ESPN Men's Basketball

LOS ANGELES -- It wouldn't be a surprise if Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott let out a loud sigh of relief late Friday night, as Colorado's victory against California in the second Pac-12 semifinal allowed his conference to avoid the Armageddon scenario of being the first one-bid major conference since the NCAA tournament expanded from 48 to 64 teams in 1985. With the Golden Bears assured of a bid barring some crazy circumstances, Saturday's Pac-12 title game between Colorado and Arizona will give the conference a second bid. And Washington has a decent shot at getting a third bid for the Pac-12. So take that critics!

No. 6 Colorado vs. No. 4 Arizona, 6 p.m. ET
Neither the Buffaloes (22-11) or Wildcats (23-10) were considered an at-large selection when the Pac-12 tournament started, and the loser is almost assuredly relegated to the NIT, as both teams were in the "Next Four Out" category of Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology. So the atmosphere for this conference championship game will have more of a mid-major feel, where the combatants are scrapping and fighting for their shot at glory, than a BCS conference title game vibe, where the teams are playing simply for seeding. That should make for some fun at Staples Center.

Both teams have gotten to this point via defense, as they are the top two field goal percentage defenses in the conference. Colorado has given up only 54 points per game in its three victories (43 against Utah, 62 against Oregon, and 59 Friday night against Cal), holding opponents to 39.5 percent shooting in those victories. Colorado clamped down at crucial times twice against the Golden Bears, getting out to a 15-4 start early, and holding Cal scoreless for 4:28 in the late going, allowing a three-point lead to swell to a comfortable 59-46 advantage.

Arizona is no slouch on the defensive end either, as it actually led the Pac-12 in field goal percentage defense. The Wildcats held Oregon State more than 18 points below its season average in Friday's 72-61 semifinal victory, shutting off Jared Cunningham in the second half. After limping into the halftime down 34-27 after Oregon State ripped off a 20-4 run, the Wildcats flipped the script in the second half with their defense, holding the Beavers without a field goal for 6:16 as part of a 20-3 surge.

Keys to victory: Hitting the three and the boards. Along with stifling defense, Arizona turned the tables on Oregon State on Friday by tearing it up from long distance, as the Wildcats drained nine of 18 3-pointers. Brendon Lavender's trey to tie the game at 36-36 was considered the turning point of the game by Arizona coach Sean Miller. Kyle Fogg also nailed three triples, seemingly all late in the shot clock. Arizona leads the conference in 3-pointers per game, so look for Fogg, Lavender, Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson behind the arc.

Colorado sophomore forward Andre Roberson, the leading rebounder in the Pac-12, has been a double-double machine this season, compiling 18 thus far. He narrowly missed a 19th against Cal, with 17 points and nine rebounds. But Colorado, one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, was actually outboarded 31-25 by Cal, which is something it can't afford to do against Arizona. The Wildcats' Jesse Perry, the second-leading rebounder in the conference, had 16 points and 11 rebounds against Oregon State, while Hill can also crash the boards. So the Buffaloes will need the likes of Austin Dufault and Carlon Brown to help Roberson on the glass.

Previous meetings: The teams split their regular-season encounters. Colorado pulled out a 64-63 nail-biter in Boulder on Jan. 21., and Arizona notched a 71-57 victory in Tucson on Feb. 9. Brown was the hero for the Buffs in the first game, draining the game-winning 3-pointer with 1:19 left. Arizona crashed the boards in its victory, as Perry (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Hill (16 points, 14 boards) each compiled double-doubles.

LOS ANGELES -- After having come within two points of making the Final Four a year ago, Arizona wasn't going to allow its NCAA tournament hopes to fade away at halftime of the Pac-12 tournament semifinals on Friday at Staples Center.

So despite only hitting one field goal in the final 7:56 of the first half and going into halftime down seven points to No. 9-seeded Oregon State, Arizona knew that its tourney chances weren't remotely close to being done.

