Kevin Parrom celebrated senior night a game early with a mature shooting stroke.
Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not every day you get a second chance in life. Making a first impression, taking a test, talking yourself up in your annual work review, they’re all like the NCAA basketball tournament: one and done.

Thanks to Oregon‘s last-second loss to Cal the Arizona Wildcats have a third chance to control their fate in the race for the Pac-12 regular season championship. Will the third time be the charm for this up-and-down group?

It was the exact same situation three weeks ago that gave the UA its second crack at being the front-runner. The Cats swept Washington and Washington State and Oregon struggled with Cal and Stanford.

But just two games later Arizona lost another home game and was back chasing Duck tail feathers. To be tied for first again at this point is a huge opportunity. There’s a reason they keep stats for second-chance points but don’t even bother counting third-chance points.

(It’s interesting that the same team was at the center of all these plot twists. Cal beat Oregon, then beat Arizona, then beat Oregon again. The Bears giveth, the Bears taketh away and the Bears giveth again.)

((It’s also worth noting it was assumed that the Ducks had the easiest schedule because they only played Arizona and UCLA once each. Maybe it’s a bigger advantage that the Wildcats only played Cal once.))

There’s talk about the UA not having a shot at the real conference championship because Oregon and Cal have the head-to-head tiebreakers. I don’t care about any of that. They don’t hang banners for the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament. All teams that tie for the best regular season record are rightfully declared league champion.

The banner at McKale lists 12 Pac-12 championships. There’s no asterisk next to the two years that were co-titles. The Border Conference banner also has a dozen championships even though two were ties. Arizona is in first place right now. For the third time.

So here we go. Three teams tied for first in the loss column with one red-hot team breathing down their collective necks. A two-week sprint to the finish.

I still think there’s a good chance Oregon loses at Colorado on the final weekend. The problem for the UA is if UCLA can take care of business at home this week against the Arizona schools the Bruins’ final road trip looks much softer now. The Huskies have three feet in the grave (just 5-8 against Pac-12 teams other than Arizona State) and the Cougars are already covered with dirt.

(Speaking of UW/ASU, bonus fun for Wildcat fans: ASU scored 92 points in the first game against Washington…and lost. The Sun Devils held the Huskies to 68 points in the rematch…and lost again.)

((There are two schools of thought on ASU’s loss to Washington. One side says it’s bad that the Pac-12 might get one fewer team in the NCAA tournament. The other side says if X teams make the Dance I’m cool with ASU being X+1.))

I will go on record saying at least one of the tri-leaders will win out so Cal will not win the regular season championship (but will be the Team Nobody Wants to Play in Vegas). If you want to take this crown you have to win the rest of your games.

So tournament play starts early for Arizona. Three straight must-win games for a championship.

The Cats hope their third chance makes the best impression.

* * *

I don’t usually comment on recruiting but a 5-foot-7 point guard? Sign me up! Fast little dudes zipping around the court and dropping dimes for dunks are very entertaining.

Next season Nick Johnson will again have to serve as the backup point guard with T.J. McConnell as the starter but in 2014-15 Parker Jackson-Cartwright can be the backup with McConnell as a senior. Then PJC starts as a sophomore, hopefully with another quality point behind him.

UA fans everywhere are hoping Sean Miller will never again have fewer than two true point guards on his roster.

Of course, Josiah Turner was supposed to be the third-best point guard in his class and Mustafa Shakur was heralded as the best PG in all the land…with Ndubi Ebi in the same class.

And I suppose that’s why I don’t usually comment on recruiting.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell likes basketball players he can look in the eye. Stand tall on Twitter and Facebook.

It would help the Wildcats’ cause if a few more shots like this went in.
Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Warning: This is the last full week in February.

Just another reminder that time is running out for the Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins as they find themselves chasing the Oregon Ducks once again.

Only two more regular season TWit-Pacs after this? Alas and alack! Your third-to-last TV schedule before the postseason (all times Arizona/Mountain):

Better sneak in a midweek nap, Wildcat fans. I do like that the Washingtons/Arizonas pairs are both playing Wednesday and Saturday. No rest advantage for anybody.

*Note: Saturday’s Arizona/WSU game will be on FOX Sports Arizona Plus in Arizona and New Mexico, and Fox Sports Net elsewhere. Here are the channel listings for FSAZ Plus:

Comcast = 17
Cox = 73 (SD), 1073 (HD)
DirecTV = 695 (SD), 695-1 (HD)
Dish = 440 (SD), 9575 (HD)

Games? Onward!

