The PAC-12 has been a conference trying to search for its basketball identity for the past few years. Since UCLA’s run to three straight Final Four’s, no team in the conference has reached college basketball’s final weekend, and the last team to make it to the Elite Eight was a 2011 Arizona team during Sean Miller’s second season.

This tough stretch for the conference in the NCAA Tournament has not been the victim of some bad matchups as is the simple fact, this conference just is not as good as the other conferences in America. This year however, may be the year that we see a better fate for the NCAA Tournament bound teams from the PAC-12.

Before we get to the NCAA Tournament, and with Selection Sunday looming next weekend, we have the always fascinating and very entertaining PAC-12 Tournament. The tournament returns to the MGM Grand this year for its second season, and there are a slew of interesting matchups.

Teams like Cal, Arizona State and Stanford, who are still trying to bolster their resume for the selection committee, will get one, or two more shots to impress.

Before we go over the matchups for the tournament starting Wednesday, March 12th, we will break down each team, for better or for worse (sorry USC and Washington State fans), and how they fared and will fare in the coming week.

ARIZONA 28-3 overall (15-3 PAC12)

The Wildcats came into this season as arguably one of the most talented and athletic teams we have seen in the past 5 years in college basketball. Aaron Gordon had comparisons to Blake Griffin the minute he signed with the Wildcats, and it’s hard to disagree.

Sean Miller did a tremendous job constructing this team, although young, UofA has great veteran leadership from guys like Nick Johnson, who always seemed to do something late in games that put hopeful teams to bed.

We know about the talent of this team, but could they produce? They sure answered those questions winning the NIT Season Tip-Off, which included an impressive second half performance over Duke. Following that win, two weeks later they traveled to Ann Arbor and faced a pesky Michigan squad as they had to come back from an 11 point deficit in the second half to win.

The only knock on the Wildcats is, can they make enough shots from the perimeter? What about the abysmal costless throw shooting? This was never more present than in the double-overtime loss at Arizona State.

Arizona played this entire PAC12 season with a target on their backs. They were perfect at home, and their three losses came all on the road (Cal, Arizona State and Oregon) by a combined 12 points.

It’s hard to think this team won’t make the conference tournament final, as well as the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. Slow starts have affected this team in some of their games, but veterans like Johnson will not and should not let it happen when the games matter the most.

UCLA 23-8 (12-6)

What to make of this team in Steve Alford’s first season? Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson and a lot of familiar faces returned. Incoming were Bryce Alford and high-flying Zach LaVine. However, the losses of Larry Drew and Shabazz Muhammad immediately raised a red flag:

Who was going to handle the basketball?

That answer was simple, and the answer was #5.

Kyle Anderson looks like he’s moving in slow motion at times, and he may not event be the dominant scorer, but Kyle is almost a triple-double machine. Steve Alford put the ball in his hands and he makes the Bruins go.

As for the season, we don’t really know what to expect from the Bruins in the postseason. Getting thoroughly over-matched by Duke, forgetting to come out for the second half on the road against Missouri and losing a conference game at Oregon State, you could say this team was in the middle of the road.

Then you look at some of their wins. Throttling Colorado and Cal twice, it’s hard to think that they wont win one or two NCAA Tournament games.

It is likely that UCLA will face Arizona in the PAC12 Tournament final, but there will be a red-hot Oregon team that will have something to say about that.

Now we get to the middle of the pack, and boy, is it congested:

ARIZONA STATE 21-10 (10-8)

The Sun Devils seemed like a lock for the NCAA Tournament before their trip to Oregon this past weekend. In the words of Lee Corso, “NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND!”

Herb Sendek’s has seen his team play up and down all year. Not to mention their strength of schedule is absolutely terrible 226th in the nation, they faced what seemed like mid-major after mid-major, with the exception of Marquette and Creighton. The Blue Jays smacked around the Devils by 28, which was very embarrassing for a team coming off a big win against Marquette.

It seemed like the Sun Devils could not win a road game for their life this year. Their only road wins came at USC and Cal in double overtime. Other than that, with the exception of a six point loss at Stanford, they got stomped by UCLA, Arizona, Colorado, couldn’t recover against Oregon, and the capper was an embarrassing overtime loss against Oregon State.

