Monday, December 24, 2012

Weekly Pac-12 Rankings

Many polls and rankings try to gauge potential or predict where teams will finish at season's end. But I've tried to limit my rankings to the actual performance displayed, giving deference to more recent games. While I think several teams can and will contend for the conference crown, here's how I grade them so far this year:

1 Arizona (11-0) | Last week: #1: Here's a no-brainer.
2 Oregon State (9-2) | Last week: #3: Their schedule isn't helping their RPI, but they keep winning and have no bad losses. Five (active) players average double-digit points led by Roberto Nelson (16.5) and Devon Collier (15.4).
3 Oregon (10-2) | Last week: #2: The 3OT loss at UTEP keeps the Ducks out of the #2 spot this week. It will keep them out of the Top 25 too. They play just twice in the next 17 days.
4 Arizona State (10-2) | Last week: #4: Texas Tech was a potential stumbling block in the non-conference homestretch. But the Sun Devils took care of business nicely.
5 California (8-3) | Last week: #5: Putting their three-game skid in the rear view mirror. Kravish, Solomon and Wallace all had good games this week to compliment Crabbe and Cobbs, constituting a real powerful starting lineup.
6 Colorado (9-2) | Last week: #6: Should destroy Hartford and set up a big time showdown in Tucson to open the conference season.
7 UCLA (9-3) | Last week: #8: Player defections and freshmen development appear to have the Bruins back on track after a rough November. Big time game versus Missouri looms large.
8 Stanford (8-4) | Last week: #7: Loss at NC State tells us the Cardinal isn't better than we thought. The win at Northwestern tells us they aren't worse than we thought either.
9 Washington State (8-4) | Last week: #10: Won three straight, with their last loss being the classic finish against Gonzaga. Brock Motum is among the league's top scorers, as expected. DaVonte Lacy is really chipping in again too after missing four games.
10 Utah (7-4) | Last week: #9: Utah was poised for a dramatic rise after the impressive win against SMU. The first half of the Northridge game confirmed it. But the second half undid it.
11 Washington (8-4) | Last week: #12: The Huskies will take their four-game winning streak on the road for four tough games, beginning at UConn this week.
12 Southern Cal (4-8) | Last week: #11: I understand the Trojans' schedule has been an absolute terror, but evidently it didn't prepare them for a 3-7 Georgia team. So it probably hasn't prepared them for Pac-12 play either.

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