Pacific Takes Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings 11/26 - The mighty, mighty Cardinal

Things stayed steady in the top spots in this week’s power rankings, but there are some new faces in the top half of the conference. Let’s dive into it:

1. Oregon (Last Week #1)

The Ducks are TCB, takin’ care of business. Big week coming up for the Quackers of Eugene as they take on #13 Seton Hall on Wednesday as they continue their quest for a top ten spot.

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

2. Arizona (Last Week #2)

Arizona came back from a halftime deficit to smuggle a win out of tough matchup with SDSU. But hey, San Diego State is a really good- wait, oh they played South Dakota State, well the Jackrabbits have Mike Daum and he’s a real talented- oh Mike Daum graduated last year and is playing in Spain. Huh, well at least Arizona kept with conference tradition and blew out Long Beach State on Sunday.

3. Colorado (Last Week #3)

Buffalo stock continues to rise, let’s just hope the Buffaloes don’t look too far ahead to their December 7th matchup with Kansas and drop a game to an undefeated Sacramento State squad.

4. Washington (Last Week #4)

Isaiah Stewart is still a big man. The Huskies are staying at #4 just to remind you that Jeff Goodman picked them to go to the final four in the preseason.

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

5. ASU (Last Week #8)

SO CLOSE! SO CLOSE TO A DOUBLE UPSET! A three point loss against Virginia on Saturday is enough to bump the Sun Devils up to fifth in this week’s power rankings. Remy Martin and ASU are on the rise baby, which is exactly what we said last season.

6. Stanford (Last Week #11)

Stanford is still undefeated, please ignore me having them at eleventh last week, I am an idiot. ESPN released their strength of schedule index today and Stanford has faced the second strongest schedule in the Pac-12 and the seventieth in the nation. Make sure to check back next week when I have them at #3 in the power rankings because I was an idiot and underrated them this week.

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

7. USC (Last Week #6)

No need for the Trojans to hit the panic button, a loss to a strong Temple team is okay. All the Trojans can do is hope to learn more from that loss than any of their wins so far. [Insert more buzzword cliches]

8. Oregon State (Last Week #7)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am upset. Not only did Oregon State beat my beloved UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, but I have to drop my beloved Beavers another spot in the power rankings for the second consecutive week as Stanford and ASU skyrocketed into the top half of the power rankings.

9. Utah (Last Week #5)

The Utes did not enjoy their beach weekend as they went 1-2 at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, which included an absolute shellacking from Coastal Carolina.

10. UCLA (Last Week #9)

The Pac-12 just needs to avoid any invitational, tournament, classic, shootout, classic, or whatever takes place at a beach. The Bruins dropped the Maui Invitational first round matchup against BYU. Now that I think about it, maybe UCLA should avoid games all together after failing to close out Hofstra at home in the final ten minutes only to lose to the Pride by ten. This could be because UCLA is fairly close to the beach, I’ll do some investigating.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

11. Cal (Last Week #11)

Okay yeah Cal went 0-2 since the last power rankings, but they lost to #1 Duke and a 5-1 Texas. Mark Fox is still doing a fantastic job and I for one, and am excited to see how Berk does in their remaining non-con games which includes a slate of talented mid-majors such as Fresno State and Harvard.

12. Washington State (Last Week #12)

I’m really looking for something positive to say here that does not involve just CJ Elleby and I guess by saying that I just said something positive about just CJ Elleby. Alright let me try again, the other half of the Cougars backcourt, Isaac Bonton played great in the Cayman Islands Classic averaging 17.5 points and 7 rebounds over the two contests.