Wed. Feb. 20

WSU (11-15 / 2-11) at ASU (19-7 / 8-5)
The Sun Devils continue to beat the teams that beat Arizona and vice versa. The only team to sweep the Arizona schools so far is Oregon.

Washington (14-12 / 6-7) at ARIZONA (21-4 / 9-4)
Remember when the Huskies were 4-0 in Pac-12 play? After winning their first three conference road games they’ve lost four straight away from home.

Thu. Feb. 21

Cal (16-9 / 8-5) at Oregon (21-5 / 10-3)
I think it’s safe to say Mike Montgomery is a hands-on coach.

Utah (11-14 / 3-10) at Colorado (17-8 / 7-6)
The Buffs have won six of eight but one of those losses was to Utah. Another defeat at the hands of the Utes could drive a stake through Colorado’s at-large bid chances.

Stanford (15-11 / 6-7) at OSU (13-13 / 3-10)
The Cardinal was starting to feel good about itself with four wins in five games including an upset of Oregon but then…swept at home by the L.A. schools. Where’s David Shaw when you need him?

Sat. Feb. 23

WSU at ARIZONA
Woe is Wazzu, as the Cougars have lost six straight to fall into sole possession of last place. Where’s Mike Leach… Oh, right. Never mind.

Cal at OSU
The Bears are now the only team to have beaten Oregon, Arizona and UCLA this year. Yet they couldn’t get to 65 points against Washington, Stanford or ASU.

Stanford at Oregon
Lose three then win three for the Ducks. Arizona fans would gladly take a lose-one from Oregon at any point.

Washington at ASU
The Sun Devils are 3-0 in overtime this year. I will not make an overtime joke about the Sun Devil Angels.

Sun. Feb. 24

UCLA (19-7 / 9-4) at USC (12-14 / 7-6)
USC (winner of four out of five) has been playing better than UCLA (split last eight) and the Trojans won the first meeting. So I’m going to predict the Bruins win this game by a dozen.

* * *

Oregon got the big road sweep in the state of Washington last week to reclaim first place and put pressure on Arizona and UCLA. Here’s an updated look at the conference race:

Oregon
Road sweeps: 2
Road swepts: 1
Home losses: 1
Projected final record: 14-4

ARIZONA
Road sweeps: 1
Road swepts: 0
Home losses: 2
Projected final record: 13-5

UCLA
Road sweeps: 1
Road swepts: 0
Home losses: 2
Projected final record: 13-5

The good news is the Wildcats are home this week. The bad news is the UA hasn’t swept a home weekend since the Colorado/Utah games.

What’s more likely, Arizona winning the next five or Oregon losing twice? The odds of the latter go way up if the Attack of the Crabbe Monster can take down the Ducks on Thursday.

When the Wildcats and Huskies met in January it was a 57-53 slopfest where the teams combined to make just four of 30 attempts (13%) from the beyond the arc. That’s encouraging for Arizona’s ailing 3-point defense but not a good sign for Mark Lyons after hitting 1-of-9 (really 2-for-10) from long distance against Utah. The Cats would be advised to take the ball to the hoop to get a few a shots to fall early.

With the desert’s version of a blizzard on its way, Tucson would appreciate the Wildcats heating up.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell is finding it hard to type with his mittens on. Bundle up on Twitter and Facebook.

The Cal Bears Crabbe-walked all over Arizona.
Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats had a little breathing room in the race for the Pac-12 championship but the air was sucked out of McKale Center Sunday night thanks to a career night from the conference’s leading scorer.

With an eye toward the top of the national rankings the Cats finally caught the major-upset bug that’s been sweeping the nation. What does this do to the UA’s title chances?

Cal’s Allen Crabbe torched the UA for 31 points, the most he had scored in a Pac-12 game in his three-year career. Sean Miller probably turned in his Player of the Year vote immediately after the game.

How do you make 12 of 15 shots in a major college basketball game when you’re not 7-foot-3 and standing under the rim? And it’s not like Crabbe was “only” scoring; he also pulled down seven boards and passed out five assists.

As good as Crabbe and Justin Cobbs (21 points, 8-14 shooting) were, this becomes the first “bad loss” on Arizona’s resume. Do you just chalk it up to running into a player who caught fire next to a guy who was order-the-skin-grafts-I’ve-got-third-degree-burns hot?

Or were the Wildcats perhaps looking ahead to the polls coming out on Monday? By not playing Saturday they saw No. 3 Michigan and No. 5 Kansas lose. All told four of the six teams ranked above Arizona lost last week. Did the Cats get caught up thinking, We could be No. 2 next week. And why aren’t we No. 1?

I know I did. It would’ve been a pretty straight-forward argument. After the Saturday’s upsets you could have Duke, Gonzaga, Arizona and Miami as the top 4 teams. Who beat Duke? Miami. Who beat Miami? Arizona. And since Gonzaga doesn’t have any wins against the other top teams, Arizona is No. 1.

So much for that.

Whatever the cause, the one-game lead over Oregon and UCLA in the standings is gone. The Wildcats have given back the advantage they received when the Ducks’ Dominic Artis got injured and the Bruins again earned the wrath of Bill Walton.

Now we have a dogfight atop the Pac-12 standings. Using the 14-4 scale Arizona (one road sweep minus two home losses), Oregon (one road sweep minus one road get-swept minus one home loss) and UCLA (one road sweep minus two home losses) are all -1. That projects to co- (or tri-) champions with 12-5 records.

So the Cal loss isn’t a complete backslide. Two weeks ago it looked like the Cats’ Pac-12 hopes had flatlined. The margin for error is now gone but the opportunity to win this thing remains.

What doesn’t feel right is losing two conference games at home. You can’t do that and expect to win the Pac-12, right? Well, it last happened in 2006 when UCLA finished with a 14-4 record and won the league by one game. The Bruins then cruised to a Pac-10 tournament title, earned a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament with a 27-6 overall mark and made it all the way to the championship game. So don’t drive up Mt. Lemmon and dive off Windy Point just yet.

Next up for the UA is a trip to the mountain states and that might not be a bad thing. While the Wildcats have been losing these two games at McKale they’ve also compiled a four-game road winning streak.

Just hope that Sabatino Chen doesn’t order the Crabbe legs.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell has never been hot enough to cause even half-degree burns. Heat up on Twitter and Facebook.

Against WSU, Solomon Hill shot like the Super Bowl: Lights out.
Photo by Sean Ryan/The Arizona Republic

Whoever ordered the Arizona Wildcats’ basketball weekend did not hold back. Two UA wins, two Oregon losses, and a side of ASU giving up 96 points. To say the week went well is a sizable understatement.

Arizona’s two-game leap in the Pac-12 standings puts the Cats right back in the middle of the conference race.

And that makes me very wrong.

A couple weeks ago I said the Arizona/UCLA showdown was an elimination game in the quest for the Pac-12 championship. When the Wildcats lost it meant they were done. Have fun chasing the title, Ducks and Bruins!

It only took three games for all of that to be proven false.

Go ahead and let me have it. Pick your favorite cliché:

It’s not over till it’s over!

That’s why they play the games!

You’re stupid!

I can’t argue with any of it. I didn’t see this coming at all. I didn’t see the Wildcats sweeping a road trip or UCLA losing to ASU and USC. I didn’t expect Oregon to get swept any weekend.

Sometimes what you see isn’t what you get. The Cats are back tied for first in the Pac-12 standings and, even with Oregon’s schedule advantage, the playing field has been leveled. Here’s how we got here and what Arizona needs to do to win its 26th conference championship:

The blueprint for a Pac-12 crown is posting a 14-4 record. Sweep at home, split on the road, sweep your rival. Oregon went +1 by winning at UCLA to complete a road sweep. Arizona dropped to -1 (or two rungs below Oregon) by losing to UCLA at home.

I thought that was it. I projected Oregon would finish 15-3 and pegged Arizona at 13-5 or 12-6. Try and make up for it in March but say goodbye to any chance of a 1-seed.

Things changed when the Ducks got blown out by Stanford on Wednesday without injured point guard Dominic Artis. Arizona responded by gutting out a win at Washington on Thursday to set up a key Saturday. That’s the Saturday that went exactly according to the UA’s script.

Oregon dropped the second game on the Bay Area trip to fall back to even on the blueprint scale. Solomon Hill rained down 3s from all over Washington State’s gym and Arizona had a road sweep to erase its home loss. Suddenly it again looks like 14-4 will win this league.

How does the UA get there? All of the five remaining home games are absolutely must-win. Then you budget one loss on each of the final two road trips. If Oregon loses at Washington and at Colorado you have a co-championship.

