Selection Sunday is less than one month away as the college basketball season nears its climax.
The Pac-12 boasts two of the best teams in the entire sport in UCLA and Arizona, squads expected to be two seeds when the NCAA Tournament rolls around in mid-March.
However, the rest of the conference hasn’t stepped up in a significant way this year, and it looks like the Big Dance could feature just those two schools from the Pac-12, depending if USC can take care of business on the road against Colorado and Utah this week.
Oregon and Arizona State remain in the bubble conversation right now, according to Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology report, but three teams from the Pac feels like a best case scenario at this point – and that is still well below every other Power-6 conference (P-5 plus the Big East) is expected to do.
A future without UCLA and USC is no doubt concerning for the conference of champions – for a lot of reasons – but the lack of top end talent in men’s basketball is a clear issue right now.
Here is a look at every conference currently projected with multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament and where the Pac-12 ranks: