Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Ranking the top 8 conferences for 2018-19

By Adam Childs

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 71-63 during the championship game of the 2018 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 71-63 during the championship game of the 2018 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 10, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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BOISE, ID – MARCH 15: Deandre Ayton #13 and Rawle Alkins #1 of the Arizona Wildcats leave the court after being defeated by the Buffalo Bulls 89-68 during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Taco Bell Arena on March 15, 2018 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID – MARCH 15: Deandre Ayton #13 and Rawle Alkins #1 of the Arizona Wildcats leave the court after being defeated by the Buffalo Bulls 89-68 during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Taco Bell Arena on March 15, 2018 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

7. Pac-12

2017 Tournament Teams – (3) UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State

The Pac-12 needs to rebuild itself. This conference has been bad for a few years and if it were not for Arizona, the nation may not pay attention to it at all. Arizona State got off to a red-hot start last year but then didn’t even finish in the top half of the conference and promptly got beat in their first game of the tournament. UCLA followed the Sun Devils and lost in the play-in game. But the biggest blow was Arizona (who was a popular pick to win it all) getting beat by Buffalo in the first round. With those losses the Pac-12 had zero teams make it to the second round.

The conference hopes they can put the disastrous tournament performance behind them and show the nation that they have improved. Problem is there just is not a lot of good teams in the conference.

Arizona will always have enough talent to compete but after that who knows. Washington could be a breakout team this year, but they need to prove it. Can Arizona State and UCLA stay in contention? Will USC, Stanford, Oregon, and Utah be able to improve and push for a bid? There are so many unknowns with this league that it is hard to predict.

But until they prove otherwise this is a conference that will not get a lot of national respect.

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