It’s been seven weeks since the 2011 – 12 college basketball betting season started. Since the beginning, one of the toughest conferences to figure out has been the PAC -12. The UCLA Bruins were figured by many price per head sharps to be the team to beat in the conference. Instead, the Bruins have become the team to beat up on, as they currently own one of the worst records in division one basketball. Meanwhile, the Stanford Cardinals are converting gridiron success to the hardwood, as they lead the PAC 12 rather convincingly. Today we’ll look at why bookie software agents have had a difficult time figuring out the PAC 12.
Historically known as one of the strongest conferences in sports, the PAC 12 was frequently known as one of the toughest conferences in basketball. Last season, the PAC 12 had several teams make the March Madness Tournament, but none go farther then the Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats were led by second overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft Derrick Williams. Arizona’s biggest win, came when they destroyed the Duke Blue Devils of the ACC by nearly 30 points in the Sweet 16 portion of the tournament.
This season, the PAC 12 has been considered as the bust conference, as many teams are playing below expectation. Arizona currently sits in fifth place with a record of eight and four, while the aforementioned UCLA Bruins are in eighth with a six and five record. As we noted earlier, these two teams were expected to battle at the top of the PAC 12 standings when preseason projections were released. Now that could still happen, but it would require a significant collapse by the teams ahead of each of them.
The surprise story thus far, has to be the play of both the Stanford Cardinals and the California Golden Bears. Presently sitting first and second in the conference, the Cardinals and Golden Bears have blown the expectations of experts out of the water thus far in the season. Stanford came out of nowhere this year, as they spent the last two years at the basement of the standings. The Cardinals have upset the likes of Oklahoma State and North Carolina State. Meanwhile, the team’s only loss was to top NCAA ranked school the Syracuse Orange. However, if you talk to anyone close to the Cardinals, they’ll tell you, that they should have won that game against Syracuse, as they led into the final minutes of the game.
One team that’s taken fans, media and their own coaching staff by surprise is the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavers have jumped out to a quick start and sit third in the conference with a nine and two record. Oregon State has wins over Texas and Vanderbilt, two games that many believed they should have lost. Can the Beavers keep up their strong play over the course of an entire season?