Arizona’s gaudy 19-2 overall record also means big dreams on a national level are back in play. Even with a couple more Pac-12 losses the Wildcats would be 26-4 with wins over ACC-leading Miami and SEC-annihilating Florida. That resume would be very hard to ignore when choosing the top seed in the West Region.

The trick now is completing that resume. As quickly as the Cats got back into the race they could fall back out with another loss at McKale. Stanford and Cal will be bringing a lot of confidence with them to Tucson.

Last week Arizona returned to finding a way to win. This week the Cats return to playing for a conference championship.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell has plenty of practice admitting he’s wrong. Point and laugh on Twitter and Facebook.

Solomon Hill and the Wildcats will need to play tight D in Seattle.
Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Three of the top four teams in the Pac-12 hit the road this week as the first half of the conference season comes to a close.

The TWit-Pac TV schedule has a Super Bowl of basketball action (all times Arizona/Mountain):

More late nights for fans in Arizona. Is getting your sporting events to start an hour earlier a valid reason for moving to Pacific Time year round?

All the games from dusk till dawn:

Wed. Jan. 30

USC (8-13 / 3-5) at UCLA (16-5 / 6-2)
The Bruins got the big win in Tucson but were not able to complete the sweep of what is this year’s toughest road trip in the Pac-12. UCLA has its next three at home to try and regain momentum.

Oregon (18-2 / 7-0) at Stanford (12-8 / 3-4)
Oregon is trying to finish the first half of the conference season undefeated. The last Pac team to start 9-0? Stanford, of course, in 2004.

Thu. Jan. 31

ARIZONA (17-2 / 5-2) at Washington (12-8 / 4-3)
The Huskies have seven of their final 11 at home. If they can hit the brakes on their three-game losing streak they could set themselves up for a nice run down the stretch.

OSU (11-9 / 1-6) at Cal (11-8 / 3-4)
Oregon State surprised Washington last week to ensure the Beavers won’t go winless in Pac-12 play. Only one more week until the 11th-place showdown with Utah!

ASU (16-4 / 5-2) at WSU (11-9 / 2-5)
If any ASU fans were complaining that Arizona only won in Tempe because the Devils were short-handed, ask them how bad they felt about UCLA having to play without Travis Wear.

Sat. Feb. 2

Colorado (14-6 / 4-4) at Utah (9-11 / 1-7)
The Buffs have come back from the dead to win three straight. They would be wise to get this one out of the way before looking ahead to Oregon.

Oregon at Cal
There’s hope for Cal and everyone else struggling this season: Just four years ago the Ducks were 0-9 in Pac-12 play.

ASU at Washington
The Sun Devils have been trying all season to overcome their poor non-conference schedule and gain national respect. A pair of road wins this week just might do it.

ARIZONA at WSU
Will this be another “bounce back” game for the Wildcats after losing a third consecutive Thursday game or will the UA have a shot at its first two-game sweep in four weeks?

Sun. Feb. 3

OSU at Stanford
The San Francisco 49ers, coached by Stanford’s beloved former coach, are playing for a championship for the first time in 18 years. There will be more people at various Bay Area Super Bowl parties than at this game.

* * *

If you’re holding out hope that the Cats will storm back and take the Pac-12 championship I’d give it one more week. If Arizona can sweep this week while Oregon stumbles for the first time, maybe there could be some drama in February after all.

But if the Ducks paddle through the Bay and still have their two-game cushion – even with their point guard out with an injury – just let the regular season title go. With its schedule advantage, Oregon would have to fold worse than its baseball team not to win the conference.

So the primary focus for the Wildcats is progress, progress, progress. Especially on the defensive end of the court. Tighten up the team D, continue to develop the freshmen and see if you can come up with a couple wins away from home.

A road sweep would make UA fans feel almost as happy as a Harbaugh.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell thinks college basketball is super. Bowl him over on Twitter and Facebook.

Shabazz will be making his first trip to AZ.
Photo by Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

UCLA at Arizona is the game of the week in Pac-12 basketball and has long been anticipated as one of the games of the year. It was supposed to be a clash of two revitalized western titans with conference supremacy at stake.

Now it might only determine who gets to finish second to the Oregon Ducks.

I’m not saying Cats/Bruins isn’t a big game. It’s a huge game. But the landscape of this year’s race for the conference championship shifted when Oregon went into Westwood and beat UCLA last week.

