NCAA Basketball: Overrated Kansas, dominant Virginia, and more takeaways
By Brian Rauf
6) Arizona might just win the Pac-12
So the Pac-12 is a mess and we all know this. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that the conference might end up being a one-bid league (more and more people are hopping on that bandwagon) and, while I think they’ll end up with two bids, this week made it seem like they’ll only end up with one.
First, Oregon star freshman Bol Bol announced that he was out for the season and would be preparing for the NBA Draft, meaning he won’t be back next year (as expected). The Ducks followed that news by losing to Oregon State.
Arizona State, the conference’s best team in the non-conference, lost their Pac-12 opener at home to lowly Utah.
And that brings us to Arizona, who stumbled into conference play with losses to Alabama and Baylor. They’ve found a way to go 2-0 in Pac-12 play so far with wins over Colorado and Utah thanks to their great home-court advantage at the McKale Center.
Similar to the advantage Allen Fieldhouse gives Kansas and Cameron Indoor Stadium gives Duke, the Wildcats virtually never lose in conference play at home. Arizona has proven to be better than people expect and, if they run the table at home (which is a real possibility), that will be all it’ll take to put themselves in position to win the conference.
I still give the edge to the Sun Devils for now but that’s a real advantage the Wildcats have that no one else in the conference does – and it might pay dividends.