After a shocking March run, Pac-12 Basketball looked to establish itself as one of the best Power 5 basketball conferences in all of basketball. UCLA looked primed to be in the conversation for best in the country and the first month of college basketball has seen USC and Arizona join them in the top 25 rankings as two unbeatens.
The Cougars remain the sexy pick for the sleeper team, but outside of those four teams, the conference looks largely lost. Oregon appears to have been jammed up when they attempted to reload through the transfer portal. Colorado and Utah have appeared to have taken a major step backward. Oregon State has returned to earth and none of the perennial disappointments have shown any signs of changing course.
So what do we make of where the conference stands now? Here’s an updated list and assessment of who’s who in the Conference of Champions after the first week of conference action.
12. Washington (4-4, 0-1)
Last week: Postponed against Arizona, Lost to UCLA by forfeit
This week: Gonzaga
The Washington Huskies had their best week of basketball thanks to a COVID pause. They may wish for the pause to continue, as their set to play a fifth-ranked Gonzaga team looking to get back on track. The Huskies’ poor defense and even worse offense make them stand out even in a group of underwhelming bottom Pac-12 teams. They are in the bottom third of the country in nearly every shooting metric and have a heinous 39.9 assist to field goal made percentage, 335th in the country.
11. Oregon State (1-8, 0-2)
Last week: Lost to California 61-73, Lost to Arizona 65-90
This week: Sacramento State
We knew that that madness of March was impossible to duplicate, but Wayne Tinkle’s team’s fallback didn’t need to be so harsh. The Beavers have lost their last 8 games and they’ve either been nail biters against poor teams like Samford and Princeton or decisive losses to pretty mediocre teams such as Tulsa or Cal. The smoke and mirrors defense appears to have been figured out and the team from Corvallis is ranked 136th in KenPom, the worst in the Pac-12, and one of the worst in all of the power conferences.