As the Pac-12 continues to heat up, Drew VonScio provides his latest edition of power rankings and shakes things up.
Matchup of the Week: Gonzaga vs USC (Dec. 2 – 10:00 p.m.)
Sneaky Good Matchups of the Week: Colorado vs Colorado State (Nov. 29 – 9:00 p.m.) and Colgate vs Arizona (Dec. 2 – 3:00 p.m.)
All games listed are EST.
1.Arizona Wildcats
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Record: 6-0 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Michigan State (74-68)
Next Week: vs Colgate (Dec. 2 – 3 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Duke, Michigan State
Bad Losses: N/A
Arizona continues to be the strongest team in Pac-12 after a narrow win over Michigan State. The Spartans gave the Wildcats a run for their money and even outperformed them in the second half. However, Arizona’s strength as a team shows time and time again. Five players posted double-digit points with Caleb Love leading the way with 17 points. Even against a team like Michigan State, Arizona was still able to produce 42 points in the pain and shoot 45.8% from the field. The Wildcats three-point shooting in the second half was very poor, but Tommy Lloyd will be able to turn things around.
2. Colorado Buffaloes
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Record: 5-1 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Richmond (64-59), L vs Florida State (77-71 OT), W vs Iona (85-68)
Next Week: at Colorado State (Nov. 29 – 9 p.m.), vs Pepperdine (Dec. 3 – 5 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
Colorado had a rough outing against Florida State where it conceded 20 fast break points and allowed the Seminoles to shoot 47.4% from the field. Jamir Watkins’ double-double certainly helped Florida State’s efforts to shock the Buffaloes in overtime. Outside of Cody Williams and KJ Simpson, Colorado did not much in the way of a productive offense. The team showed resiliency in the win over Iona where five players posted 11+ points and tightened up defensively. Shooting just under 61% from the field certainly helps their case. Even with the loss against Florida State, the Buffaloes hold their place as a result of being a weaker Power 5 conference.
3. USC Trojans
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Record: 4-2 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Seton Hall (71-63), L vs Oklahoma (72-70)
Next Week: vs Eastern Washington (Nov. 29 – 11 p.m.), vs Gonzaga (Dec. 2 – 10 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Kansas State
Bad Losses: UC Irvine
Boogie Ellis had a strong week for the Trojans, averaging 19 points per game in a 1-1 week. USC had two other players that scored 10+ points in both games as its starting lineup is one of the strongest in the conference. Doing this without Bronny James makes it that much more impressive. The Trojans went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma, but the Sooners shooting was too much for USC to handle. Allowing 50% from the field and 45.5% from behind the arc is not sustainable to continue to win games and while it shouldn’t be an issue against Eastern Washington, Gonzaga can make things difficult on Saturday.
4. UCLA Bruins
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Record: 4-2 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Marquette (71-69), W vs Chaminade (76-48), L vs Gonzaga (69-65)
Next Week: vs UC Riverside (Nov. 30 – 11 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
UCLA had a week of two tough losses against ranked opponents in Marquette and Gonzaga. Even though the results didn’t go their way, the Bruins showed they can compete with the top teams in the country while cruising to a win against Chaminade. Sebastian Mack led the way this past week with 16+ point performances in each game and highlighted it with 25 points against Marquette. Turnovers made the difference against Marquette while sub-par shooting from deep hurt UCLA in its opportunity to make a big statement in Maui. Mick Cronin’s group is just one or two elements away from having the potential to go knocking on Arizona’s door.
5. Oregon Ducks
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Record: 4-2 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Florida A&M (67-54), L vs Santa Clara (88-82), L vs Alabama (99-91)
Next Week: vs Michigan (Dec. 2 – 3:30 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
It wasn’t the best week for Oregon after the Florida A&M game as it lost both contests in the Emerald Coast Classic. Each of those games came down to the wire as the Ducks offense was very powerful. 82 points against Santa Clara and 91 against Alabama are good numbers, but defensive issues continue to show. While the team scored 173 points, it also conceded 187. Both Santa Clara and Alabama shot over 50% from the field and scored over 40 points in the paint. Jermaine Cousinard posted a season-high 24 points against the Crimson Tide, and the team is in a position to take a step forward if he can establish consistency on offense.
6. Washington State Cougars
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Record: 4-1 (0-0)
Last Week: W vs Utah Tech (93-53)
Next Week: vs Eastern Washington (Nov. 27 – 10 p.m.), vs Portland State (Dec. 2 – 5 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
Washington State dominated in its lone game of the week with a 40-point victory over Utah Tech. Andrej Jakimovski continues to lead the Cougars offensively as he posted another 20-point performance; Myles Rice was right behind him with 18. The team also shot 65.2% from three-point range as Jakimovski sunk five of them himself. Defensively, the Cougars limited Utah Tech to just two players over 10 points and under 30% from the field. Washington State has had a rather easy schedule to this point and needs to play against some stiffer competition to determine just how good of a team they really are this season.
