Stanford No. 5, Cal picked 11th in Pac-12 men’s poll

Arizona is the near-unanimous pick to win the Pac12 Conferencemen’s basketball title, according to amedia poll released Thursday by the conference.

The Wildcats, named at the league’s favorite for the 15th time since 1989- 90, were tabbed first on 22 of 23 ballots in the annual poll.

Stanford was projected to finish fifth, Cal 11th.

Arizona is one of the preseason favorites to win the national championship, based on the return of three starters along with a topfive recruiting class. The Wildcats shared the 201617 Pac-12 regular- season crown and won the conference tournament.

USC, which returns everyone from a team that won a school- record 26 games a year ago, was picked second — its highest spot ever in the poll. The Trojans received the remaining first-place vote.

UCLA, with two double- digit scorers back and two McDonald’s All-Americans added to the roster, was picked third. Oregon, missing virtually everyone from the team that advanced to the 2017 Final Four, is fourth.

Second- year Stanford coach Jerod Haase’s squad returns four starters, including all-Pac-12 forward Reid Travis.

First-year Cal coachWyking Jones faces a rebuilding job after the exit ofmuch of the roster, led by Ivan Rabb, who departed for the NBA after his sophomore season.

The sixth through 10th spots in the poll went to Arizona State, Utah, Oregon State, Colorado and Washington. Oregon State was picked last.

Soccer

USF, SANTA CLARA CANCEL MATCHES » USF, in conjunction with the West Coast Conference, has decided to cancel this weekend’s home men’s and women’s soccer contests against Pacific and BYU.

• Santa Clara’s men’s match Friday with Saint Mary’s and the women’s Saturday match with San Diego have been canceled.

CAL 2, OREGON STATE 0 » Sam Ebstein and Simon Lekressner scored to lead the Bears (8-3- 0, 3-1- 0 Pac12). Jose Carrera- Garcia assisted on both goals, and Drake Callender recorded his fifth shutout this season with five saves and moved his record to 7-3.