NCAA Basketball: Predicted Winners of last 17 Conference Tournaments of 2023-24
By Bryan Mauro
Pac 12
Dates: March 13th- 16th
Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV
Top Seed: Arizona Wildcats
Winner: Washington State Cougars
It will be sad to see the Pac-12 go, and it will be just as sad to see Washington State and Oregon State drop down from the power level to a mid-major next year. This season isn’t over and the Cougars still have something to prove even though they have already beaten Arizona twice and have secured their at-large bid into the NCAA tournament it would be a nice parting gift for Washington State and head coach Kyle Smith to win the last Pac 12 tournament ever and get the auto bid into the tournament. Freshman Myles Rice is one of the best guards in the country and can put the team on his back and win them games. Big man Isaac Jones is a load inside and is the leading scorer and rebounder. The Cougars are one of the biggest surprises in the country and they are a second weekend NCAA tournament team.
Sleeper: USC Trojans
There are a lot of teams to choose from in the league but USC is finally starting to look like the team everyone thought they would be at the start of the season. The Trojans were a team everyone picked to finish near the top of the league and I had them as a preseason top 25 team. USC underachieved all season but over the last few weeks they have been playing like the best team in the Pac 12. Boogie Ellis is one of the premier guards in the conference and he is asked to do a lot of scoring for USC but his game has been taken to the next level over the last couple of weeks as well. Anyone who has been paying attention would not be surprised if USC won the league tournament.