UCLA leads Pac-12 men’s basketball standings, ASU slips
Mar 1, 2020, 6:50 PM | Updated: Mar 2, 2020, 7:39 am
Left: UCLA forward Jalen Hill. (AP Photo/ Ringo H.W. Chiu). Right: Arizona State guard Remy Martin (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
(AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
With one week left in the regular season, the race for the Pac-12 men’s basketball title is on.
Prior to the weekend, Arizona State sat atop of the rankings, but after back-to-back losses to UCLA and USC, the Sun Devils are third in the conference. At 10-6 in Pac-12 play, ASU must win games against Washington and Washington State while hoping for a UCLA loss against USC to force a tiebreaking scenario.
UCLA is currently first in the Pac-12 rankings after wins over ASU and Arizona this weekend. The Bruins hold a 19-11 record and are 12-5 in conference play.
UCLA has come a long way since mid-January. On Jan. 16, the team was 8-9 overall with a 1-3 record in conference play. The Bruins are now on a seven-game winning streak, and they’ve won 11-of-13 since then.
No. 14 Oregon held onto second place in the conference following Thursday’s 69-54 win over Oregon State.
The Ducks could have the chance to move into first place for the regular-season title if UCLA loses its final game of the season to USC.
Coming up this weekend, Arizona State will close out Pac-12 play with home games against Washington and Washington State. If they win both games, they’ll finish no less than third in the conference. With UCLA and Oregon ahead of them and four teams within distance of surpassing ASU in the final week of Pac-12 play, here is how a tiebreaking scenario will work for conference tournament seeding.
Tie-Breakers:
1. Two-team tie
a. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
b. Each team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record (won-lost percentage) against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure), rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
c. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
d. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.2. Multiple-team tie
a. Results (won-lost percentage) of collective head-to-head competition during the regular season among the tied teams.
b. If more than two teams are still tied, each of the tied team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings, and then continuing down through the standings, eliminating teams with inferior records, until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record (won-lost percentage) against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure), rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
After one team has an advantage and is seeded, all remaining teams in the multiple-team tie-breaker will repeat the multiple-team tie-breaking procedure.
If at any point the multiple-team tie is reduced to two teams, the two-team tie-breaking procedure will be applied.
c. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
d. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.
Arizona has lost three games in a row and is sixth in the conference. Once ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP Top 25, the Wildcats have struggled to stay consistent as of late.
Elsewhere in the conference, Stanford is keeping its postseason hopes alive following a 72-64 upset over No. 21 Colorado on Sunday.
Stanford’s win helped ASU out as the Sun Devils would’ve fallen to fourth if Colorado had won.
As for Colorado, the Buffaloes dropped three games in a row now.
Pac-12 men’s basketball standings
| Place | Team | Conference record | Games back | Final opponent/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA Bruins | 12-5 | — | @ USC |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | 11-5 | 0.5 | vs. Cal/Stanford |
| 3 | Arizona State Sun Devils | 10-6 | 1.5 | vs. Washington/Washington State |
| T-4 | Colorado Buffaloes | 10-7 | 2.0 | @ Utah |
| T-4 | USC Trojans | 10-7 | 2.0 | vs. UCLA |
| T-6 | Arizona Wildcats | 9-7 | 2.5 | vs. Washington State/Washington |
| T-6 | Stanford Cardinal | 9-7 | 2.5 | @ Oregon State/Oregon |
| 8 | California Golden Bears | 7-9 | 4.5 | @ Oregon/Oregon State |
| 9 | Washington State Cougars | 6-10 | 5.5 | @ Arizona/Arizona State |
| 10 | Utah Utes | 6-11 | 6.0 | vs. Colorado |
| 11 | Oregon State Beavers | 5-11 | 6.5 | vs. Stanford/Cal |
| 12 | Washington Huskies | 3-13 | 8.5 | @ Arizona State/Arizona |
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