College basketball: Seven teams that are peaking at the right time

[Wilson’s Mustache]

California Golden Bears
No coach is going to be excited to face Cal in March. The Golden Bears have the most talented freshman duo in the country in Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, and despite inconsistent starts, these two have lived up to the hype and then some in the past month. Cuonzo Martin’s squad has reeled off seven Pac-12 wins in a row, blowing out the likes of Oregon, UCLA and USC during that span. Cal hasn’t lost since Ty Wallace returned from injury, and the Bears have been an offensive juggernaut in their past seven games, scoring at least 75 points in every contest.

Brown is a freakish athlete and defender, and now that he’s making outside shots, Cal is virtually impossible to guard. In his past six games, Brown has drained 10 triples. He had made a total of 18 up to that point, and you might not find a first five with more raw talent than Brown, Rabb, Wallace, Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird.

Talent plus momentum will be a tough combination to argue against later this month.

Utah Utes

Staying out west, Jakob Poeltl and the Utes have found their stride as of late, too. Poeltl has a good shot at winning Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, and Utah surrounds him with at least three shooters at all times. That’s a tough formula to stop. The Utes have won 11 of their last 13 games including a big home win against Arizona on Saturday.

Joe Boozell | NCAA.com

[Tony (admin)]

I actually worry that the Pac-12 tournament games will be the peak and it drops down when the big dance actually starts. Hope not.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

I’m actually not worried. Utah has gotten stronger the longer they play together. I think a lot of the issues to begin the season was chemistry. I don’t think they had really established how/who was going to replace what Delon Wright did and weren’t quite sure how good Poeltl was going to be or how to run the offense through him. Couple this with Brandon’s lack of confidence in his shot and its no wonder they struggled the 1st half to he season.

Not to mention look how the Utes responded last year in the NCAA tournament. Even if they slip up in the Pac-12 tournament I think Larry will keep this train chugging along right into the big dance.

[Anonymous]

Cal lost in overtime 63-62 to Virginia (UVA) in Charlotsville. Cal was up 60-54 with 2:25 left in OT. Cal started 2 Freshmen, 1 Sophomore, 1 Junior and 1 Sr. UVA started 2 Seniors, 1 Junior and 2 Sophomores. Play that game now on a neutral court and Cal wins. Just the development over the season with lottery pick freshmen Jalen Brown and Ivan Rabb would change the whole complexion of the game.

UVA is ranked 4th in the polls. Cal is currently the third place team in the PAC 12 and ranked 25th. When you’re doing brackets and see Cal as a #12 seed, take them. You can bank on that.

P.S. We need Cal to lose @ Arizona. If Utah and Cal win out, they will have the same records in the PAC 12, but Cal owns the tie breaker over Utah by virture of their splitting with Oregon and Utah losing both to Oregon.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

I have a good feeling that Oregon will at least split the LA road trip. UCLA is very respectable at home & so is USC even though they have been on a slide. USC is athletic enough to keep pace with Oregon at home.

I’m actually giving Cal a decent change at beating Arizona on the road, but my gut is telling me that Arizona under Miller will bounce back. McHale is no easy place to win & Cal hasn’t been a great road team…good but not great. I think it will take a great performance form Cal to get it done.

[89ute]

I’m not sure what to call a team that only has 2 conference road wins, but “good” is not on the tip of my tongue. They lost their first 5 road games (Oregon, OSU, Stanford, Utah, Colorado) and won their last two (Washington and WSU.)

Undefeated at home in conference, currently on a 7 game win streak which includes the WA sweep. They’re hot, but I don’t think they are beat-Arizona-at-home hot. If I were a betting man, I’d put at least half the farm on AZ to win.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Yeah but you’re falling into the mistake of judging a team from 2 months ago. Which was the start of their road trips which was as tough a stretch as anyone has had in the league. If you want to do that then you might as well judge Utah by their 1-3 start to the conference. Cal’s road start you ask?

They lost @ #5 UVA in OT by 1 point.

In Conference they lost

@Oregon
@OSU
@Stanford

Utah lost all these games on the road.
Then they went on to lose

@Utah

@Colorado
which is considered the most difficult road trip in conference.

They’ve picked up steam since the beginning of conference play by completely dominating teams.

I would not be shocked to see them win @ASU & @Arizona to finish 4-5 in conference on the road.

With that said I hope they get beat.

[89ute]

Tonight Cal played AZ better than I thought. Cal choked their last three possessions which lead to their downfall. Even with their improved play, they could not close out a win on the road. Next year, they win this game and Cal will be a force, if not THE force in the Pac-12. Unless their fab freshmen jump to the NBA.

If I were a betting man, I would now have 1.5 farms.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Cal was up 8 points with 1:30 left.

Bona went on an 11-0 run to win the game.

Talk about s**tting the bed.

But I’m glad because I didn’t want to share 1st place with those asshats from Berkley.

Can’t wait to see Oregon lose to USC.

[89ute]

Hell of a Saturday that would be, Oregon plays USC at 2pm mtn. If they lose we go into the game knowing a co-championship is on the line. Either way, I feel fortunate to have a ticket. Last home rodeo for some great Utes.

[Author]

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