Bracket Watch: Pac-12 can prosper from incredibly thin field of 68
This has not exactly been the Pac-12's finest season. Outside of Arizona and Utah, the West Coast's preeminent conference has not produced even a third surefire tourney team. After a promising start, Washington went in the toilet. Stanford, a Sweet 16 participant last year, is hanging on for dear life.
As we enter the last month of the regular season, though, two upstarts are making their cases. The fact that one of them already has 10 losses and still cracked my newest field does not speak well for the pool of contenders nationally.
Say hello to UCLA, the same team that scored seven first-half points against Kentucky in December amid a five-game losing streak. By no means do the 15-10 Bruins have the world's strongest resume, but they did beat Utah, a projected top-three seed, and sweep Stanford. More importantly, they have a chance to add another quality win Saturday against Oregon.
Speaking of the Ducks . . . they're in now, too. At 18-7, Oregon still has a lot of work to do, too, but it's currently 7-6 against top-100 teams.
If you're wondering how two teams with such lackluster resumes could possibly be considered among the 36 best at-large teams right now, well, they're in better shape than fellow bubble teams Seton Hall, which is in the midst of a full-on implosion, and Miami, which keeps losing to teams like Wake Forest.
Believe me, the field is that bad. But either UCLA or Oregon will likely cement its case down the stretch.
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Editor's note: The bracket sets up as East vs. South, Midwest vs. West. It's based on games played through Feb. 12. Projected automatic berths (*) go to the current first-place team in each conference (in cases of first-place ties, the higher-rated RPI team gets the nod).
Selection Sunday is March 15.
| East Region (Syracuse) | ||
| Seed | Team | Location |
| 1 | Virginia* (ACC) | at Charlotte |
| 16 | Texas Southern* (SWAC)/New Mexico State* (WAC) | |
| 8 | LSU (SEC) | |
| 9 | Dayton (A-10) | |
| 4 | Wichita State* (MVC) | at Seattle |
| 13 | Harvard* (Ivy) | |
| 5 | Oklahoma State (Big 12) | |
| 12 | Purdue (Big Ten) /UCLA (Pac-12)
|
|
| 6 | Arkansas (SEC) | at Omaha |
| 11 | Stanford (Pac-12)
|
|
| 3 | Oklahoma (Big 12) | |
| 14 | Eastern Washington* (Big Sky)
|
|
| 7 | Ohio State (Big Ten)
|
at Pittsburgh |
| 10 | Temple (AAC) | |
| 2 | Villanova* (Big East) | |
| 15 | Georgia Southern* (Sun Belt) |
