Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Power conferences’ 2019-20 surprising and disappointing teams

By Jason Burgess

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: A view of the official game ball in the basket prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: A view of the official game ball in the basket prior to the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 26: Cody Riley #2 of the UCLA Bruins and Bill Awet #12 of the Chaminade Silverswords (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 26: Cody Riley #2 of the UCLA Bruins and Bill Awet #12 of the Chaminade Silverswords (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

Pac-12

Surprise: Stanford Cardinal 11-1

The Pac-12 as a whole is having a bounce-back season, but the most surprising team has to be the Stanford Cardinal who at 11-1 is on the brink of cracking the national polls. Stanford was picked near the bottom of the conference, ahead of just Washington State and California but are a 68-67 loss to Butler away from being 12-0. Junior Oscar da Silva and freshman guard Tyrell Terry have led them offensively, but they have been one of the most well-rounded teams in the country this season.

Jerod Haase’s team is 9th in field goal percentage (49.6), 11th in scoring defense (57.7), 36th in field goal defense (38.4) and 20th in three-point field goal percentage (39.4), while allowing opponents to shoot just 29% from deep.

Disappointment: UCLA Bruins 7-5

The most disappointing team in the conference has to be Mick Cronin’s UCLA Bruins who are just 7-5 this season and have lost to Hofstra and a BYU team without Yeoli Childs and their best wins have come against UNLV and UC-Santa Barbara. Offensively, they have been balanced with three, nearly four players (Prince Ali averages 9.9) in double figures but no one averages more than 11 per game with Chris Smith leading the way and Cody Riley adding 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds. If conference play is as much of a struggle as the first two months have been then the fans in Westwood will grow very weary.

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