Bracketology 2024: Houston, Creighton, and Nebraska among week's biggest winners
By Joey Loose
Washington State
When looking at this season, it’s been Arizona sitting at the top of the Pac-12. This isn’t just the leagues standings but their standing in the metrics and with potential placement in the bracket. Washington State has caught fire in recent weeks while looking to change that, entering play winners of 10 of their last 11 games. What we just saw was a challenging, confusing, and impressive performance by the Cougars.
What was impressive came Thursday night, as the Cougars scored a 77-74 win at Arizona, completing a season-sweep of the Wildcats. Washington State pulled into first place in the Pac-12 standings and asserted themselves in their final year in the league. Unfortunately, the good vibes lasted just two days, as they were upset 73-61 at Arizona State on Saturday night, picking up their third Quad 2 loss in league play.
The Cougars also have a Quad 3 loss against Santa Clara, but this is less about the faults of their resume. A season sweep over an Arizona team many expect to get a 1-seed is a fantastic accomplishment. Not only have the Cougars used these recent weeks to put themselves into the NCAA Tournament field, but they’re now rapidly improving their seeding. The Cougars will dance for the first time in 16 years; the only question is how good of a seed they can manage.