“Sometimes as a coach you have a feel that your guys have been through it before, and it's somewhat understated how many postseason games we played in a year ago,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “When you're at halftime and you're playing in these elimination games, it certainly helps to have a team of individual players that have done that and been there before.”

That experience was evident in the second half, as No. 4-seeded Arizona buckled down on defense, outscoring the Beavers by 18 points in the second half to roll to a 72-61 victory and a berth in the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday.

After allowing the Beavers (19-14) to shoot 50 percent in the first half, Arizona (23-10) locked down on defense, holding Oregon State to 27.3 percent shooting to turn a 34-27 disadvantage into another step toward its 26th NCAA tournament appearance in 27 seasons. But even though the entire 20 minutes was a clinic, Miller said he was especially impressed by the way his team played in the first four minutes of the second half.

“That four to eight minutes in the second half is some of the best basketball that we played this year,” Miller said. “It would have been easy to go in at halftime and say 'It just doesn't feel right,' but we did just the opposite.”

Seniors Kyle Fogg and Jesse Perry were key cogs in Arizona's second-half push, as Fogg scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half while Perry scored 10 points and pulled down 7 rebounds after halftime, giving him a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds for the game.

“He made some big shots,” Miller said of Fogg. “It wasn't an easy 22. He made several plays when it counted the most -- made a lot of plays at the end of the [shot] clock. He's really been doing that, and he had a great game today.”

The entire Wildcats team had a great second half on defense, holding Oregon State to zero field goals and only one point for 6 minutes, 16 seconds, from the 17:48 mark to 11:32 of the second half. Oregon State's only point during that stretch came on a free throw by Jared Cunningham. Cunningham was a symbol of Oregon State's second-half frustration, scoring only 3 points on 1-of-8 shooting in the second half after going off for 11 in the first 20 minutes.

While Oregon State was scuffling, Arizona was making big shots. The biggest of Arizona's 20-3 run to open the second half might have come at the 16:21 mark, when senior guard Brendon Lavender drained a 3-pointer at the top of the key to tie the game at 36-36.

“When Brendon hit that shot, I could sense that we were ready to get it going,” Fogg said. “It seemed to take a little out of them too. It's tough playing three games in three days like they did and it started to catch up to them.”

Oregon State coach Craig Robinson admitted that the Beavers had lost their legs in the second half, as the combination of playing two intense games prior to Friday and the Beavers' frenetic style took its toll.

“I thought we simply ran out of gas,” Robinson said. “We played so hard and so fast for three days that we didn't have anything left in the tank after they made their run at us. With the way we play, I thought it took its toll.”

But Arizona had just as much to do with Oregon State's fatigue than any sort of lag the Beavers felt. Freshman guard Nick Johnson, who put Arizona up for good at 38-36 with 15:59 left on a driving layup, was one player who Miller lavishly praised.

“With Nick, it's not what shows up on the stat sheet,” Miller said. “It's just that he's a playmaker. And he made plays tonight.”

The Wildcats hope that Johnson, as well as the rest of the crew, continue to make plays in Saturday night's Pac-12 championship game and take any question about their tournament status out of the selection committee's hands.

LOS ANGELES -- Some thoughts from Arizona's 72-61 victory over Oregon State in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal Friday:

Overview: No. 4-seeded Arizona picked a heck of a time to come up with arguably its best half of the season, as it blitzed Oregon State to knock the Beavers out of tournament consideration and keep its hopes alive. After a lull at the end of the first half allowed Oregon State to build a seven-point halftime lead, the Wildcats overwhelmed Oregon State, which felt the effects of playing a third game in three nights.

Is it enough to get the Wildcats, who were the seventh team out in Joe Lunardi's most recent bracket update, in the tourney even with a loss on Saturday? Doubtful, but Arizona has a chance to take its tournament life out of the hands of the committee, which is all it can really ask.

