SAN FRANCISCO — The federal trial involving college basketball might be on the opposite coast, but it isn’t far from Larry Scott’s mind.
During Wednesday’s Pac-12 women’s media day, Scott said he was closely monitoring the trial, which last week resulted in allegations involving Oregon and Arizona. USC was also involved in the federal investigation into college basketball.
“We're concerned with some of the allegations that have been made,” Scott said, “and looking forward to seeing what the outcome is there."
It will be the second straight season the Pac-12 media day has operated with a cloud from the investigation over it. Just two weeks before last season’s event, Arizona’s Book Richardson and USC’s Tony Bland were arrested when the investigation went public on Sept. 26, 2017.
Having already virtually dressed himself in an Arizona “0” jersey on his Twitter profile picture, Josh Green says he’s ready to go for Red-Blue weekend.
Green is scheduled to visit this weekend along with good friend and fellow UA commit Nico Mannion, along with targets Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Zeke Nnaji, who is continuing to follow a busy visit schedule.
This gonna be the BEST BACKCOURT in the country 💯 @niccolomannion @joshgreen_6 @wceua pic.twitter.com/M4llp3nv89
— Overtime (@overtime) October 9, 2018
Green was among those prodding four-star forward Terry Armstrong to commit to Arizona after taking an official visit last weekend, in reply to Armstrong's Instagram post.
Armstrong's mentor Tim Jones said they had a "great time" on the visit.
Five-star 2020 forward Jalen Johnson put Arizona among his top 15 schools.
Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes said it "didn't bother me at all" that the Wildcats were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 despite their considerable influx of talent.
"I like it being the underdog," Barnes said. "I didn't really expect to be much higher. Even though we have a lot of talent coming in, we're so young. ... But I know we're going to be more competitive because we have more depth."
The Wildcats were picked 11th last season and finished exactly in that spot at 2-16.
Because of renovations to Seattle’s Key Arena, the Pac-12 is moving its women’s tournament to Las Vegas. It will be held March 7-10 at the MGM Grand Garden, where the men’s tournament was played until it moved to T-Mobile Arena in 2016.
There will be a three-day gap between the women’s final and the opening-round games of the men’s tournament on March 13.
“We don’t expect any conflicts from the men’s tournament but we’re hoping for some synergy,” Scott said.
All-tournament tickets for the women's tournament will go on sale Oct. 31, while single-session tickets will go on sale Jan. 17. A "Black Friday" special is planned for Nov. 23-25.
CBS' Matt Norlander put Arizona's Sean Miller, Oregon's Dana Altman and UC Santa Barbara's Joe Pasternack on a list of coaches on a hot seat depending on what comes out of the federal trail. WSU's Ernie Kent is on his more traditional hot seat list.
Kent, UCLA's Steve Alford and Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner are on SI's list of coaches facing a critical season ahead.
Derrick Williams says playing with the well-regarded Bayern club is a "step forward."
Former Stanford forward Reid Travis is getting hugs at Trader Joes after transferring to Kentucky.
Utah received a commitment from Finnish forward Mikael Jantunen.
With freshmen Shareef O'Neal and now Tyger Campbell out, UCLA is off to a rough start.
