Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week Five
Posted by Connor Pelton on December 12th, 2011Here’s a look at the power rankings that Drew and I have compiled after the fifth week of Pac-12 games. Here we go!
1. Stanford, 8-1: The Cardinal hold steady at number one despite taking the week off to study for finals. Why then, you might be wondering, do they get all of THIS week off as well? Those brainiacs on the bay needed a full week just to study, and they will take the actual exams this week. Up Next: 12.17 vs. San Diego
Aaron Bright leads the Cardinal with 12.2 PPG. (credit: Patrick McDermott)
2. California, 8-2: The Golden Bears move up two spots after picking up a pair of blowout victories. The first came Wednesday night, an 81-36 beat down of in-state rival San Jose State. And yesterday, it was Jackson State who was the unlucky recipient of a 73-46 loss. Up Next: 12.16 vs. Weber State
3, Oregon State, 6-2: The Beavers suffered their first setback of the season (it was bound to happen sometime) on Friday as Idaho came into Corvallis and stole a 74-60 win. The game did come just 48 hours after the death of Fred Thompson, another student athlete at Oregon State. Still, the Beavers have to do a better job of recognizing and then fighting through screens against good three-point shooting teams. Up Next: 12.13 vs. Illinois-Chicago
4. Arizona, 7-3: It wasn’t a terrible week for Arizona, but it could have been a lot better. The Wildcats opened up the week on Tuesday in Gainesville, where they fell to 12th-ranked Florida by six in overtime. The Cats did bounce back in fine fashion, beating a solid Clemson team by 16 on Saturday. Up Next: 12.17 vs. Gonzaga in Seattle
5. Oregon, 5-2: The Ducks kept up their tradition Saturday of beating bad teams in the ugliest way possible. This time it was Fresno State, who came into Eugene with a 4-5 record. The Bulldogs hung with Oregon all night long, but lack of execution down the stretch resulted in a 74-70 loss. Up Next: 12.12 vs. Portland State
6. Washington, 4-4: An 0-2 week is never good, but Washington has to feel better than they did last week. The Huskies hung with #11 Marquette and #5 Duke (both in New York City) before poor finishes doomed them. Up Next: 12.16 vs. UC Santa Barbara
7. Washington State, 6-4: The Cougs are the hot topic in the Pac-12 right now after defeating Idaho and Santa Clara this week. Those extended their winning streak to four games, and they have a good chance of making it six in a row before opening conference play against Oregon on the 29th. Up Next: 12.18 vs. Western Oregon
8. Colorado, 5-4: It was a mixed week for the inconsistent Buffaloes. They started it off with a solid victory against Fresno State, but then came the head-scratcher. Wyoming marched into the Coors Events Center on a cool Friday night and took CU completely out of their game plan. The Cowboys confused the Buffs on both offense and defense, leading to a double-digit win. Up Next: 12.19 vs. Cal State Bakersfield
9. USC, 4-6: Sometimes I think it would be better to just give you the winner of USC games, instead of a score that makes you cringe upon seeing it. It was New Mexico 44, USC 41, on Saturday at the Galen Center. The Trojans are now averaging 53.7 PPG, which is good enough for 339th in the nation. Those are numbers Pac-12 fans haven’t seen since Oregon State’s “0-18” 2007-08 campaign. Up Next: 12.17 vs. Georgia
10. Arizona State, 4-5: It’s double-digit ranking time, which means you can always count on the ASU-UCLA-Utah combination! The Devils did fall to Nevada to open up the week, but they were able to hold on for a big victory over North Dakota State on Saturday. Up Next: 12.17 vs. Northern Arizona
11. UCLA, 3-5: The Bruins are trying to climb the road back to .500, and they took care of business in their only game this week. It wasn’t a blowout victory by any means, nor is Pennsylvania a great opponent, but it was the first win for the Bruins without troubled star Reeves Nelson. I may be drinking the three win Kool-Aid (is that even possible?), but I’m starting to like this Bruin team. If they play like did for most of the Penn game in their final four nonconference affairs (Before conference play begins), I expect to see them at 7-5 going into Pac-12 play. Up Next: 12.14 vs. Eastern Washington
12. Utah, 1-8: I seriously thought the Utes would lose to BYU by 50, so considering they only fell by 19, I’m going to call this week a success for them. Wait, they lost by how many to Cal State Fullerton? 31? Eh, never mind. Up Next: 12.16 vs. Idaho State
I'm from Portland. College basketball and football is life.
