Peering into Pac-12’s post-season hopes

The Pac-12 always seems to beat each other up when it comes to basketball. In the past three NCAA tournaments, the Pac-12 has sent three teams, five teams and three teams, in comparison to the SEC who have sent six teams, six teams then seven teams. The ACC has averaged a little over six teams for the field of 68 in the same time period.

As of now, there are six schools that are either on the bubble or will make the NCAA tournament as long as things don’t go drastically wrong: Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Utah. Here’s an in-depth look at where the March Madness hopefuls stand ahead of the tournament:

Arizona

The Arizona Wildcats are 19-3 on the season, climbing all the way up to No. 5 in the latest AP poll rankings. The Wildcats are essentially a lock to play in March, but they still want to submit their best resume in hopes of getting a No. 1 seed in the tournament. According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, they are currently projected to be a No. 2 seed. 

Arizona has some impressive quadrant 1 wins against No. 22 San Diego State , Creighton (ranked No. 10 at the time), No. 2 Tennessee, No. 21 Indiana, Arizona State, UCLA (ranked No. 5 at the time) and Washington State. 

The Wildcats will be leaning on their “‘twin towers’,” 6-foot-11 junior forward Azuolas Tubelis and 7-foot junior center Oumar Ballo, to make a deep run in the tournament. Tubelis is leading the team in points and rebounds, averaging 20.0 and 9.6 respectively. Ballo is a monster on the defensive end, averaging 9.1 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game. 

Arizona State 

The 15-7 Sun Devils are led by fifth-year senior guard and Nevada transfer Desmond Cambridge Jr. and his brother, senior guard and Auburn transfer Devan Cambridge. Together, the Cambridges account for a combined 23.6 points per game, 8.8 rebounds per game, and 2.1 steals per game.

After losing four straight games to Pac-12 opponents, the Sun Devils need to get back to their winning ways in order to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. As of now, they are projected to be one of the next four teams out of the NCAA tournament according to Lunardi’s Bracketology. 

In order for the Sun Devils to stay in consideration, they most likely need to win at least one of their games against rival No. 5 Arizona, No. 9 UCLA or USC.

Oregon

The Oregon Ducks have had an up-and-down season, and currently sport a 13-9 record. Although the Ducks have some impressive wins, including an 87-68 victory over then-ranked No. 9 Arizona and a 68-56 win over Utah, they also have some pretty poor losses that deeply hurt their resume, like their 56-69 loss to UC Irvine and 64-71 loss to a 9-12 Stanford team.

Picked in the preseason to finish third overall in the Pac-12, the Ducks have not lived up to expectations. They are 7-4 in the Pac-12, good for fifth place in the conference. 

In order for Oregon to be in consideration for the NCAA tournament, either of two scenarios has to happen. The first is for them to run the table and have at least three statement wins against Arizona, UCLA, the first-place team in the Pac-12 and USC. The other scenario is for them to qualify for an automatic bid by winning the Pac-12 tournament at the end of the season. This is a tall task for leading scorer senior guard Will Richardson and the Ducks.

UCLA

UCLA received 26 first-place votes for the preseason Pac-12 poll, and they are surely living up to the hype. The Bruins are 17-4 on the season and ranked No. 9 in the nation. 

They are led by a trio of guards, senior Jaime Jaquez Jr., senior Tyger Campbell and junior Jaylen Clark. They are all averaging over 13 points per game with Jaquez Jr. leading the team with 16 points per game. 

According to Lunardi’s recent projected bracket, the Bruins are lined up to be a No. 2 national seed, setting them up for another Final Four run. The Bruins are looking to become the first team in the Western United States to win the NCAA tournament since Arizona in 1997.

USC

The Trojans have had a couple of huge wins in the past couple of weeks, putting the country on watch and themselves in the March Madness conversation. The Trojans beat their cross-town rival Bruins 77-64 behind a career-high 31 points from senior guard Boogie Ellis. 

USC also beat fellow fringe team Arizona State 77-69 in the past week, leading them to a projected 9 seed according to Lunardi.

The Trojans are an outstanding 10-1 at home, with their lone loss coming in the first game of the season against Florida Gulf Coast. 

The Trojans have put together a strong resume in order to get to March. They will get into the tournament as long as they don’t slip up against sub-.500 teams like Oregon State, Cal, Stanford or Washington State. One key player for the rest of the year for the Trojans is freshman forward Vincent Iwuchukwu. Iwuchukwu missed the entire first half of the season due to suffering cardiac arrest in July, but has been an effective piece off the bench over the past couple of games for Head Coach Andy Enfield. 

Utah

Utah is the one sneaky Pac-12 team on the bubble that could cause some madness in March. The Utes have one huge quality win against conference foe Arizona, 81-66, who was ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time. 

In order for Utah to even have a chance, their 7-foot senior center Branden Carlson needs to step up as he has all season long. Carlson is leading the team in points, rebounds, and blocks, averaging 16.6, 7.5 and 2.2, respectively. 

Utah has matchups against both Los Angeles schools, both Arizona schools and Colorado, so wins against at least 3 of these strong teams could put a stamp on their ticket to the NCAA tournament. 

The Pac-12 tournament starts on March 8 in Las Vegas, with the winner of the tournament getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Selection Sunday is on March 12 with the NCAA tournament lasting from March 14 to April 3. Only time will tell how many of these dominant teams will get a chance at the Big Dance.