Pac-12 Basketball: What to make of the league in heart of 2019-20 season

How are the metrics treating the Pac-12?

As I said, no team in the Pac-12 has been able to separate itself so far this season, but what does that mean for the conference in terms of where teams stand when it comes to the analytics the selection committee will look at when deciding on the field?

First, let’s look at the NCAA’s own metric, the NET rankings. Through games on Feb. 13, the NET paints a very different picture than the standings.  Currently, Arizona is the top team in the rankings at 9th, ahead of Colorado and Oregon who sit at 17 and 25 respectively. Despite their struggles of late, Stanford is also currently ahead of both Arizona State and USC, but the biggest surprise might come after USC, where 12-13 Washington sits at No. 65.

When looking at the tempo-based rankings at KenPom, the league starts out very similar to the NET, with Arizona (13) leading Colorado (23), Oregon (26) and Stanford (42), but after that, things differ with Washington (56) leaping over both USC (60) and Arizona State (59), while Oregon State (75), Utah (112) and UCLA (104) are the only teams in the conference in the top-115 of the rankings.

The Sagarin ratings are a bit different, where other than Colorado at 27, no team ranks higher than 28 where Arizona checks in, Oregon sits one spot behind them at 29. Arizona State checks in next at 49, followed by USC (65), Oregon State (70), Stanford (77) and UCLA (79). Unlike the other metrics, Sagarin isn’t as favorable to the Washington Huskies as the others, with the reigning champs coming in at 86.