Post by mhbruin on Aug 1, 2021 14:11:45 GMT -8
I frequently say that Washington State and Oregon State are where coaches go to die. They not only have little history of basketball success, but they have tended to live in the shadow of their biggest rival. So I compared how the "little dog" has done in comparison with the "big dog" rival.
I don't think there is an obvious big dog in the Utah-Colorado pairing, and they haven't been in the conference for 50 years. Stanford is a slightly bigger dog than Cal, but you can argue both are small dogs.
I looked at records since for the last 50 years. The records for the rivals are in parentheses.
It shouldn't come as a big surprise that WSU has been the toughest place in the Pac-12 to win, even if Washington Huskies don't cast that big a shadow. I think Kyle Smith has them headed in the right direction, but he hasn't done much yet. If he has much success, I suspect he will be on to greener pastures before long.
Was Oregon State's success at the end of last season the sign of something to come, or were they one-hit wonders? We should find out next season.
I don't think there is an obvious big dog in the Utah-Colorado pairing, and they haven't been in the conference for 50 years. Stanford is a slightly bigger dog than Cal, but you can argue both are small dogs.
I looked at records since for the last 50 years. The records for the rivals are in parentheses.
| TEAM | REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS | TOURNAMENT BIDS | SWEET 16s | ELITE 8s | FINAL FOURS | COMMENTS |
| Arizona State (Arizona) | 0 (16) | 11 (35) | 3 (18) | 0 (11) | 0 | |
| California (Stanford) | 1 (4) | 14 (17) | 3 (5) | 0 (2) | 0 (1) | |
| Oregon State (Oregon) | 5 (5) | 11 (13) | 3 (7) | 2 (4) | 0 (1) | Oregon State had a period of glory in the Ralph Miller Years. Oregon's success has been fairly recent. |
| USC (UCLA) | 1 (18) | 15 (37) | 3 (22) | 2 (14) | 0 (11) | |
| Washington State (Washington) | 0 (5) | 5 (13) | 1 (5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | WSU had some positive seasons under George Raveling, Tony Bennett, and now seems on the rise. |
It shouldn't come as a big surprise that WSU has been the toughest place in the Pac-12 to win, even if Washington Huskies don't cast that big a shadow. I think Kyle Smith has them headed in the right direction, but he hasn't done much yet. If he has much success, I suspect he will be on to greener pastures before long.
Was Oregon State's success at the end of last season the sign of something to come, or were they one-hit wonders? We should find out next season.