This Week in the Pac-12 (TWit-Pac) presents the latest TV schedule (all times Arizona/Mountain):

No rivalry match-ups this week so we get the maximum 12 games. If only the nation cared about more than one of them.

Wed. Jan. 23

WSU (10-8 / 1-4) at Oregon (16-2 / 5-0)
The Ducks are the last unbeaten team in Pac-12 play and we’ll get into why they may stay that way for a while.

Washington (12-6 / 4-1) at OSU (10-8 / 0-5)
The Huskies were 4-0. Utah was 0-5. So of course the Utes beat UW by nine last week.

Thu. Jan. 24

Cal (10-7 / 2-3) at Utah (9-9 / 1-5)
The aforementioned Seattle stunner was Utah’s first road conference win as a member of the Pac-12. Only one more to match Colorado football.

UCLA (15-4 / 5-1) at ARIZONA (16-1 / 4-1)
Bill Walton will be calling the game on ESPN2. Can we get Luke Walton as a sideline reporter?

Stanford (11-7 / 2-3) at Colorado (12-6 / 2-4)
Colorado has lost four of six but the Buffs are still No. 19 in the RPI. Just how many bonus points are they getting for their almost-win at Arizona?

USC (8-11 / 3-3) at ASU (14-4 / 3-2)
The Trojans came this close to beating Oregon last week in what would have been a post-KO weekend sweep.

Sat. Jan. 26

UCLA at ASU
It’s not a good sign for ASU when you search for “Chris Colvin suspension update” and you get links from 2013 … and 2012 … and 2010.

WSU at OSU
The Beavers are the last Pac-12 team without a conference win. If they keep this up, a presidential pardon might not even be enough to save Craig Robinson.

USC at ARIZONA
Alas, there will be no more “Kevin O’Neill returns to Tucson” stories. The “Bob Cantu used to work for Mike Bibby’s dad” angle isn’t as fun.

Washington at Oregon
More from the Washington Doesn’t Make Sense file: the Huskies have a better record on the road (4-1) than at home (7-4).

Sun. Jan. 27

Cal at Colorado
It’s hard to tell Cal and Stanford apart this year. Cal is the team that lost the head-to-head game last week…

Stanford at Utah
…and Stanford is the team that won it. Now you know.

* * *

It’s quite possible that, come March, Arizona and UCLA will still end up as the two most dangerous teams in the Pac-12. But not only is Thursday’s game currently just a battle for second place, it might already be an elimination game in the conference race.

How can that be? I’m not trying to beat a dead Duck but… Have you seen Oregon’s schedule??

The Ducks are done with UCLA and the UA. Their toughest remaining game might be at Washington, who just lost to Utah. They don’t have any road trips on back-to-back weekends.

It’s two games each against the Washingtons, Bays and Mountains. Oregon isn’t losing at home against that slate. So even if you give them three road splits that’s a 15-3 Pac-12 record, which is the new elevated target for the Wildcats and Bruins.

The loser in Tucson Thursday night will already have two league losses with six weeks to play, and the two teams still have to play again at Pauley Pavilion. So, yeah, this feels like an elimination game.

White Out or get wiped out.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell has, for the record, never beaten a duck, dead or otherwise. Do not send hate mail on Twitter and Facebook.

Solomon Hill and the Wildcats are hoping to reclaim McKale North.
Photo by Sean Ryan/The Arizona Republic

Separation Saturday is coming in the Pac-12.

There are five contenders left for the conference’s regular season basketball title. Four of them are paired in two big games this weekend that could shape the race.

Two of the schools involved also happen to be bitter rivals.

Gaze upon the TWit-Pac TV schedule (all times Arizona/Mountain):

So the Pac-12 finally gets a couple marquee basketball games and of course they overlap. If the UA/ASU game doesn’t go five overtimes, however, we should be able to see the second half of UCLA/Oregon.

Them games:

Wed. Jan. 16

Utah (8-8 / 0-4) at WSU (9-7 / 0-3)
Since a couple undefeated teams are squaring off it’s only fair that two of the remaining three fully defeated teams do battle with each other.

Colorado (11-5 / 1-3) at Washington (11-5 / 3-0)
If the top two games are Coke and Pepsi this one is RC Cola. Washington has a perfect league record and the Buffaloes still have a top-20 RPI.

