Pac-12 Tournament 2012: Success in Tourney Won't Lead to NCAA Glory

The days of teams like UCLA and Arizona being national championship contenders seems like centuries ago. The Pac-12 has fallen on some incredibly hard times, and that will be on full display this year at the NCAA tournament. 

Joe Lunardi of ESPN currently has two Pac-12 teams (California and Washington) in the tournament. Unless someone else comes up and wins the tournament, that is all we'll see. Frankly, that is all we should see. 

By the end of the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the Pac-12 will be done there. Despite having the massive recruiting base in California and great tradition, this conference has absolutely no spark this year. 

If you take a closer look at Lunardi's placement of both California and Washington, something should absolutely jump off the page at you. If those projections hold, neither one of those teams would even be favored (by seeding) in their first round game. That is inconceivable for a conference with this much prestige. 

Unfortunately, there is no real way to improve. The only way to bolster NCAA tournament status at this point is to go on a run, beating some good teams. But the problem here is that Cal and Washington don't have those teams to take out. The only other Pac-12 teams that are even on Lundardi's bubble are Arizona and Oregon. 

Every other big "BCS" conference has at least four teams. All of those teams have chances to make themselves look good. Teams currently out of the Big Dance projections can make a good run, beating some tough teams. 

In the Pac-12, that doesn't exist. So, when the conference's tournament teams get into the NCAA, their stay will be short. 

If you're a fan of the Pac-12, just hope that some super freshmen will enter the conference next season. It's hard to imagine another season being as bleak as this one.  

Prediction

Washington and California will find their way to the tournament, but no real movement will happen from there. The Huskies will be one-and-done, Cal will get to the second round. 

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