February 20, 2017

Top-16 upsets and shakeups

The NCAA selection committee will announce the third and final reveal of its in-season top-16 seeds tonight.

After an eventful weekend full of upsets that shook up the top-16 seeds, Charlie Creme expects Notre Dame to replace South Carolina on the top line and Oklahoma to jump to a No. 4 seed: Notre Dame should replace South Carolina on top line in top-16 reveal

Creme predicts only a small adjustment of the Pac-12 teams. He moves Oregon State, Stanford and Washington each down one spot to 8, 9 and 11 respectively, while UCLA moves up one to 13.

His comments on each of the Pac-12 teams:

8. Oregon State: The Beavers have been grinding all season. Two more slugfest wins over Colorado and Utah this weekend have Oregon State tied with Stanford heading into Friday night's matchup that will likely decide the Pac-12 regular-season championship. Regardless of that decision, it is safe to say that the Beavers, barring something like a three-game losing streak, will be a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

9. Stanford: The Cardinal lost to Oregon State on Jan. 8 and have lost only once since. Sophomore Alanna Smith had a huge weekend in two key wins over Cal, with 44 total points off the bench to keep Stanford alive for a Pac-12 title that has eluded it since 2014. That is far more important to the Cardinal down the stretch since they won't be hosting NCAA tournament games even with a top-16 finish (Maples Pavilion is hosting the Pac-12 gymnastics meet the same weekend).

11. Washington: Kelsey Plum is making the national player of the year race a runaway, but she couldn't save the Huskies from a loss Friday at UCLA, which damaged Washington's chances at a No. 2 seed. The defeat was even more damaging to the Huskies' Pac-12 title chances; they are a game behind Stanford and Oregon State with two to play.

13. UCLA: Just when the Bruins look like they are ready to hit a slide, they rebound with a big win. They did it earlier this season at Stanford and produced again at home against Washington on Friday right after losing both of their previous games on a trip to Oregon. Even better news, Jordin Canada is playing; she's not back at 100 percent, but she's coming off the bench after a neck injury knocked her out of the loss at Oregon State.

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