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The regular season is finally in the books, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is March.
There were plenty of moments throughout the campaign that made the “Conference of Champions” a joy to watch. The Pac-12 Tournament should have chances to reflect that, and then some.
The Arizona State Sun Devils will attempt to extend their season Wednesday, when they play the Stanford Cardinal in the 8-9 seed game for a bid to face the No. 1-seeded Oregon Ducks.
With the tournament set to begin, Connor Pelton and I take a hack at ranking the members of the conference.
Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: March 8
| Rank | Pelton's Picks | Jones' Picks |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Pelton's Picks | Jones' Picks |
| 1 | UCLA (+1) | UCLA |
| 2 | Oregon (+1) | Oregon |
| 3 | Utah (+1) | Arizona |
| 4 | Arizona (-3) | Utah (+1) |
| 5 | Colorado (+3) | USC (-1) |
| 6 | USC (-1) | Colorado (+3) |
| 7 | Stanford (-1) | California (-2) |
| 8 | California (-1) | Stanford |
| 9 | Washington State | Washington State (+1) |
| 10 | Arizona State | Arizona State (+1) |
| 11 | Washington | Washington (-2) |
| 12 | Oregon State | Oregon State |
The Skinny
Connor and I agree that UCLA and Oregon enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Pac-12, however he has Utah at No. 3, while I have Arizona there.
Colorado makes a sizable jump in each of our rankings as the middle of the set moves around a bit.
Finally, our bottom four is identical, with the Sun Devils a consensus tenth behind Washington State, but ahead of Washington and Oregon State.