Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Conference Play Begins

With the UCLA Bruins remaining at the top, will any other performances spark the remaining Pac-12 teams to compete for a conference title down the road?

Each week, Sports Illustrated's Pac-12 Publishers join forces to assemble basketball power rankings, organizing their own lists and combining them to define one collective list. 

At the beginning of conference play in the Pac-12, here's what those power rankings look like:

SI PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL POWER RANKINGS

1. UCLA Bruins (7-1, 2-0), 60 points (5 first-place votes)

2. Arizona Wildcats (7-0, 1-0), 55

3. USC Trojans (8-0, 2-0), 50

4. Washington State Cougars (6-2, 1-1), 45

5. Colorado Buffaloes (6-3), 37

6. Oregon Ducks (5-4, 0-1), 35

7. Utah Utes (6-2, 1-1), 29

8. Arizona State Sun Devils (3-6, 1-1), 25

9. Washington Huskies (4-4, 1-1), 22

10. Stanford Cardinal (4-3, 0-1), 16

11. Cal Golden Bears (4-5, 1-1), 11

12. Oregon State Beavers (1-8, 0-2), 5

DONNIE DRUIN, ALL SUN DEVILS

1. UCLA; 2. Arizona; 3. USC; 4. Washington State; 5. Arizona State; 6. Oregon; 7. Colorado; 8. Utah; 9. Washington; 10. Cal; 11. Stanford; 12. Oregon State

Comment: The Arizona State Sun Devils saw two drastically different games, scoring only 29 points against Washington State before going on the road to Oregon and getting their first win against the Ducks in 10 years. Which ASU team will show up on a weekly basis? Who knows, but without Marcus Bagley, perhaps I'm drinking the ASU kool-aid too much.

JEFF FARAUDO, CAL SPORTS REPORT

1. UCLA; 2. Arizona; 3. USC; 4. Washington State; 5. Colorado; 6. Oregon; 7. Utah; 8. Arizona State; 9. Washington; 10. Stanford; 11. Cal; 12. Oregon State

Comment: Arizona is the most intriguing team in the Pac-12 so far. Undefeated, including an 18-point win over Michigan. Curious to see how the Cats do this week: Wednesday vs. unbeaten Wyoming and Saturday at an Illinois team that has won five straight. Cal is improved, but you couldn’t tell by its performance Sunday in a road loss to Utah.

DYLAN REUBENKING, DUCKS DIGEST

1. UCLA; 2. Arizona; 3. USC; 4. Washington State; 5. Oregon; 6. Colorado; 7. Utah; 8. Stanford; 9. Arizona State; 10. Washington; 11. Cal; 12. Oregon State

Comment: Oregon looks as beatable as any team in the Dana Altman era. It will be a daunting process for him to turn this group into a team that can win multiple NCAA Tournament games, but it's difficult to imagine that we won't be talking about Oregon as a dangerous team in February as long as Altman is in charge. However, an overtime home loss to a struggling ASU team certainly won't kick-start the turnaround.

SAM CONNON, ALL BRUINS

1. UCLA; 2. Arizona; 3. USC; 4. Washington State; 5. Colorado; 6. Utah; 7. Oregon; 8. Washington; 9. Arizona State; 10. Stanford; 11. Cal; 12. Oregon State

Comment: The top-tier teams remain there, taking care of business and beating the teams they should. However, Washington State managed to stand out the most in a wishy washy second tier, and Oregon probably would have slid further after losing to an Arizona State team that scored 29 points in its previous game if not for a truly awful bottom tier. That’s four losses in the last six Division I games for the Ducks, and one of the wins was a near upset by UC Riverside, so clearly they are far from the UCLA-Arizona-USC trio everyone thought they were part of in the offseason.

DAN RALEY, HUSKY MAVEN

1. UCLA; 2. Arizona; 3. USC; 4. Washington State; 5. Colorado; 6. Oregon; 7. Washington; 8. Utah; 9. Arizona State; 10. Stanford; 11. Cal; 12. Oregon State

Comment: COVID made the Huskies a no-show against the league's top two teams in UCLA and Arizona. Not sure how long it will take for this group to bounce back health-wise to its average self. Note to Mike Hopkins: Play your McDonald's All-American. Suffer with him. Season him. It might save your job.