Arizona State just does not have the scoring depth necessary to win the close battles with the top of the conference. Not to mention, Jahii Carson takes an insane amount of shots (most of them bad), and Jordan Bachynski does not get the ball enough to show his true inside dominance.

The Sun Devils need a big weekend in Las Vegas otherwise they will be looking at tape of that loss to Oregon State all summer.

CALIFORNIA 19-12 (10-8)

Cal was awarded the 4th seed and bye in the first round of the PAC-12 Tournament, but their season was anything but easy.

Mike Montgomery’s squad started the season in Maui and after their win against Arkansas, the islands weren’t too kind to them. Syracuse followed that game and was easily the highlight of their non-conference schedule, and they performed well, but came up short.

The marquee win for the Bears was at home against Arizona. However bad losses on the road to USC and UC Santa Barbara might leave the Bears on the outside looking in.

A season finale win against Colorado may not be enough as they may have to win one or two games in the conference tournament to solidify a NCAA tournament bid.

COLORADO 21-10 (10-8)

The Colorado Buffaloes came into this year with high aspirations. They started off strong, including a buzzer beating win at home against then ranked #6 Kansas.

However, Colorado almost saw their season flash before their eyes in mid-January. Spencer Dinwiddie, their junior guard from Woodland Hills, CA was having a tremendous season, but went down with an ACL injury in their loss at Washington and mostly everyone wrote this team off.

Luckily for the Buffs, much of their tournament resume was already written earlier in the season. They just needed to stay afloat through the PAC-12 season, and that is what they did. Beating the teams they should, and hopefully trying to pull one off against the likes of UCLA and Arizona.

It would definitely help the Buffs to get a solid PAC-12 Tournament win to help, but I believe this team is in the NCAA Tournament. A player to look is Josh Scott. He propelled the Buffs to a big late season win at Stanford, and he has been a double-double machine.

STANFORD 19-11 (10-8)

The Stanford Cardinal were one of the top basketball schools on the west coast for much of the 90’s and 2000’s. Since then football has stolen the thunder in Palo Alto, but this years team is trying to bring it back.

Led by Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell, the Cardinal produced a workmanlike effort throughout much of the season.

Road wins at then ranked #10 UCONN highlight the season, as well as an impressive home win against UCLA when they were on a roll winning 7 of 8.

It’s never bad to lose to Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado, but when Stanford lost to them down the stretch run of the conference schedule it was tough blow.

Stanford definitely has to win a game or two in the conference tournament to make sure they are tourney bound. Squeaking by Utah in the regular season finale was especially important because a loss there would have sealed their fate for the NIT.

Look out for the Cardinal as they, along with Oregon, could be a sleeper in the conference tournament.

OREGON 22-8 (10-8)

The Ducks began PAC12 play back at the beginning of January ranked 10th in the nation. Yes, TENTH. Riding a 13-0 record, and one of the few remaining unbeaten teams in America, Oregon was poised to get back to the Sweet 16 and prove last years team was not a fluke.

Then the tough losses came, one after the other. From January 5th to February 8th, the Ducks lost 8 of 10 by an average of a little over five points per game. Included in those losses were four, two point losses to Stanford and UCLA at home, as well as both of the Arizona schools. Those losses to the Arizona schools turned the season around. In fact, maybe it wasn’t the losses, but the altercation with the fans in Tempe that woke the Ducks up.

Dana Altman spoke about an incident where Arizona State fans spat on the Oregon players as they came in and out of the locker room at halftime and after the game.

Must have been the spitting that woke Oregon up because they salvaged their season with seven straight wins to close the season, including a double overtime road win at UCLA, albeit without Anderson and Adams, and a win at home against Arizona that punched their ticket to the dance.

This is a team to definitely look out for. Joseph Young and Mike Moser have been on a tear the second half of the season and they look to lead them to a second straight PAC-12 Tournament title.

UTAH 20-10 (9-9)

Larry Krystkowiak is turning this Utah program into a force to be reckoned with for the next couple years. In his third year the win totals have increased from six in year one, to 15 last year, and 20 this year.

