Even the West Coast Conference has more teams in the AP Top 25 than the Pac-12, and so does the American Athletic Conference.
And even though Washington just knocked off the kings and queens of the Pac-12, the Huskies missed the mark.
East Coast bias? Maybe.
Pac-12 power rankings — Feb. 6
Rank | Destin | Kaye | Tonis |
---|---|---|---|
Rank | Destin | Kaye | Tonis |
1 | Arizona | Arizona | Arizona |
2 | Washington (+2) | Washington (+3) | Washington (+1) |
3 | UCLA | UCLA | UCLA (+2) |
4 | USC (-2) | USC (-2) | Stanford (+2) |
5 | Stanford (+1) | Stanford (+2) | USC (-3) |
6 | Arizona State (+1) | Utah (-2) | Arizona State (+2) |
7 | Utah (-2) | Arizona State (-1) | Utah (-3) |
8 | Oregon (+1) | Oregon | Oregon (-1) |
9 | Colorado | Colorado | Colorado |
10 | Oregon State | Oregon State | Oregon State |
11 | California | Washington State | Washington State |
12 | Washington State | California | California |
Destin: Apparently Washington needs a couple more wins to be recognized by AP voters. This team has won four straight, and I don’t see it slowing down against the Oregon schools. UCLA and USC are on the cusp of national recognition. A trip to the Arizona schools this week could make or break they’re tourney chances. It’s just tough when a 15-and-8 team like Oregon gets smacked at home, 91-66, by Stanford. This is an absolute mess, and ASU (5-6), is right in the middle of it.
Kaye: Bobby Hurley has disputed it, but there’s no getting past that most around the country see the Pac-12 as the weakest amongst the power-5 conferences. That was shown when the rankings came out Monday and Arizona was the only ranked team (No. 13) from the Pac-12. The conference’s best chance at a second team was Washington, who came off a week of beating ASU on Thursday and nailing a buzzer-beater to knock off the Wildcats on Saturday. Both teams, along with USC, who fell to UCLA last week, are in a neck-and-neck battle for the conference crown that won’t be decided for weeks.
Tonis: Winning streaks from UCLA and Washington put them closer to the NCAA Tournament conversation than they’ve been all season. The Huskies swept ASU and Arizona in dramatic fashion, surging up the power rankings. Speaking of ASU, the Sun Devils are still winless in weekday conference games. Thankfully for ASU, which now sits near the bubble, five of its last seven games are at home, meaning a surge is possible, if not likely.