10. Cal Bears - 6-11 (2-4)
The record isn’t good but the Bears have too much talent not to scare the top Pac-12 teams. They recently have a two-game win streak, beating UCLA on the road and an upset against Colorado. They even led Oregon at the half last game before losing by seven points.
Jaylon Tyson (20.7 ppg) leads the conference in scoring and if the team was better, could make a case for Pac-12 Player of the Year. The lack of depth remains a concern but they have enough top-tier talent to make some noise. They have a chance in the next three home games, including against both the Washington schools.
9. USC Trojans - 8-9 (2-4)
The injury to freshman star Isaiah Collier is brutal for a team with not much guard depth to begin with. They did show some life by beating Cal and Stanford at home, before losing to Washington State and Colorado in the past week, though they led the Buffaloes by double-digits at halftime.
We’ll see what Boogie Ellis and USC can do on the road against Arizona and Arizona State this week. An 0-2 push would effectively take the Trojans out of any spotlight and at the bottom of the standings.