Pac-12 Basketball: 5 biggest takeaways from 2019 recruiting classes
After a down season for Pac-12 Basketball, the hope is that the incoming freshmen will lead the way for a better overall season. Are they up to the task?
There’s no better way to describe Pac-12 Basketball as a whole than a near disaster. Throughout most of conference play, it was viewed as a one-bid league. And even that team, the Washington Huskies, weren’t even a guarantee before the Pac-12 Tournament. In the end, Washington got their highest bid with an eight seed, Arizona State barely got in, and Oregon needed to steal a bid just to get the total to three.
A lot of the issues had to do with a lackluster 2018 recruiting class. They did get six teams in the top-25 but a good portion of those players proved to be either “busts” or injured. Off the court plagued Arizona, with the league collectively falling behind compared to the other power conferences.
It’s much stronger this time around with the respective 2019 recruiting classes. There are seven five-star prospects joining the Pac-12 compared to just four a year ago, with four programs (Arizona, USC, Oregon and Washington) ranked in the top-14 overall as a team. Even the other schools had their fair share of successes, teams such as Utah, Oregon State and Washington State landing under the radar players. Everyone brings in at least two recruits, with the exception of Colorado who returns everyone from a season ago.
Related Story. Early 2019-20 season podcast episode. light
There’s a lot to take away from these recruiting classes, including which players to keep an eye on the upcoming year. Here are my five overall thoughts heading into 2019-20 for Pac-12 Basketball.