Pac-12 Basketball: Will the 2020-21 season be the conference’s best?
By Connor Hope
After several years of mediocre-at-best play, Pac-12 Basketballshowed us a glimpse of improvement during the 2019-20 season. Could this upcoming season be the conferences return to its former glory?
It is hard to imagine that only four years have passed since the Pac-12 got a conference record seven teams into the NCAA Tournament. Since then, the level of Pac-12 Basketball has dipped significantly, with just 10 total teams playing in the last three tournaments. Between the late night games and the popular view of the conferences as the worst high-major conference in the country, fans of the Pac-12 have not had much to be excited about, until now.
While last year could have been a return to form for the conference, with over half the teams having tournament dreams, the 2020-21 season should be even better. Whether you are considering Oregon or UCLA returning tournament level rosters or Arizona State, Stanford and USC bringing in top freshman, the Pac-12 will no longer be the laughingstock of college basketball.
At the top of the conference sits a group of five programs that should be seen as definitive tournament-caliber teams. Oregon may be losing Payton Pritchard and Anthony Mathis, but adding Amauri Hardy to the bench and giving N’Faly Dante a full offseason to prepare should allow the Ducks to compete for a conference title. UCLA returns essentially the full roster, and their improvement during Mick Cronin’s first season at the helm should make fans optimistic. Arizona State, Stanford and USC each secured a top-10 recruit in the 2020 class, and which should push them off the bubble and into a definitive tournament spots.
On top of these five schools, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah could all pose issues for the conference favorites and find their way into the Big Dance. That makes eight programs battling for what could be six or seven spots in the NCAA Tournament.
dark. Next. Pac-12 breakout candidates for 2020-21 season
With improved postseason prospects, some of the nation’s top recruits and what should be an incredibly tight race for the regular season title, the Pac-12 is looking like it will have one of its best seasons ever. Now if only more people had the opportunity to watch their games, but that is an issue for another day.