Pac-12 Basketball power rankings: Ducks enter 2020 as clear favorites

#10 – Washington State

It’s probably past time to call CJ Elleby “unheralded”, but however much ink the kid is getting, it needs to be more. The sophomore has picked up where he left off last year, averaging over 20 points per game to go along with nearly seven rebounds.

The issue: he plays for a team going nowhere.

Feel free to give Kyle Smith as much credit as is deserving of a 9-4 start with the team’s best wins coming against New Mexico State and Old Dominion. The losses, meanwhile, haven’t exactly come against world-beaters. Nebraska, Colorado State, Santa Clara, and Omaha have all tallied wins over Wazzu so far.

The rest of the non-conference season has just been fluff for the Cougars, another reason why Elleby doesn’t get more press. But the spotlight will shine directly on him when Washington State start Pac-12 play next week.

Expect this team to pull off a few unexpected wins during league play, especially when they go up against middle-of-the-pack teams like Oregon State or Stanford. But it’s also very likely that this Wazzu squad will lose more than they win against a tough Pac-12.

#9 – Arizona State

The ship might be sailing on this season if Bobby Hurley doesn’t find a way to get back to an even keel in Pac-12 play. The non-conference season was not exactly a success, despite the team’s current record of 9-4.

The jury is out on whether their victory of St. John’s will look as good in a month as it does this week after the Red Storm took down Arizona over the weekend. But that’s probably the Sun Devils’ best win of the year so far. They also beat Georgia and San Francisco, but neither of those wins is guaranteed to be considered Quadrant 1 or 2 wins down the road.

Things started off on the wrong foot when Arizona State lost to Colorado in a non-conference game held in China. A few weeks later, they gave Virginia a real run for their money, but couldn’t pull off the upset over last year’s champions.

But the real nadir came when Saint Mary’s dropped a 96-56 hammer on the Devils, an embarrassing defeat made worse by a second loss a few days later to Creighton.

Remy Martin has been a dangerous scorer, Romello White is averaging a double-double, and Alonzo Verge is apparently capable of going off for 43 points on any given night. There’s a lot to like about Arizona State.

On the flip side, they can’t shoot very well and they don’t crash the glass. That leads to a lot of empty possessions, which is a shame for a team that has very good turnover rates on offense.

But every chance they have had to make an impressive statement has resulted in defeat this season. Unless that turns around, this team will struggle to hit .500 in the league.