Pac-12 Tournament 2015: Teams Poised to Challenge Arizona for Conference Crown

The Arizona Wildcats (28-3, 16-2 Pac-12) have a chance to become a No. 1 seed in the 2015 NCAA tournament after a sterling regular season fueled by the reliable stewardship of point guard T.J. McConnell and hyper-athletic play of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

However, it's likely going to take a Pac-12 tournament title to do so, and the Wildcats will have their fair share of challenges in the upcoming gauntlet, which is set to take place from March 11-14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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For the second year in a row, Arizona heads into the Pac-12 tournament as the top-seeded team.

The No. 1 ranking didn't work out for it quite so well in 2014, as a game UCLA squad featuring three first-round NBA draft picks snatched the conference crown from the Wildcats with a 75-71 win in the tournament title game.

The sting of that loss was perhaps mitigated by the team's subsequent Elite Eight run in the 2014 NCAA tournament, and Sean Miller's squad appears to be just as tough as it was last year with another 28-3 record heading into tournament play.

Of course, the mayhem inherent to March college basketball can make the three previous months feel completely irrelevant, and the rest of the Pac-12 tournament hopefuls will certainly put forth their best effort to deny Arizona a conference championship.

Let's take a look at the two teams—besides Arizona—with the best hopes of securing the conference title. 

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

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Oregon could win this tournament and make it look easy the whole way—as long as they can avoid playing Arizona.

The Wildcats have embarrassed the Ducks twice this season to the tune of 80-62 and 90-56 final scorelines.

While this squad should cause fits for just about any other team in the Pac-12, it might need help in the form of a Wildcats upset along the way to secure the tournament title and an automatic bid to the Big Dance.

Indeed, the Ducks received a huge boost to their tournament chances on Saturday, as Utah's 77-68 loss to Washington bumped them up to the second seed in the tourney.

That means they would only see 'Zona in the conference title game, which provides this hot-shooting squad with a clear path to the crown if everything breaks its way—which certainly seems to have been the case as of late.

Oregon has been one of the hottest teams in the nation during the final stretch of the regular season. The upstart Ducks have won nine of their last 10 games, with the only blemish being a 72-63 loss to UCLA on Feb. 14. 

A 69-58 win over Utah on Feb. 22 should prove to be an especially nice confidence booster for the Ducks to draw from heading into the Las Vegas scrum.

The Ducks rank 26th in the NCAA in scoring at 76.0 points per game. High-scoring senior guard Joseph Young, who averages 19.8 points and 3.7 assists per game, is no stranger to hero ball. He put in a 40-minute shift in Oregon's 73-70 victory over Stanford on March 1, shooting 50 percent from the floor and tying Elgin Cook for a team-high 21 points.

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Young's scoring exploits are backed up by the likes of Cook on offense and freshman forward Jordan Bell (2.8 blocks per game) on the opposite end.

This team has done its best to make good on Young's mid-February guarantee that the team would go dancing this March.

SB Nation's Sean Larson noted Oregon should have a favorable matchup after a first-round bye and gave props to head coach Dana Altman for turning this rag-tag squad into a bona fide March darling:

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With the No. 2 seed, of course, comes a first round bye. The Ducks will get an extra day of rest before taking on the winner of the Colorado vs. Oregon State game on Wednesday. The Ducks will tip on Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks.

Oregon is 3-0 this year against Oregon State and Colorado.

What Dana Altman has done this year is nothing short of pure magic. Altman, who was already under his fair share of heat for Oregon's sexual assault scandal, took a group of guys who have for the most part never played together, and got them to win 23 games so far. To be honest, before the year started, I wouldn't have been surprised if the Ducks lost 23 games.

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As long as Young is on his game, Oregon is as dangerous as they come in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a conference tournament.

While the Ducks might need a 'Zona upset from another squad to win the title, this team's confidence should be sky-high and it may be able to do the trick itself should it play to the best of its abilities.

Anything can happen in March.

Utah (23-7, 13-5 Pac-12)

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While UCLA has a three-game winning streak heading into Las Vegas and the Arizona State Sun Devils have a signature win over Arizona from this season, this is a tournament that the Wildcats really should win without much trouble.

If there is a team equipped to pip them on their way to the conference title game, it's No. 13 overall Utah, a well-coached, efficient squad with a nasty defensive streak.

Despite losing three of their last five games—including a six-point home loss to 'Zona on Feb. 28—the Utes are perhaps the most well-rounded team in the Pac-12 outside of said Wildcats.

While some college coaches tighten up the rotation and send just the top seven, eight or nine guys into the fray late in the season, Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak frequently fields 10 or more players on any given night. This keeps his star players fresh and opposing teams off-balance.

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The Utes are a balanced team on offense, with Delon Wright, Brandon Taylor and Jordan Loveridge all averaging at least 10 points per game.

As a team, Utah ranks 13th in the nation in field-goal percentage, ninth in three-point percentage and ninth in scoring defense, holding opponents to a mere 55.9 points per contest this year. If any team is capable of grinding out tough tournament wins, it's this squad.

When times get tough, it can rely on the sharpshooting of Loveridge to swing momentum or call upon Wright and his 2.1 steals per game to come up with a timely turnover. ABC 11's Mark Armstrong believes Wright is the obvious choice for Pac-12 Player of the Year:

Of course, the Utes will have to put their uneven recent record behind them if they are to succeed in this tournament. 

Utah will face the winner of Stanford-Washington after enjoying a first-round bye. The Huskies could be tough considering their regular season-ending win over the Utes, a disappointing performance that quite clearly perturbed Krystkowiak.

“I’m concerned. I’m really concerned. This wasn’t a good performance,” he said after the game, per Dirk Facer of the Deseret News. “But I’m not judging anything based on one performance. Hopefully it’s a wake-up call.”

It's a rough way to end the season, but Utah has an earlier win against Washington to draw from and may not have to face its purple-clad demons should Stanford win the game. Utah beat Stanford 75-59 on Feb. 12.

The Utes should prove steely enough to get past their first hurdle and put up a good fight in Las Vegas.