The Pac-12 Conference men’s tournament is now officially locked in for seeding purposes. As of right now, it looks like one lock to make the NCAA Tournament, and that is the Arizona Wildcats.
There could be changes coming, especially with a couple of teams on the bubble. One of them is Washington State which made a movement recently but then also lost it by losing to Washington.
Justin Williams of The Athletic mentioned the Cougars on his Pac-12 bubble watch:
Movement: The Cougars finally give Arizona some company among the locks, having won 10 of 11 and at 6-3 in Q1 games. Colorado remains an anomaly with a top-30 NET yet just one Q1 win and is neck-and-neck with Utah on the bubble. Oregon remains just beyond the bubble, but home wins against Colorado and Utah this week could change that calculus entering the Pac-12 tournament.
Williams also spoke about Utah, who now enters the tournament as a 6-seed and needs help, but a few wins could put the Utes right on the bubble ahead of Selection Sunday. Here’s what Williams wrote about Utah:
The Utes are straddling that “last four in/first four out” line. They need to win the last two on the road at Oregon State and Oregon and hope the Ducks take down Colorado on Thursday, in addition to scoreboard-watching the rest of the bubble teams around the country. If Utah remains in fifth place in the Pac-12 standings entering next week, it likely needs to get two more in the conference tournament. Otherwise, its NCAA Tournament fate will be determined by games outside its control.
This was written before the regular season ended, and Utah lost both games against the Oregon programs, which hurts big time. Still, a string of wins in Las Vegas could change things considerably.