ASU Basketball: Pac-12 Power Rankings (2/25)

With the Pac-12 regular season entering the final two weeks, we’re beginning to get a glimpse of which teams will get that coveted first-round bye in Vegas.

Washington has locked up the regular season crown and the No. 1 seed, while Arizona State holds a slim half game lead over Oregon State who they will face this weekend.

Let’s get to the rankings:

No. 1 - Washington (22-5, 13-1)

The impressive season in Seattle continues as the Huskies have won three straight games since suffering their first conference loss against ASU.

UW now finds themselves in the Top 25 rankings, and will look to end the regular season strong as they’ll enter Vegas at the favorites to win the conference tournament.

No. 2 - Arizona State (19-8, 10-5)

It might have been interesting at certain points on Sunday, but the Sun Devils took care of business by sweeping the Bay Area schools and not damaging their resumé.

The next three games will be both crucial and difficult, they travel to Oregon and end with rival Arizona. ASU will need to win at least two of their next three to feel comfortable about their postseason prospects.

No. 3 - Oregon State (17-9, 9-5)

OSU settled for a split of their L.A. trip, as they lost a close one to UCLA before besting USC over the weekend.

The Beavers lost their slim lead over ASU in the standings, but will have an opportunity for revenge this week as the Sun Devils head up to Corvallis looking to sweep the Beavers in the regular season.

No. 4 - Utah (15-12, 9-6)

Utah’s typically high-powered offense was stymied up in Seattle this week as the Utes scored only 45 points against the vaunted 2-3 UW zone defense.

The Utes will stay on the road as they face “rival” Colorado in a mountain school matchup with lots of conference seeding implications.

No. 5 - USC (15-13, 8-7)

USC will be kicking themselves when they look back at the past weekend. It began with a good win over the lowly Ducks, but they lost a close one at home to Oregon State to end their home schedule.

They will now travel across town to take on their rival as they fight for fifth place in the conference standings.

No. 6 - UCLA (15-13, 8-7)

It was a good home weekend for the Bruins. They swept the Oregon schools to get back over .500 in conference play as they’re very much in contention for a bye in the conference tournament.

Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands was huge for UCLA in the win over the Ducks, as he scored 27 points while also dishing nine assists in a high scoring affair.

No. 7 - Colorado (16-11, 7-8)

After entering this week on a nice winning streak, momentum was completely halted by a tough trip to Washington. It began with a tough one point loss to the Cougars, and ended with a nine point loss against the Huskies.

CU now welcomes Utah to Boulder looking to get back to the .500 mark.

No. 8 - Arizona (16-12, 7-8)

The Wildcats finally fielded a healthy rotation and it turned into a home sweep. UA got freshman guard Brandon Williams back for the Stanford game as he’s dealt with a knee injury.

Arizona now travels to Oregon looking for revenge against the Ducks who beat them at McKale earlier this season.

No. 9 - Stanford (14-13, 7-8)

It was another frustrating desert trip for the Cardinal. They lost against ASU without their best player, sophomore wing KZ Okpala and lost for the 19th consecutive time against Arizona.

The path doesn’t get much easier for Stanford as they return home to play both Washington schools as they try to end their season on a high note.

No. 10 - Oregon (15-12, 6-8)

When the season began it would’ve been unthinkable that Oregon would be sitting at No. 10 in the conference rankings. They brought in the conference’s best recruiting class, and had a lot of returning talent.

Now with their season all but over, they can look to play spoiler against both Arizona schools who still have something to play for.

No. 11 - Washington State (11-16, 4-10)

Good for head coach Ernie Kent’s Cougars for playing good basketball late in the year. This run of success began with an improbable sweep over the Arizona schools, and included a recent upset over CU.

Wazzu will look to add a couple more wins to their total as they head down to the Bay Area for matchups with Stanford and Cal.

No. 12 - California (5-22, 0-15)

At least Cal had a halftime lead over ASU. It was yet another loss for the Golden Bears as they stare down the possibility of a winless conference season.

They do host Washington State this weekend, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to come out on top given Wazzu’s recent run of success.