Bracketology: Shallow Pac-12 Doesn't Deserve 3 Teams in Big Dance

It doesn’t matter how many teams are in the conference, the Pac-12 stinks.

By adding Colorado and Utah, the competitiveness of basketball was supposed to be even greater than before on the Pacific Coast.

Instead, it’s the biggest joke of all the major conferences.

Let’s take a look at the three teams with a shot of making the big dance:

Washington Huskies (21-9, 14-4 Pac-12)

The only team that truly deserves a ticket to the NCAA tournament is the Huskies. Despite holding the 54th-best RPI ranking, the team is playing some of their best ball as the regular season comes to a close. They have won 10 of 12 games and are currently fifth in the nation in rebounding (40.1).

Some experts feel their lack of a signature win should keep them out, but I think as long as they win a game in the conference tournament all will be OK.

Oregon Ducks (22-8, 13-5 Pac-12)

The Ducks jumped out to a 34-2 run to start the game against Utah over the weekend en route to a 46-point win, and have now won six of seven games while sporting the 48th-best RPI.

But once again, it’s a team that has feasted on the Pac-12 and little else. They don’t possess a single notable win out of conference and are 0-5 against teams in the RPI top 50. They also have a bad loss against Oregon State.

At this point the Ducks have to make the finals of the Pac-12 tournament to feel safe on selection Sunday.

California (23-8, 13-5 Pac-12)

The Bears would have felt much safer if they could have just beaten Stanford on Sunday, but they couldn’t get the job done.

They have the 36th-best RPI (before the loss), which should bode very well when stacked up against Washington and Oregon.

Yet two awful losses against Oregon State and Washington State give them some serious blemishes. Their best wins of the year came against Oregon (twice) and Washington. The best nonconference win they own is against Weber State.

Now the Bears have to win at least two games, and probably three, to sneak in.

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