No team escaped the regular season with less than five losses, and it took until the final day of games to decide how the seeds would all shake out. No team in the top four completed a clean sweep of the other programs, and no team is ranked inside the Top 15 nationally. What does all this mean? Despite a first round bye, no team on this list is safe.
No. 1 UCLA: The Bruins had a hot start to the conference season, rolling to a 5-0 start before falling at home to the Ducks. UCLA responded against then-No. 6 Arizona, winning by double digits but stumbled in two in a row against Arizona State and USC, equating to a 6-3 record. The Bruins finished strong though, winning seven of their final nine games — including another victory over Arizona and a win over Washington to seal a regular season conference title.
No. 2 Cal: What a turnaround. Cal was a measly 3-4 to start the year but have been terrific since: The Golden Bears have won nine of their final 12, including a seven-game win streak. Shooting guard Allen Crabbe is the league’s most prolific scorer, averaging 18.6 points per game. Basketball is often about momentum, and no team has more of that than Cal right now.
No. 3 Oregon: The men from Eugene are a bit of mystery heading into the bracket. Oregon was the clear-cut leader of the conference after the month of January with a 6-0 record and wins over UCLA and Arizona. Then the injury to Dominic Artis made for a bumpy 5-4 streak, losing three in a row at one point. His late-season return gave the Ducks a boost for a win over the Beavers, but the former dropped their final two games, to choke away the chance for the regular season crown. Oregon has yet to face another top-four team with Artis back in the lineup.
No. 4 Arizona: A ton of hype and a perpetually high ranking despite never winning more than four Pac-12 games in a row makes Arizona a tough team to analyze. The Wildcats have a dangerous duo in Mark Lyons and Solomon Hill but are a combined 0-4 against the Ducks, Golden Bears and Bruins. When the Wildcats get hot, they are tough customers, as they are second in the conference in scoring as well as three-point percentage.