Pac-12 Basketball Poll: UCLA Tabbed to Win the Conference; Cal Picked Last

Bears have been projected in league's bottom three for five straight seasons.

It will be up to the Cal basketball team to prove the media wrong this season.

The Bears were pegged to finish last in the Pac-12, according to the league’s annual preseason media poll released on Wednesday.

Coming off a 9-20 season that included a 3-17 record and last-place finish in the Pac-12, Cal now has been picked to finish in the bottom three of the conference for five straight seasons.

UCLA, which advanced to the Final Four last season, was the overwhelming pick to win the Pac-12, earning 32 of  34 first-place votes. Oregon received the other two first-place votes and was second, with USC third and Arizona and Oregon State tied for fourth.

The Bruins were voted first a year ago in a narrow vote over Arizona State and Oregon. Our the previous eight seasons, either Oregon or Arizona was tagged as the Pac-12 favorite.

Here’s how Cal was picked and how the Bears finished in the Pac-12 the past five seasons:

2017-18: Picked 11th, finished last

2018-19: Picked 11th, finished last

2019-20: Picked last, finished in a three-way tie for 8th

2020-21: Picked 10th, finished last

2021-22: Picked last, finished ???

The last time the Bears were projected to finish higher than 10th place was in 2016-17, when they were picked fourth and wound up in fifth place in coach Cuonzo Martin’s final season.

Here’s the full Pac-12 media poll: 

Pac-12 Conference

Cover photo of Haas Pavilion by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo