Even in a down year, Pac-12 Basketball still has some great talent. Here are the best of the best in the running for Conference Player of the Year.
Pac-12 Basketball is a proud conference built on tradition. The league has teams with a ton of history in Arizona and UCLA, as well as some tremendous players and many current NBA stars played in the conference. Players like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, and James Harden all played for member schools. Finally, the league has had some legendary coaches leading teams to National Championships. The two most famous may be John Wooden and Lute Olsen.
The reasons above are why it is so hard to see the fall from grace that the conference is currently experiencing. The traditional powers in the league are all experiencing rebuilding years at the same time, which leaves the door open for many of the other schools with less tradition to make a rise to the top of the conference. This season the Pac-12 conference has reached its new low as far as overall success is concerned. Currently, the league looks to get one team in the NCAA tournament as no team has a strong resume, with at-large possibilities in doubt.
Even though the teams are not up to the normal snuff of the Pac-12. The league does not lack quality players. The players in the league come from all over the country, as the power programs do still have the national recruiting appeal. The five players listed below are the best five players in the conference and are the players who are going to be considered for the Pac 12 Player of the Year. Can one of these players help lead their team to the conference crown and a potential bid into the NCAA tournament?