Turning point: Halftime. Oregon State rolled in the final eight minutes of the first half, holding Arizona to one field goal while ripping off a 20-4 run to take a 34-27 lead. But whatever Arizona coach Sean Miller did to rally the troops during the break apparently worked, as the Wildcats ripped off a 20-3 run to open the second half, turning the seven-point deficit into a 47-37 advantage while holding Oregon State without a field goal for 6:16. Things didn't get much better for the Beavers after that, as Arizona extended its lead to as many as 14 points and was not significantly challenged by Oregon State the rest of the way.

Kyle Fogg and Jesse Perry keyed Arizona's second-half outburst, as Fogg scored 17 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes while Perry added 10 points and 7 rebounds in the second half to finished with a double-double, compiling 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Key player: Fogg and Perry carried the way for the Wildcats, but Arizona also got 12 points from Solomon Hill. Senior guard Brendon Lavender was also crucial in the early stages of Arizona's run, draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 15:59 left in the second half to tie the game at 36. Nick Johnson's layup on Arizona's next possession put the Wildcats ahead to stay.

Sophomore reserve Roberto Nelson was a bright spot for the Beavers, as he scored 19 points to lead the Beavers. He was instrumental in Oregon State's run to end the first half, scoring five points during the rally, and was the only Oregon State player to really get it going in the second half, when he scored 14. Devon Collier added 15 points while Jared Cunningham added 14, though Cunningham, the Pac-12's leading scorer, struggled in the second half.

Key stat: After shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half (14-for-28), the Beavers were held to 27.3 percent shooting (9-for-33) in the second half. Arizona was deadly from 3-point range, making 9 of 18 triples.

Miscellaneous: Cunningham went ice-cold in the second half, only scoring 3 points on 1-of-8 shooting...With the loss, the Beavers will miss the NCAA tournament for the 22nd consecutive season dating back to the 1989-90 season. Oregon State was led then by future NBA All-Star Gary Payton, who sat courtside by former Los Angeles Laker and Oregon State alum A.C. Green for all three of the Beavers' games in the tournament.

What’s next: Arizona gets a chance to qualify automatically for its 26th NCAA tournament in 27 seasons on Saturday, as it will play the Colorado-California winner in the Pac-12 tournament title game at 6 p.m. Oregon State will have to wait to hear its postseason fate, as the Beavers have a chance to be selected to play in the NIT or CBI tournaments.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A look at the Huskies-Wildcats matchup at the Honda Center in Anaheim:

No. 5 seed Arizona (30-7) vs. No. 3 seed Connecticut (29-9), 7:05 p.m. ET (CBS)

How they got here: Behind a huge 36-point performance from Kemba Walker, UConn was able to knock off San Diego State 74-67 to get to this game. Walker continued to show he is one of the nation’s great scorers and big-game players by scoring at will. He also had help, as freshman Jeremy Lamb scored 24 points to help beat the second-seeded Aztecs. Arizona also got a big game out of its star player, with Derrick Williams going off for 32 points and 13 rebounds in a 93-77 trouncing of defending national champion Duke. Williams scored 25 of those points in the first half, and the Wildcats played their best basketball of the season by scoring 55 points and decimating the Blue Devils’ defense after halftime.

Storyline: The two programs have proud histories, combining for 18 Elite Eights, seven Final Fours and three national championships. Yet they've somehow never met in the NCAA tournament. They have played four times in the regular season, though, and UConn has won each of the meetings, including the last one -- a 79-70 victory in the 2005 Maui Invitational.

This one will be a star-studded affair, and the winner will celebrate a Final Four berth along with the satisfaction that rebuilding projects don’t have to take long after all.

Third-seeded UConn has had to deal with an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations that landed the program on probation. Last season, the Huskies lost 16 games and finished 7-11 in the Big East. But with a young roster and an explosive scorer in Walker, coach Jim Calhoun has the Huskies back within a win of the Final Four.

“We’re moving on to hopefully a Final Four, and we’ve had a fabulous year, and we would love to get to the Final Four,” Calhoun said.

Fifth-seeded Arizona has upset Texas and Duke on its way to the Elite Eight. Coach Sean Miller has done wonders putting together, and developing, a roster that has quickly matured. Williams has emerged as one of the nation’s most dominant forces and clutch players, and the Wildcats are peaking at the right time after running the defending champs off the court by scoring the most points of any Duke tourney opponent in 14 years.

