Pac-12 Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2020-21 season

Stanford was one of the nation’s biggest surprises last year (shoutout to my Busting Brackets Podcast co-host Connor Hope for calling that) behind the breakout play of Oscar da Silva and Tyrell Terry, both of whom became legitimate stars in the conference.

Terry is currently among the early entrants in the NBA Draft pool and Stanford will drop a couple of spots should he leave. That said, I’m projecting he’ll return and help form one of the top trios in the entire county with him, da Silva, and Ziaire Williams, the nation’s No. 4 overall prospect.

The 6-7 wing is a good athlete and smooth shooter, and his size and quickness give him the potential to be a high-quality defender as well. With his scoring talent added to what Terry and da Silva bring to the table, this group will be tough to stop.

Outside of them, though, Stanford is a team full of role players that struggle offensively. They’re also not very big and were one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, something that isn’t expected to change much in 2020-21.

Defense was the strength of the collective group last year, as they ranked No. 7 nationally in efficiency on that end. If they can continue that and get enough scoring from Terry/da Silva/Williams, they can compete for a conference title.