1. Arizona (10-0, 21-2) – The Cats are rolling and with Allonzo Trier back Sean Miller has another powerhouse in the desert. The Ducks await in Eugene in a must-see college basketball match-up.
2. Oregon (9-1, 20-3) – A loss to Colorado on the road and a close call at home against ASU might make Duck fans uneasy. A big showdown against the Wildcats Saturday afternoon in Eugene could determine which team has control over the Pac-12 regular season title.
3. UCLA (7-3, 20-3) – A bounce back game for the Bruins as they trounced the Cougs earlier this week. They play a Saturday night game against UW in hopes of sweeping Washington and getting right after a 2-game slide.
4. Cal (7-3, 16-6) – An impressive 2OT victory against Utah on Thursday has the Bears off the bubble for now. Jabari Bird came up big for the Bears scoring 26 points and 10 in the 2nd OT against the Utes.
5. Utah (6-4, 15-7) – A tough loss at Cal makes Saturday’s game at Stanford feel like a must-win. This is a good team that cannot close out games.
6. USC (6-4, 19-4) – Shaqquan Aaron’s facial on Sam Timmins was a big highlight. Even bigger for SC was the return of Bennie Boatwright. He scored 23 points on 7-10 shooting in his first game back from injury. The Trojans overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to win in Seattle Wednesday.
7. Colorado (3-7, 13-10) – Here come the Buffs! After going 0-7 in conference, the Buffaloes are turning it around. A victory over No. 10 Oregon highlights a mini-3 game win streak.
8. Stanford (3-7, 11-11) – A 3-game losing streak has the Cardinal sliding off of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Cardinal will need to win against Utah to stay on life support for a chance in March.
9. Washington State (4-6, 11-11) – The Cougs secured a split in Arizona last week but didn’t show up against UCLA. Dare I say a win against the Trojans could keep a faint hope of making the tourney.
10. Arizona State (3-7, 10-13)– The team hung in there in a tough road game against Oregon. Of course, they went 1-1 last week against the Dawgs and Cougs. Tra “I wear 0 for No Excuses” Holder is fun to watch.
11. Washington (2-8, 9-13) – If not for the Beavers, UW would be last in this edition of the power rankings. It was a late night game against the Trojans Wednesday and midnight must have hit early as the Huskies looked great in going up by 10 at the half but fell back on bad habits (i.e., poor shooting, defense and lack of bench scoring). The Bruins come strolling in hoping to put the Dawgs to bed early Saturday.
12. Oregon State (0-10, 4-19) – The Beavers do not have Washington on the schedule again so I am not sure where a win may surface.