“I’m sure on UConn’s end, that would be the team that they don’t want to see because that’s probably the best that we’ve played,” Miller said.

Players to watch: Walker called Williams the best player he’s seen this season before Calhoun corrected him. “He’s a terrific player, and I would have to disagree with Kemba for once,” Calhoun said of Williams. “I think he is probably the second-best player in America.”

Of course, Calhoun likes his own guy very much. Since helping the Huskies win five games in five days at the Big East tournament, Walker has remained hot in the NCAA tourney and has surpassed the 30-point total in his past two games. It will be an interesting matchup watching Walker go up against his friend and former New York City high school teammate Lamont "MoMo" Jones.

“I think our guys really understand the focus and the energy that it takes to do the best job you can against a player like him,” said Miller, who likes that the Wildcats have experience playing against Washington’s Isaiah Thomas.

Williams, while conceding that Walker would make his share of shots, emphasized that crashing the boards would be a key to winning the game. “It’s really just about getting defensive rebounds and whenever those guys miss just make sure we get the rebound,” he said.

For UConn, it will have to contain Williams not only on the glass, but also from making game-changing plays. “He’s definitely a great player and the key to that team,“ Huskies big man Alex Oriakhi said. “If we can do a good job of keeping him off the boards, I think we’re going to make it tough on them.”

What to look for: Arizona’s rotation is deep and really showed up against Texas and Duke. Solomon Hill and Jesse Perry, along with reserves like Jamelle Horne, Kevin Parrom and Brendon Lavender, have given solid rebounding performances in the tournament. “Bottom line, the diversity and the flexibility of their team in many ways gives you grave concerns,” Calhoun said.

UConn is a young team growing up right in front of the nation. Sophomore Oriakhi and freshman Roscoe Smith showed they can control the boards. And Lamb, also only a freshman, is coming off a 24-point performance and has scored in double-figures for eight games in a row. “He’s playing with great confidence, shooting the ball at a very high level,” Miller said.

Arizona doesn’t just consist of Williams, and the same goes for UConn and Walker. The game could very well come down to which team’s complementary players step forward.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Derrick Williams had sensed the disrespect. In his mind, not many thought Arizona could actually upset defending national champion Duke.

But with Williams, the Wildcats have a game-changer unlike any other. By the time he got done scoring 32 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in a 93-77 win against Duke, Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski was left heaping praise on the star sophomore and telling the 6-foot-8 forward that he was indeed special.

“He’s as good as anybody we’ve played, or I should say better than anybody we’ve played,” said Krzyzewski, who finished the season with 900 career Division I wins. “Even when he’s not scoring, he spreads you out. There is a physicality to his game. Clean, beautiful -- he’s a beautiful player.”

Williams’ 32 points tied a school record for most points in an NCAA tournament game, and it was the first time since 1990 that any player has scored that many in a win over the defending champs. It was a dominating performance that carried the Wildcats into a matchup with Connecticut in the Elite Eight, a place the Cats haven't been in six years.

For all the doubters who thought a young Arizona team under second-year coach Sean Miller was not yet ready to experience glory days, Williams provided the response on the court and with words of his own.

“It just proves a lot of people wrong right there,” Williams said. “I think a lot of people -- media, fans, friends -- said that we couldn’t do it, and this proved them all wrong. I think that next time that they pick somebody else to beat us, they’ll think differently.”

Williams, whose season has been defined by last-minute heroics -- including each of UA's first two tourney games -- this time made his deepest impact in the first half, when he scored 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He made five 3-pointers, including one with a second left on the clock to give the Wildcats a manageable six-point halftime deficit.

For all its NCAA tournament experience, Duke ended up getting dominated in a 55-point second half for Arizona, which ended up scoring more points than any Blue Devil tourney opponent in 14 years. The Wildcats went on a 19-2 run during which Lamont Jones tied the score at 53 with a jump shot and Jamelle Horne hit a 3-pointer to give Zona the lead. Horne, Williams and Brendon Lavender later soared for dunks, and the Wildcats got plenty of second-chance opportunities as well.