It’s not only the fact Krystkowiak is winning; he is doing it his way. Yes, the schedule is soft, but sometimes that is what you have to do when you are trying to build a program.

If you would have told me a few years ago, Utah would be taking a #4 ranked Arizona team to overtime, and also having dominated much of the game, I would have thought you were crazy.

Look out for Jordan Loveridge next year. If you didn’t hear his name this year, you definitely will next year because he is going to be a star in this conference.

The Utes wont make the NCAA Tournament, unless they pull a few miracles in Vegas, but they should be in the NIT and they should be able to win a few games.

WASHINGTON 17-14 (9-9)

Another program whose season seemed to be overshadowed by a football coaching carousel, and it turns out Husky fans did not miss much.

Washington has not made it to the NCAA Tournament since the 2010-11 season, and Lorenzo Romar, in his 12th year with the program, is trying to bring it back.

Washington did not make much of a splash with any big wins, with the exception of beating Colorado at home before the Dinwiddie injury, but the future does look bright in Seattle.

Romar brought in Nigel Williams-Goss, a freshman point guard who came on to the scene and impressed averaging 13.5 points per game. The Huskies will need to find some more help however as their leading scorer, C.J. Wilcox, will graduate.

The Huskies may make the NIT, like they did last year, but it could be a similar fate to last year, a one and done trip in the postseason.

OREGON STATE 16-14 (8-10)

If there was one way to describe this team it would be that they fight. For coach Craig Robinson it is really all you can ask out of your team.

Oregon State has not made it to the NCAA Tournament, and it does not look like they will be attending any time soon. What they have done is annoyed much of the conference with their pesky play.

They almost surprised an Arizona team in the last weekend of the season, as the Wildcats may have been looking ahead to their game against Oregon. They thoroughly frustrated UCLA earlier in the season to earn their best win of the year.

One thing Oregon State can claim that no other team in the conference can claim is a scorer who averaged over 20 points per game. Roberto Nelson, the senior guard from Santa Barbara, CA, put up big numbers on a nightly basis.

The road may get tougher for Oregon State in the future as their top three scorers all are graduating. Those three include Nelson, center Angus Brandt and forward Devon Collier.

It is going to take another few years for the Beavers to build up a sustainable program that will look to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Gary Peyton was in Corvallis.

WASHINGTON STATE 10-20 (3-15)

Now we begin the bottom feeders of the conference. First with Washington State, who put on a dominating performance against UCLA to close out the season.

There is not much to say about this team, as we rarely saw them on national television, but they do have a standout player in DaVonte Lacy who averaged 19 points per game for Wazzu.

You may remember earlier in the conference season when Washington State put on one of the worst displays of offense in recent memory, only scoring 25 points in a game in Tucson.

Look for DaVonte Lacy to return to the Palouse for his senior season, one that will hopefully be better for the Cougars.

USC 11-20 (2-16)

Lastly, we have the Trojans of Southern Cal. Andy Enfield, who led Florida Gulf Coast on one of the most captivating Cinderella runs in tournament history was hired to bring “Dunk City” out west.

The only thing is, the entertainment value of this team was left somewhere in his trip across the United States. At time this season the Trojans were unlookable, especially in conference play.

They had some interesting wins however, especially one against Xavier that raised a few eyebrows in Southern California. Other than that, it was mostly quiet in the Galen Center.

USC is a young team though, and Enfield will get a chance to build a program that he wants. It will be interesting to see how he competes with Steve Alford and if his up-tempo style plays to the liking of high school players.

That wraps up the season in-review for the PAC-12. At this moment the tournament teams I have are Arizona, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona State and Oregon. Stanford and Cal have work left to do in my eyes. Luckily for them, I am not selecting the field of 68 in Indianapolis.

The conference tournament match-ups have been set:

1st Round Byes:

#1 Arizona

#2 UCLA

#3 Arizona State

#4 California

1st Round Games Played Wednesday March 12th:

#5 Colorado vs. #12 USC (Winner faces #4 Cal)

#6 Stanford vs. #11 Washington State (Winner faces #3 Arizona State)

#7 Oregon vs. #10 Oregon State (Winner faces #2 UCLA)

#8 Utah vs. #9 Washington (Winner faces #1 Arizona)