Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Who’s Arizona State’s biggest challenger?
By Brian Rauf
6) Stanford Cardinal (4-4)
LW: 8
It’s rare for a team to rise because of how they played in a loss but Stanford has proven to be an exception with their performance against No. 1 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse.
The Cardinal have done nothing to show they’re a bad team – all of their losses have come against KenPom top 25 teams and were competitive against both Wisconsin and the Jayhawks. At the same time, they also haven’t done anything to show that they’re a good team, either – all of their wins have come against teams ranked 171 or lower.
KZ Okpala (17.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg) has emerged as a star and was the best player on the court for a portion of their game against Kansas. Stanford has a solid roster but their ceiling is only as high as Okpala takes them.
5) Oregon Ducks (5-3)
LW: 4
You’re a liar if you say you’ve figured out Oregon. Are they the team that handily beat Syracuse, or are they the team that lost to Texas Southern in Eugene?
Bol Bol (21.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.5 bpg) has been every bit as good as advertised but the rest of the roster has been underwhelming. Payton Pritchard seems to have regressed from last year and they largely play without any sense of urgency. They kind also be sloppy and careless with the ball, ranking outside of the top 100 in turnover rate.
Five-star freshman wing Louis King returned in their last game against Omaha and should give the Ducks an added dimension with his size, versatility, and shooting ability. He’ll provide more spacing on offense and a needed perimeter defender. But can Oregon sure up all of their other issues?