PAC 12 Hoops

Conference Rankings:

The most experienced team in the Pac easily is UCLA. After returning All Pac-12 First Team selections Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell, UCLA has found increased production from Jaylen Clark, who has been integrated into the starting lineup, averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds an outing. UCLA has been perfect thus far at Pauley Pavilion, posting an 11-0 record. An experienced, well-coached team that thrives on the defensive end of the floor, the Bruins are the favorites as of now to head into Vegas with the outright #1 seed.

Somewhat of a shocking team sitting near the top of the Pac-12 regular season rankings are the Utah Utes. Utah handed Arizona their first loss of the season, but has since been somewhat inconsistent. Big production from Center Branden Carlson, leading the Utes in scoring with 17 points and 8 boards a night. Utah has also seen consistent scoring options from guards Rollie Worster, Gabe Madsen and Marco Anthony. Lazar Stefanovic has been an above average sparkplug off the bench.

A team that could easily go undefeated in the rest of conference play, a team that is debatedbly the best in the country has had an interesting start to say the least. After headed into conference play undefeated, The Wildcats have dropped three conference games, and none to UCLA which is shocking to say the least. Arizona had a nice home statement win against UCLA earlier this week, along with great out of conference wins against Indiana, Creighton, and Tennessee. Azoulas Tubelis is one of the best players in the country, and when he is surrounded by elite role players such as Omar Ballo, Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larrson, Arizona could be very scary as march approaches. If Courtney Ramey can step up and become one of the elite guards on this team, Arizona can make a deep run come tournament time.

Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils are having a very strong start to the season, and if they continue solid conference play, they should be able to lock themselves a bid to March Madness. Guards Devan and Desmond Cambridge, DJ Horne and Frankie Collins are all averaging double digits. This team is searching for strong play out of their bigs, and if Marcus Bagley, who has been suspended on and off this season is able to see the floor on a more consistent basis, Arizona State has one of the higher ceilings in the Pac.

A team that is backed by two experienced and successful Pac-12 players in Drew Peterson and Boogie Ellis can help keep any game competitive. Outside of their two stars, the Trojans are still trying to find solid production from their role players. Five-Star Freshman Tre White has been solid this season and is still continuing to get comfortable to Division 1 basketball. Three point shooting has been a struggle for the Trojans as well this season, with only one player, Boogie Ellis, averaging at least 37% from beyond the arc.

Oregon is another coveted Pac-12 program who has seen their fair share of inconsistencies this season. One of the Ducks all-time best players, Will Richardson, has been very solid but inconsistent this year. N’Faly Dante is one of the better and more consistent big man in the conference, averaging 14 points an outing shooting a 62% clip. The Ducks just dominated Arizona, but followed that up with a loss to a struggling Stanford team. If Oregon wants to make a run and have a chance at a bid in March Madness, they will need to see Colorado transfer Keyshawn Barthelemy, freshman Kel’el Ware and second year big man Nate Bittle step up. If Dana Altman and the Ducks start to get hot, they could be dangerous headed into postseason tournament play.

Another team sitting in the middle of the Pac-12 are the Washington State Cougars. The Cougars have seen very solid play from their starting core and also go about 10 deep night in and night out. Washington State shoots the three at a high clip and has one of the better interior players in the conference in Mouhamed Gueye. Washington State is in a weird place, as they are sitting in the middle of the Pac but have the talent to go out and beat any team in the conference.

The Huskies are in a very similar spot as their in-state rival. Washington is yet to win a ranked game, and their best wins of the season arguably are both against Colorado. As a program that usually sees a highly recruited in state prospect, the Huskies have been a few years removed from their recruiting success. Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks has been the main piece of the Huskies offense, averaging a career best 17 points per game. Cole Bajema has been a reliable guard for the Huskies thus far. Going forward, Washington needs to get hot and see some high profile wins in order to have aspirations of dancing in march.

Weird, disappointing and inconsistent are the perfect words to describe the Colorado Buffaloes this season. After opening up the season losing to Grambling State, the Buffs bounced back and saw two massive wins against Tennessee and Texas A&M, only to follow it up with a loss to UMASS, and a lot of close conference losses. KJ Simpson and Tristian De Silva have proven they are two of the best players in the Pac-12, now it is time for others to step up. Nique Clifford, a former Gatorade Player of the Year has been very up and down all year, along with Center Lawson Lovering and J’vonne Hadley. The Buffs are still young and are bringing in their first ever five-star recruit in Cody Williams. The future is bright for the Buffs, although it may be too late for them this season.

Just two seasons ago, Oregon State got hot and won the Pac-12 tournament, leading into a tournament run for the ages for the Beavers, losing to Houston in the Elite 8. Since then, the Beavers have fallen off fast, starting conference play 2-7, including a 6 game straight losing streak in conference play. The Beavers will look to turn things around and develop their talent in hopes to have a successful end to the season with a bright future ahead of them.

Stanford is a program that disappoints year in and year out. A program that always does a good job recruiting and that always is expected to achieve in ways that they don’t. Potential first rounder Harrison Ingram decided to return to school, where he has seen dips in his production. Highly coveted second year guard Isa Silva has not shown he is ready for next level basketball, making it hard to have hope on the future as development seems to be a repeating issue for the Cardinal.

Debatably the worst team in all of power conference basketball, the Golden Bears have struggled tremendously this season. There are some bright spots in this struggling roster, including two time transfer and former five star Devin Askew. Askew has missed 7 games thus far, but in his 13 he has been averaging 15 points an outing on decent efficiency. He could be the guy to build around going forward for the Golden Bears.