Pac-12 Basketball: Why league in 2020-21 hasn’t been as bad as you think

Now I don’t see any team from Pac-12 Basketball winning it all. Heck, I wouldn’t even feel confident taking any team to reach the Sweet 16. However, this league gets a lot of slack compared to other conferences.

Even in my last article, I said this was a very lackluster and uninspiring league. Maybe it’s because they play on the West Coast, or maybe it’s because the top of the league doesn’t have the firepower compared to other conferences. Yet, if we’re calling a spade, a spade, they definitely have four, probably five, and maybe even six tournament teams.

Every league has its bad teams. Whether it’s Nebraska or Northwestern in the Big Ten, Iowa State and Kansas State in the Big 12, or the several teams in the Big East, you have your dreadful competition.

The bottom of the PAC-12 is unquestionably bad. California and the two teams from Washington are more times than not uncompetitive. Nevertheless, California is playing closer games as of late (not the last one), Washington surprisingly beating Colorado and was on a two-game win streak, and then there’s Washington State, who ended that win streak in impressive fashion on the road. The Cougars are only in year two of the Kyle Smith era, and he has had success in every stop along the way.

Utah and Arizona State are underperforming compared to years past, but they can win on any given night, as shown by this weekend. Oregon State is one of the peskiest teams in the country and is slowly, but surely, improving. These six teams are in the bottom half of the conference, but why are these teams any different from, let’s say, the Big East. Even Jon Rothstein agrees with me.