The Pac-12 Conference is projected to send seven teams to the NCAA Tournament this year with the University of Washington on the outside looking in. Here are the final rankings and bubble watch before the postseason begins.
1. Oregon — No. 2 seed — Could Oregon work its way to a one seed? A few upsets across the country and a solid conference tourney performance and the Ducks should be in business.
2. Utah — No. 3 seed — Pac-12 Player of the Year Jakob Poeltl could take the Utes far into the tournament this season and has most definitely impressed analysts as of late.
3. Arizona – No. 6 seed – Despite being 15th in the country, a No. 6 seed is looking more inevitable by the day as California and USC might be Arizona’s only marquee wins. However, this is possibly the season where no No. 1 seeds make the Final Four — it’s called March Madness for a reason. And Frank Kaminsky is gone, so that is already a postseason victory for the Wildcats.
4. Cal — No. 5 seed — The Bay Area Golden Bears could potentially wreck a bracket with their combination of athleticism and 3-point shooting. If you want a trendy Elite Eight or Final Four team, pick them.
5. USC — No. 10 seed — The past month for the Trojans was abysmal as they went from the top 25 to not mentioned at all. USC has lost six of its last eight games and needs to pick up momentum if it wants to avoid tournament embarrassment.
6. Colorado — No. 8 seed — Colorado could be a dangerous tournament team if Josh Scott is matched up with a weak front line. I doubt the Buffaloes can beat a one seed; but if they move out of the 8-9 range, they could pull an upset.
7. Oregon State — No. 11 seed — The Beavers may not be a lock yet for the tournament, but they are at least 75 percent likely to get in, according to my standards. And the Beavers feature lock-down defender Gary Payton II, who most recently notched the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award again.
8. Washington — This is the biggest bubble team in the conference. At the moment, the Huskies are on the outside looking in.
9. UCLA — Despite missing the tournament this year and almost missing it last year, UCLA still boasts a top-five recruiting class somehow. Whenever you get the chance to lose minutes, shots and recognition to Bryce Alford, you must do it.
10. Stanford — The Cardinal football team beat Arizona by 38 points, so Arizona’s basketball team returned the favor and beat Stanford by 32.
11. ASU — Had ASU defeated Cal, Arizona would have gotten the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Conference tournament. Now the Sun Devils are deep down in the standings.
12. Washington State — The Cougars ended the season with as many wins as their football team, but there is still hope. They just need to beat Colorado and three other tourney bound teams and they are in as well.
