It was the last day ever for Pac-12 Media Days to be held at the San Francisco Pac-12 Headquarters on third street.
“I’ve had the opportunity over the past 15 months to get to know many of our men’s basketball players. I can tell you that these are talented athletes, dedicated leaders, and most importantly, incredible people,” shared Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff to start the day, “We’re so proud to have them play in the Pac-12.”
Jamie Zaninovich, the Deputy Commissioner mentioned that the last season in the Pac-12 “Had a record six teams with 20 wins; that’s the sixth time in the last ten years that’s occurred.” This makes him very optimistic for coming season. Here are the other stats Zaninovich ran through:
- Three teams made the NCAA Tournament: A 1 seed in Arizona, UCLA a 4 seed, and USC a 7 seed
- One alum from every school is on an NBA roster. Last season 27 Pac-12 student athletes competing in FIBA competition, Tad Boyle, Colorado coach, won a gold medal as a coach.
- Three teams ranked in the AP top 25 for all 18 weeks of the regular season
- In January for the first time in 74 years, we had three teams ranked in the top six
- Tommy Lloyd – AP Coach of the year in his first season for the Pac-12 (last was in 2017) he was one win shy of the NCAA all-time mark as a first-year coach with 33 wins last year
- 20-game league schedule
- Partnered with the Golden State Warriors, hosting a game in their new stadium
- This year the Pac-12 postseason will end with the 25th Pac-12 Tournament
- 215 Pac-12 basketball games will be broadcasted
- Coach Tad Boyle at Colorado coached the U18 FIBA Americas Cup USA team and came back with a gold medal
What got the most reaction from the media was when George said he has spoken to 100 or more UCLA athletes about the move to the BIG-10. “I think saying hundreds would be an exaggeration; dozens, more than a hundred. And I have yet to talk to anyone in the UCLA and USC community who’s in favor of the move. I will say that I probably hear from folks who are not in favor, not surprisingly,” explained the Commissioner. He’s not thwarting anyone’s wishes. Looking at expansion, but he won’t get ahead of his board to talk about which schools they are thinking about.
For NIL George wants Federal legislation.
As far as planning for another pandemic, George consults with a PAC-12 Medical Advisory Group that will advise him if we have to go through that again, let’s hope not. He is trying to avoid planning the future, his words, for game schedules until they decide if there will be 10 or 12 teams in the Conference, and they have a series of criteria for adding programs. He said he is surprised at all the schools that are reaching out to him and that streaming will be part of the new broadcasting deal.
So, basically, no new news.