7. Utah Utes
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
Record: 3-2 (0-0)
Last Week: N/A
Next Week: at Saint Mary’s (Nov. 27 – 11 p.m.), vs Hawaii (Nov. 30 – 9 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
Utah didn’t have any games this week and only slid down as a result of Washington State having good performances. The Utes are shooting just under 47% from the field through five games and 81.6 points per game. Branden Carlson is averaging 19.4 points per game and shows that he is going to put this team on his back. Gabe Madsen is helping out offensively as well for Utah who is averaging 41.6 rebounds per game. That is a number that the Utes could certainly benefit from staying that high and hope that it can lead to wins once conference play rolls around.
8. Washington Huskies
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
Record: 3-2 (0-0)
Last Week: N/A
Next Week: vs UC San Diego (Nov. 28 – 10 p.m.), vs Colorado State (Dec. 2 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: Xavier
Bad Losses: N/A
Washington had the week off after playing in the Continental Tire Main Event, so this ranking is also not a reflection of how they performed. The Huskies currently average seven more points per game than their opponents and have benefitted from a strong offensive performance against San Diego State in Las Vegas. As things sit currently, Washington is shooting just under 49% from the field and forces 12.8 turnovers per game. Opponents have shot the ball really well against the Huskies though (40.4%), a number that will need to decrease by at least 10% if postseason success is the expectation.
9. Stanford Cardinal
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Record: 3-4 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Arkansas (77-74 2OT), L vs Michigan (83-78), L vs Northern Iowa (73-51)
Next Week: vs San Diego (Dec. 3 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: Santa Clara, UNI
There’s good news and bad news for Stanford. The bad news is obvious as it was a horrible week for the Cardinal. The good news? It can’t get any worse than that. Going from competing against the number 20 team in the country at the time to being beaten by 20 against UNI, the week couldn’t have ended quicker for Stanford. Against Michigan and UNI, the Cardinal gave up 45+ points in the first half and each of those teams also shot over 54%. The upside for Stanford is that it’s still early in the season, and there is plenty of time to turn things around.
10. Arizona State Sun Devils
Last Week’s Ranking: 11
Record: 3-2 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs BYU (77-49), W vs Vanderbilt (82-67)
Next Week: vs Sam Houston State (Nov. 29 – 9 p.m.), vs San Francisco (Dec. 3 – 3 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
Arizona State bounced back well against Vanderbilt after being dominated by BYU. It was an ugly first half against BYU where the Sun Devils scored just 17 points, went 1-11 from three-point range and missed all six foul shots. The misfortune from behind the arc continued into the second half, but the game was out of reach by then. Those numbers drastically improved against Vanderbilt as the growing pains were quickly forgotten. Jamiya Neal and Frankie Collins both posted double digits in each of the two games last week for the Sun Devils. The rebuild continues for Arizona State, but the potential is certainly there for Bobby Hurley’s group.
11. Oregon State Beavers
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
Record: 3-3 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs Baylor (88-72), L vs Pitt (76-51)
Next Week: vs UC Davis
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
Oregon State went into Brooklyn and was quickly reminded it has a long way to go. Posting just 26 points in a half certainly isn’t going to cut it against Baylor, but the Beavers did shoot 63% from the field in the second half against the Bears. A lack of shooting ability behind the arc told the story for Oregon State against Pitt, where it shot just 9.5% from behind the arc (2-21). Tyler Bilodeau and Jordan Pope can only do so much offensively. It’s a young team for the Beavers, and it’s all about ironing out the kinks in non-conference play.
12. California Golden Bears
Last Week’s Ranking: 12
Record: 2-5 (0-0)
Last Week: L vs UTEP (75-72), L vs Tulane (84-81), L vs San Diego State (76-67 OT)
Next Week: vs Santa Clara (Dec. 2 – 7 p.m.)
Quality Wins: N/A
Bad Losses: N/A
California’s inexperience showed this past week with three losses in as many games. The Golden Bears had a chance to win against UTEP and Tulane, but foul trouble and defensive struggles prevented them from pulling off upsets. San Diego State had its hands full but shifted into another gear for overtime. Even though the team isn’t going to have much success this year, the Golden Bears have a strong trio of Jaylon Tyson, Fardaws Aimaq and Jalen Cone. Tyson is the young one of the experienced bunch, but they will certainly help keep this group competitive and provide leadership for the bear cubs that are adjusting to the college game.