Thu. Jan. 17

OSU (10-6 / 0-3) at UCLA (14-3 / 4-0)
Don’t Screw It Up game, part I. The Beavers have been the anti-Huskies, playing their first three Pac-12 games at home, and losing them all. OSU will be looking for a boost from the return of their leading rebounder and shot blocker, Eric Moreland, from suspension.

Oregon (14-2 / 3-0) at USC (7-10 / 2-2)
Don’t Screw It Up game, part II. The Trojans could play the “Win it for KO!” angle, but beating Utah by 17 didn’t help Kevin O’Neill much.

Sat. Jan. 19

ARIZONA (15-1 / 3-1) at ASU (14-3 / 3-1)
The Wildcats have the resume of a No. 1 seed. The Sun Devils have a bunch of empty cupcake wrappers. None of that will matter when the ball goes in the air at Wells Fargo Arena.

Oregon at UCLA
Two ranked teams! In the same game! In the Pac-12!! The last time it happened was March 13, 2009.

Cal (10-6 / 2-2) at Stanford (10-7 / 1-3)
Both Bay Area rivals have been disappointing but they’re still getting bubble talk. Lots to play for even beyond bragging rights.

OSU at USC
USC interim coach Bob Cantu said he wants to pick up the tempo, introduce a zone and go deeper into his bench. He should have just said, “I’m going to do the exact opposite of the guy that just got fired.”

Colorado at WSU
Andre Roberson of Colorado leads the Pac-12 in rebounding, which is interesting because the Buffs have not rebounded from the loss at Arizona.

Utah at Washington
The Huskies have a few more days to fly under the radar and then they play a ranked team for five consecutive weeks.

* * *

“…this is the worst Devil team to beat Arizona since 1967…”

“Words like ‘unbelievable’ don’t seem strong enough.”

“After a month of dancing on the razor’s edge the Wildcats are now bleeding all over the floor.”

“Medic!”
Photo by Sean Ryan/The Arizona Republic

Is last year’s game in Tempe coming back to you yet?

When these two teams last met, Arizona had legitimate hopes of an NCAA tournament at-large bid. Then, on the final day of the regular season the Cats lost to a horrible – absolutely dreadful – Arizona State team. That led to scoring 51 points in the Pac-12 tournament championship game and 54 points against Bucknell in the NIT.

So the UA definitely has the revenge factor on its side.

For ASU it’s about earning respect. The Devils went 11-2 in non-conference play but their strength of schedule ranking is in triple digits. They’re 3-1 so far in the Pac-12 but the argument is they got Colorado immediately after the Sabatino Chen non-basket and they played Oregon State without Moreland.

Win this game and ASU fans won’t have to defend their team any longer. A head-to-head victory over Arizona would speak for itself.

I’m expecting a close game and here’s a stat to watch: Arizona leads the Pac-12 in team free throw shooting at 75.9%. ASU is dead last at 61.5%.

The Wildcats hope to win a conference championship but first they have to win the state championship.

- – - – -

Scott Terrell is in full rivalry-week mode. Slap your team colors on Twitter and Facebook.

To win a Pac-12 championship you don’t want to fumble away wins early.
Photo by Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Only two weekends of Pac-12 play are in the books. With 80% of the conference calendar still to come it would be easy to say it’s too soon to talk about the championship race.

That would be wrong.

It takes a high mark to win this basketball league and recent history tells us a fast start is critical.

The target for winning the Pac-12 regular season championship is a 14-4 record. Cal did win the league with a 13-5 mark three years ago but you have to go back eight years to find a Pac-12 team that went 14-4 (Washington) but didn’t win the regular season championship (Arizona went 15-3 that season).

The formula to get to 14-4 is simple: Sweep at home, split on the road, sweep your rival. That’s nine home wins and five road victories.

It’s really hard to do if you stumble out of the gate. Of the last seven champions, none started worse than 3-1 in conference play. So even though some teams have only played three games we can already safely eliminate seven teams.

The remaining five can say they’re still in the Pac-12 race without having people laugh at them. The two preseason favorites, Arizona and UCLA, are in the mix as expected. The Bruins are the only squad with a 4-0 league record and the UA is 3-1.

Based on non-conference results, it’s not a surprise Oregon (3-0) is off to a good start. The Ducks went 9-0 at home out of conference and backed it up with a sweep of the Arizona schools this past weekend in Eugene.

