Three of the past four years the top seed entering the Pac-12 tournament has gone on to win it. The Huskies will hope to make it a fourth by Sunday but they have to figure themselves out first.
Conference Tournament Favorite: Washington
Despite splitting their last four games don’t forget the Huskies won 15 conference games and won the Pac by three games. As a strong defensive team Washington has a lot going for it in the tournament, with so many back to back games it helps to be able to defend as bad shooting nights are inevitable. The teams that can grind out possessions usually go far.
Top Contender: Arizona State
The Sun Devils are a talented group and are the only Pac-12 team to beat two ranked teams and that’s not including their home win over Washington. The flip side is that the Sun Devils have a tendency to play down to opponents and a potential semi-final match against an Oregon team they split with in the regular season or a Washington State team that blew them out in Tempe is tricky.
Top Sleeper: #6 Oregon
Oregon has the longest winning streak in the conference at four games and two of those wins came against the Pac-12’s top two teams. While Washington’s defense is the talk of the conference, Oregon was statistically better and they are on the opposite site of the bracket of 5 of the 7 teams they lost to in the regular season.
Rooting Guide for Husky Fans
Quarterfinals #8 USC vs. #9 Arizona
While the Huskies handled both teams fairly comfortably in their meetings with them USC is in a free-fall having lost four games in a row. Arizona is not particularly good this year either but their coach Sean Miller made a, “Thank you for everything,” speech to the fans on Senior Day that makes you think this could be his last hurrah. Last year when Arizona and USC met in Vegas, it was 80% ‘Zona fans.
Root For: USC
Semi-Finals #4 Oregon State, #5 Colorado or #12 Cal.
I’m not as quick to buy into Cal’s resurgence as others. They have won 3 in a row but two of those wins came against #11 WSU and #10 Stanford. While Washington swept both Oregon State and Colorado, Oregon State took them to overtime the last meeting and you probably don’t want to face a well-coached OSU team a third time noting the adjustments they made in Seattle. While Matisse Thybulle was a fitting AP Pac-12 Player of the Year and Jaylen Nowell was a fitting Conference Player of the Year, Tres Tinkle might be motivated considering his snub.
Root For: Colorado
Pac-12 Championship – ASU, Utah, Stanford, UCLA, WSU or Oregon
It would be easy to root for the Cougars as the lowest seed on that side of the bracket but I don’t think they have a realistic chance of making it to the Championship. I think Washington could beat ASU or Oregon but on a neutral court I’m not sure the Huskies would be favored by more than a point or two if at all. Utah was blown out by the Huskies twice and don’t appear to have a clue how to break down the Huskies zone.
Root for: Utah
Predictions
First Round
Arizona (9) def. USC (8)
Colorado (5) def. Cal (12)
Stanford (10) def. UCLA (7)
Oregon (6) def. WSU (11)
Quarterfinals
Washington (1) def. Arizona (9)
Oregon State (4) def. Colorado (5)
ASU (2) def. Stanford (10)
Oregon (6) def. Utah (3)
Semi-Finals
Washington (1) def. Oregon State (4)
ASU (2) def. Oregon (6)
Final
ASU (2) def. Washington (1)
