The quarterfinals of the 2011 Pac-10 basketball tournament kick off today at Staples Center and the California Golden Bears find themselves as slight underdogs in their matchup with USC. The Luxor down here in sunny Las Vegas (I’m down here for the Mountain West tournament) has the Trojans as three point favorites over Cal. Here are the spreads on the four quarterfinal games, with the favorite to the right.
Cal vs. USC (-3)
Oregon State vs. Arizona (-10.5)
Oregon vs. UCLA (-9)
Washington State vs. Washington (-5)
I think Cal-USC could prove to be the best matchup and also the closest matchup. Their two matchups this year have been decided by a total of five points with each team winning on the road. I would fully expect this game to live up to those previous games. Given that I’d be more inclined to take Cal to cover.
I also think that whomever can get out of that quarterfinal game in one piece would be the serious dark horse to win the Pac-10 tournament. They’ve both played most of the rest of the Pac-10 incredibly close. Either way today’s matchup should be a lot of fun.