior at Gonzaga University... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho<doc-sep>
Thanks to the Oregon Ducks’ tear through the conference tourney, the Pac-12 will be sending three teams to the NCAA tournament. The Ducks, Arizona State Sun Devils and Washington Huskies all had their names called on Selection Sunday, though none has a particularly easy road based on the seeds they earned. Oregon (23-12) earned a No. 12 seed in the South Region after winning four games in four days in Las Vegas to claim the Pac-12’s automatic bid. The Ducks will take on No. 5 Wisconsin (23-10) on Friday in San Jose, Calif., and if they win that game they’d take on either No. 4 Kansas State or No. 13 UC-Irvine. Regular-season champ Washington (26-8) earned a No. 9 seed in the Midwest Region and a Friday meeting with No. 8 Utah State (28-6) in Columbus, Ohio. The Huskies, who lost four of their last 11 games after a 19-4 start, including the Pac-12 final against Oregon, could face either No. 1 North Carolina or No. 16 Iona in the second round if they get past the Mountain West-champion Aggies. ASU (22-10) is in the NCAA tourney in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1980-81, but like a year ago the Sun Devils have to play in the First Four in order to advance to the main field. ASU takes on St. John’s (21-12) on Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner taking on No. 6 Buffalo (31-3) on Friday in Tulsa, Okla. The Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins, the conference’s usual flagships, were not even close to receiving an at-large bid. It is the first time since 2009-10 that neither team reached the NCAA Tournament. The last time Arizona was omitted was the 2011-12 season when it went on to lose to Bucknell in the first round of the NIT. And with ASU getting in, this marks the first time since 1981 that the NCAA tournament will feature the Sun Devils and not the Wildcats.