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WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
OREGON 64, ARIZONA 57
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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Bob Knight is an outspoken opponent of postseason conference tournaments, and Lute Olson did not care for the Pac-10 tournament (at the time) because it diminished the regular-season competition.
But with the money involved with TV contracts and sponsorship deals, the postseason conference tournaments are not going away. Regular-season conference champions such as Arizona, that do not get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, must play on. The Wildcats have plenty of motivation in Las Vegas. How so?:
— Arizona is coming off a loss, only its third of the season, so the Wildcats need a rebound. They responded in nail-biters after their losses this season to Cal and ASU. They held on to beat Oregon 67-65 after losing at Cal and went to overtime to beat Utah, their potential quarterfinal opponent Thursday, after losing at ASU in two overtimes. It’s time for Arizona to show it’s battle-tested and ready for March Madness.
— The Wildcats have an unthinkable 12-year conference tournament championship drought. The last time Arizona won the title was in 2002, when Luke Walton was a junior and Aaron Gordon was in the first grade. Programs like Arizona’s do not go through such spells. Getting that monkey off the back is worth the week in Las Vegas.
— After last year’s controversy involving Ed Rush and Bountygate at the Pac-12 tournament, the Wildcats have a score to settle. They came up short by two points against UCLA in the semifinals after a late-game technical against Sean Miller, who only said, “He touched the ball”, when Mark Lyons was called for double-dribbling although replays showed UCLA’s Jordan Adams, yes, touched the ball. The turnover and Adams’ two free throws from the technical was a significant potential four-point swing.
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— Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott can not avoid Arizona and Miller this time in Las Vegas, so what better way to end the week than to have Scott hand the conference tournament trophy to Miller? Scott, who has attended a game this season involving every Pac-12 team except Arizona, still does not see eye to eye with Miller after last year’s tournament, one in which Miller was fined a controversial $25,000 for confronting a ref on the court after the UCLA loss and for allegedly having demonstrative behavior in the vicinity of a conference staffer.
— Arizona has already avenged its loss to Cal by beating the Golden Bears at McKale Center by 28 points. The Wildcats still have a score to settle with ASU and Oregon, who are in the opposite bracket. A potential championship matchup with UCLA looms for Saturday. Arizona is 2-4 against UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament. The Wildcats are also 0-3 against Washington, which is a potential opponent in the quarterfinal round.
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TOP FIVE ARIZONA REBOUNDING TEAMS
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PAC-12 STANDINGS
a-Clinched outright regular-season title
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PAC-12 RPI (ESPN.com)
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ARIZONA OVERALL PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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NICK JOHNSON CAREER POINTS RANKING
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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WILDABOUTAZCATS.net publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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