“In the second half, I just think they were the aggressor,” said Duke guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 28 points in his third game since returning from a toe injury. “They were throwing a lot more punches than us. Tonight they were the better team.”

While Irving said after the game that he remains undecided about his future at Duke, it was the end of the line for seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Krzyzewski had them both check out for the last time with 2:01 left and the Blue Devils trailing by 17, drawing them close and saying a few words.

The abrupt realization that his career was over caused Smith to bury his head in a towel and choke back tears on the bench. He scored eight points, going only 3-for-14 from the field while committing six of the team’s 11 turnovers. “Everybody on their team stepped up,” said a stunned Smith.

Singler had 18 points and eight rebounds, but the Wildcats shot 54 percent and controlled the glass by a 40-27 margin (25-9 in the second half). With the Blue Devils unable to stop Williams from further improving his NBA draft stock, they never made a serious run to get back into the game.

“Seeing them on the sideline and the name on their jerseys, we were bracing for it,” Horne said.

But the expected Duke run simply never came.

Said Krzyzewski: “They were phenomenal in the second half. We couldn’t stop ‘em. We just couldn’t stop ‘em.”

Duke could never find its rhythm, with Williams’ talent unmatched and his motivation for beating Duke made clear after the game. He knew all about the last meeting between the two schools in the 2001 national championship game that Duke won.

“One fan told me, ‘My shirt is getting small from the 1997 championship. I need another one,’” Williams said. “That flipped the switch. I want to give everyone what they want.”

In front of family and friends near his hometown and plenty of Arizona fans who made the short trip, Williams will now have a chance to help the Wildcats reach the Final Four for the first time since that '01 title game. A one-man wrecking crew at times, he’s destroying the notion that these Cats can’t start a new chapter in the program’s storied history.

“If we win this game on Saturday," Williams said, "we’re going to be known as one of the best Arizona teams to play."

Arizona guard Brendon Lavender averaged 3.2 points per game last season in mostly a reserve role, but got his day in the sun before the annual Red-Blue intrasquad scrimmage on Sunday by showing off his cheerleading skills to win the team's dunk contest.

PointGuardU.com has video of Lavender doing a cartwheel and backflip with no hands alongside two cheerleaders doing the same before the 6-foot-5 junior threw down a dunk to win the title.

"I wanted to do something that would get the crowd on my side, and I think it worked," Lavender said. "The last time I did a backflip was two or three years ago on a trampoline. I think afterwards Coach [Sean] Miller was more shocked than anything."

According to the Arizona Daily Star, Miller approved of the dunk even though he had warned the players about trying anything career-threatening.

"He has a split personality, Lav," UA coach Sean Miller said. "He goes weeks upon end not talking, and he becomes a different person there in that dunk contest.

"When you have that many people in the building for Red-Blue, they deserve a little entertainment.

"I'm glad he did it. I'm waiting for him to dunk a ball in the game now."

Another buzzer-beating win for Arizona has the Wildcats feeling good about themselves -- even though it will take a run through the Pac-10 tournament to capture their 26th consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

Lamont Jones, a freshman also known as MoMo, banked in a jumper at the horn to beat Stanford on the road 71-69 on Saturday. Jones scored 16 points and, probably conference freshman of the year, Derrick Williams had 24.

The rebuilding at Arizona is ahead of schedule, and fittingly, coach Sean Miller had Jones in the game late instead of starting point guard Nic Wise, who twice hit game-winners this season but has struggled lately.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star noticed that by the end of the game, only freshmen and sophomores were on the court for the Wildcats:

So here was UA's lineup on the floor tonight in the final seconds: Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill, Brendon Lavender, Kyle Fogg and MoMo Jones.

What does that tell you?

“You have to play the players that are performing, the players who are playing the best together and mostly you have to play the players who are giving fantastic effort," UA coach Sean Miller said.