Pac-12 stock report: WSU's all-around uptick, ASU to retain Hurley

Commentary on Pac-12 developments on and off the field, and court …

Rising: Washington State athletics

The Cougars' top programs have not-always-quietly produced an impressive 2021-22 sports cycle:

— The football team won seven games, finished second in the North, claimed the Apple Cup and planted the school flag in Husky Stadium despite firing coach Nick Rolovich in the middle of the season.

— The men's basketball team (16-13/9-9) is tied for sixth place, has secured its best conference record in more than a decade and should finish with more overall wins than at any point in the Pac-12's expansion era.

— And the women's basketball team (19-9/11-6) finished tied for second, set a school record for overall wins, produced the Pac-12 Coach of the Year (Kamie Ethridge) and is likely headed to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in school history.

All the success comes despite the smallest athletic budget in the entire Power Five, according to a USA Today database of finances published prior to the pandemic.

The Cougars typically spend $75 million to $80 million annually on athletics — millions less than even Oregon State.

When it comes to efficiency, to pound-for-dollar success, WSU sets the standard within the conference.

Certainly, the Cougars have performed better throughout 2021-22 (based on their budget) than the likes of USC, Arizona State, Stanford and Washington.

Repeating the feat over a three-to-five-year span is another challenge entirely. WSU's resources relative to the competition create a lower margin for error on every front (hiring coaches, recruiting, fundraising, etc.).

But as we approach the close of this post-pandemic college sports cycle, the Cougars are loaded with momentum.

Falling: UCLA basketball

At some point very soon, the Hotline might conclude it's just not happening for the Bruins this season.

If healthy, they are Final Four material. But the succession of injuries — Johnny Juzang hurt his hip when he fell off a scooter, according to coach Mick Cronin — would suggest the fates are not aligned for the Bruins.

Although we haven't documented all the issues, everything appeared to be in order until UCLA's chartered flight to Marquette in early December had to make an emergency landing because of a cracked windshield.

Then came the long COVID shutdown, followed by one injury after another.

"Like, I'm telling you, we have a plane almost go down, I mean it is unbelievable," Cronin said recently.

"I mean it's a year of unbelievable. Let's just get it all over before March, I hope.

"You can't even make it up, literally, you can't make that up."

It should be noted that Cronin made the comments while standing under a ladder holding a black cat.

Rising: Arizona State basketball

Athletic director Ray Anderson told Stadium earlier this week that he "fully intends" to bring coach Bobby Hurley back for the 2022-23 season.

We have been confused often by decisions in Tempe over the past six or eight months, most of them involving the administration of the football program. But this move makes loads of sense.

Hurley is completing his seventh season in Tempe. COVID and bad chemistry wrecked the Sun Devils last year, and they won't make the NCAAs this month without the Pac-12's automatic bid.

But combine Hurley's pre-pandemic success with the current uptick, and he's clearly the program's best option at the moment.

Winners of five of their past six, the Sun Devils will head to Las Vegas with the confidence and cohesiveness needed to cause significant disruption.

Falling: Pac-12 pipeline

A recruiting analysis from 247Sports published this week helps illustrate the pipeline problems impacting Pac-12 football relative to other conferences.

The website updated its prospect rankings for the high school class of 2023 and included a breakdown of the number of top prospects from various states.

We're talking about the best 247 players in the database, from which half the Pac-12 footprint (Oregon, Colorado and Utah) combined to produce just six prospects — the same number as Maryland.

Fortunately, it's a solid year in Arizona (five of the top 247) and Washington (six), but the Pac-12 has struggled to retain recruits in those states, especially Arizona.

The primary issue is California, which produced 19 of the top-247 players.

That's far fewer than Georgia (27), Texas (38) and Florida (48) — each of which resides in the footprint of a certain conference that has won three consecutive national championships.

With three different teams.

Related topics