As Pac 12 conference play begins, the conference has been quite underwhelming. Outside of undefeated Arizona State, not one team has been able to avoid a bad loss this year.
Despite its flaws, the Pac-12 does have some great wins. Arizona State and Washington have both beaten Kansas in the state of Kansas. Arizona, despite some early struggles, has found their way and has beaten Alabama and Texas A&M already this year. UCLA has overall been underwhelming, but they did beat Kentucky in a neutral site game last weekend.
The usual powerhouses in the league have at times played miserable basketball so far this year. Oregon, fresh off a Final Four appearance, may be 10-3 but have zero good wins and a bad loss. Colorado has struggled mightily so far and looks to be undermanned and will probably finish near the bottom of the conference. Then there is the Cal Golden Bears. Cal, which is usually a good program, has been awful this year, has beaten no one, and has numerous bad losses, including a double-digit loss to Chaminade. It has already been a long year in Berkeley and is going to get longer.
Stanford entered the year with high expectations, as a lot of their guys got injured or were ruled ineligible by the NCAA and they have in turn really struggled to get themselves going. Stanford is a team that has tremendous talent, but the verdict is still out on whether the Cardinal will ever get it figured out this year. It does not look good in Palo Alto.
The Pac 12 is the only conference to beat Kansas. However, the Pac 12 has also provided many lesser teams with a win on their ledger. As mentioned above California has been the most giving recipient. Cal has already lost to Chaminade, UC Riverside, Central Arkansas, and Portland State. Those are teams that no Pac 12 team should ever lose to, especially considering three of those games were at home. Oregon State has already lost at Kent State; Colorado has lost to Iowa, Colorado State, and San Diego.
California and Colorado had a lot of roster turnover, and California has a new coach. Even with the new coach and new roster, their talent is still superior to many of the teams they have lost to. Colorado, who is usually a top half team in Pac 12, has only one returning starter in their starting lineup and have a few talented freshman starting. The Buffalos are going to struggle this year. Oregon State, along with Stanford, are one of the hardest teams to figure out in this league.
The Beavers were dreadful last year after losing their best player in Tres Tinkle. Tinkle is back this year and has better talent around him with the addition of superstar Freshman Ethan Thompson. Even with a revamped roster, Oregon State has still struggled at times to get out of their own way. This team appears offensively challenged at times. Oregon State is just good enough to make some noise in this league, and provide some teams with a loss they don’t want.
Barring a complete and total 180, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, and UCLA should make the NCAA tournament. USC and Oregon could find themselves on the bubble if they avoid the bad losses in conference and can beat one of the four teams mentioned above. At the time of this writing, Utah did just beat Oregon and Washington beat USC. There is a long way to go in the season, but those losses for Oregon and USC do not bode well for their at-large chances.
This could be one of the worst years the Pac 12 has ever had as a conference. Arizona State has been a tremendous surprise this year, and Arizona — sans their 0-3 showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament — has looked dominant. Arizona owns the Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and is the best overall team in this league. The Wildcats are built to make a run to the Final Four. If they can get there this year that would make up for the underwhelming start for the Pac 12 at this point in the season.
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If Arizona State can keep their early season magic going, they should be able to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. If the Sun Devils can do that, at the end of the year the Pac 12 may not look so bad.