Arizona State (3-1) brought an impressive 11-2 record into Pac-12 play but the Sun Devils’ strength of schedule was horrible so it was assumed they would look like last year’s 10th-place team once conference play began. ASU, however, has the exact same results through four games as its in-state rival so the Devils have the same right to claim contendership at this point as the Wildcats.

The biggest surprise when compared to the out-of-conference records is Washington. The Huskies only managed a pedestrian 8-5 mark before the Pac-12 season but have won their first three league games, all on the road. Granted, WSU/Cal/Stanford isn’t exactly a murderers’ row this year, but if the blueprint for a championship calls for five road wins, Washington is already 60% of the way there.

The most disappointed non-contender after two weeks would have to be Colorado. The Buffaloes have played close games but the goal is to sweep at home and split on the road and CU (1-3) hasn’t been able to do either.

Who has the inside track among the top five? As with football, it’s not just who you play, it’s who you don’t play. Such is life with the unbalanced 12-team schedule. Here’s a look at the teams each of the five contenders only play once. Home misses are the teams you don’t host this year and the road misses are the road trip you don’t make:

Have you seen Oregon’s schedule?
Photo by Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona
Home misses: Oregon, OSU
Road misses: Stanford, Cal

ASU
Home misses: Oregon, OSU
Road misses: Stanford, Cal

Oregon
Home misses: UCLA, USC
Road misses: Arizona, ASU

UCLA
Home misses: Colorado, Utah
Road misses: Oregon, OSU

Washington
Home misses: Cal, Stanford
Road misses: Colorado, Utah

Oregon clearly has the easiest path to a championship with just a single game against each of the preseason favorites. In fact, after the Ducks play at UCLA this Saturday, Oregon’s only remaining games against the other contenders are a home-and-home with Washington.

The toughest schedule goes to the Huskies who have to play each of the other top teams twice.

After two weekends I would peg the Bruins as the team to beat until they are beaten. Oregon is next because of its schedule and the two solid wins already in its pocket. Arizona, ASU and Washington are still looking for their first win against a fellow contender.

Either the Wildcats or Sun Devils will get that first win this Saturday when they play each other in Tempe.

The other big game this Saturday is that Oregon/UCLA tilt. The winner gets to wear the yellow jersey until someone takes it from them.

There are still eight weeks to go but to win a Pac-12 championship it would be wise not to waste any of them.

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Scott Terrell has an early case of championship fever. Get your prescription filled on Twitter and Facebook.

Nick Johnson and the Arizona Wildcats will be driving down the Oregon Trail.
Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The first week of conference play in the Pac-12 produced a controversy that garnered national attention and a contender getting upset by a perennial bottom-feeder.

And that was just the Colorado games.

Add in two teams going into their in-state rival’s gym to pull out a win and league play is off to a fiery start. What does Week 2 have in store?

On to the TV schedule (all times Arizona/Mountain)!

The Wednesday and Sunday games are going to be a regular thing. I’m all for it as it increases the conference’s exposure and helps fill up the week with sporting goodness.

Wed. Jan. 9

WSU (9-5 / 0-1) at Stanford (9-6 / 0-2)
Stanford’s Pac-12 season did not start well with the Cardinal losing to USC. A home loss to Wazzu would put Stanford on the fast track to the cellar.

Washington (9-5 / 1-0) at Cal (9-5 / 1-1)
This is the third of four straight road games for the Huskies. Washington lost at Connecticut before going into Pullman and beating the Cougars last week.

Thu. Jan. 10

ARIZONA (14-0 / 2-0) at Oregon (12-2 / 1-0)
The Ducks are undefeated at home and their closest game was a 10-point victory over NAU in the season opener.

UCLA (12-3 / 2-0) at Utah (8-6 / 0-2)
UCLA owns the second-longest active win streak in the Pac-12 (seven wins) but this is the Bruins’ first true road game of the season.

USC (6-9 / 1-1) at Colorado (10-4 / 0-2)
I expect the Buffaloes to take their frustrations from last week out on the Trojans. Then again, that’s what we thought would happen against ASU.

ASU (12-2 / 2-0) at OSU (10-4 / 0-1)
The Sun Devils may actually have a team worth watching and they get stuck with the late-late game Thursday night. Sparky may want to sneak in a nap.

Sat. Jan. 12

UCLA at Colorado
Getting swept in the desert didn’t hurt Colorado much in terms of RPI. Beating the Bruins would help even more.

WSU at Cal
Cal’s Allen Crabbe continues to light it up, scoring a total of 48 points in L.A. last week. Washington State only scored 27 points in the first half against Washington.

USC at Utah
A week ago this looked like the battle for last place but USC already has a conference win and Utah played two tight games on the road. If the Utes lose this one, however, the game retroactively becomes the battle for last place again.

ARIZONA at OSU
You may remember last year’s lone regular season matchup with the Beavers as the game that featured overtime and Kyryl Natyazhko getting ejected after a near-brawl.

Washington at Stanford
Washington is only eighth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 70.7 points per game. These aren’t the Huskies we’re used to.

Sun. Jan. 13

ASU at Oregon
We’ll find out soon if things are truly changing in Tempe. The Sun Devils won just one conference road game last year.

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Arizona’s games this week take on extra significance because the Oregon schools are the two Pac-12 teams that don’t visit McKale this year. If the Ducks want to be taken seriously as a conference contender they have to win this game.

Oregon won the only meeting last year, even after blowing a 17-point lead. The Wildcats came back from 17 down against Colorado last week but would be wise not to try and duplicate the feat.

Whatever the results this weekend, the UA needs to start playing better. Thursday’s game is the halfway point of the regular season.

The Cats won’t be able to say there’s a long way to go for much longer.

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Scott Terrell is prepared for more basketball drama. Embrace the anxiety on Twitter and Facebook.

Arizona’s QBs produced two more Oregon touchdowns than De’Anthony Thomas.
Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

As Rich Rodriguez was preparing for his first season at Arizona he recalled a time when Bobby Bowden explained the four stages of building a college football program:

“First you lose big, then you lose close, then you win close, then you win big.”

Well, the order has been shuffled but after the first four games of RichRod’s UA run he’s already gotten three of the four scenarios out of the way.

Two years ago a ranked Arizona team lost big on the road and never recovered. The players who were there will be charged with making sure history doesn’t repeat itself.

It goes without saying the two sets of circumstances aren’t exactly the same. The 2010 season was the seventh under Mike Stoops. That team was 7-1 and ranked No. 15. Arizona was coming off a year in which it finished second in the conference. The players and fans had every right to believe the Cats were prepared to take a huge step forward in a game at No. 13 Stanford.

Instead, the Cardinal dominated from the start. It was 21-3 at halftime and 28-3 before the UA’s first touchdown. Then, in the crucial moment of the season, the Wildcats dropped a winnable game at home against an unranked USC team. The wheels fell off in the second half of the following game at Oregon and stayed off until Stoops was asked to leave.

Heading into this past weekend, the Wildcat faithful may have been hoping for an upset victory but it wasn’t expected or required. Oregon is better than Arizona right now. A lot.

The key for the 2012 Cats is what happens now.

The season goals have to be downgraded back to where they were before the win over Oklahoma State. It’s clear now this won’t be a miracle turnaround for Rodriguez in year one but other really good results are still on the table.

The common thread between the 2010 collapse and today is the players. All the coaches from two years ago are gone but the upperclassmen on this year’s team were around to witness what took place after that blowout loss at Stanford.

Once again the Wildcats play a home game in between Stanford/Oregon road trips. Once again a home win is needed to prevent what could become an extended losing streak. Have this year’s juniors and seniors learned from what happened when they were freshmen and sophomores? Will they be able to recover from the thrashing in Eugene much quicker than they rebounded from the stomping in Palo Alto a couple years back?

The challenge is this year’s Oregon State team may be better than that 2010 USC squad. OSU has played just two games and beaten a ranked opponent each time. The Beavers will be the third ranked team Arizona faces in four weeks (and it’ll be four out of five the following week when the Cats face a Stanford team that is currently ranked in the top 10).

Beat Oregon State at home and you’re 4-1 with two wins over ranked teams. The Oregon loss is long gone and talk can return to bowl dreams and rapid improvement under Rodriguez. Lose in Tucson this Saturday and the Wildcats will be underdogs in every game up until Colorado.

The true path of RichRod’s rebuilding project at Arizona won’t be known for another two or three years. Are there a lot more lose-big games on the horizon?

Getting another win-close this upcoming weekend at Arizona Stadium and avoiding Rodriguez’s first lose-close would get the Cats back on pace for a close-to-ideal debut season for the new coach.

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Scott Terrell will be back in the Cheap Seats Saturday night. Join him on Twitter and Facebook.