Seven teams, including ASU basketball, finished the first week undefeated while Washington and Stanford fell in tough games at Auburn and North Carolina.
While Duke’s 34-point drubbing of Kentucky altered the scope of the nation’s best team, nothing drastically swayed our evaluation of the Pac-12.
As advertised, No. 13 Oregon is legit. Their blowout victories over Portland State and Eastern Washington assured their status as the conference’s top rank and why freshman phenom Bol Bol was deserving of his preseason hype.
No. 20 UCLA also opened the season 2-0 but struggled in their second game against Long Beach State. With Steve Alford having to rely on a freshman-led rotation, the production of sophomores Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands will continue to be vital.
In their first true road test, Washington got smacked by No. 9 Auburn, giving Mike Hopkins’ team a taste of what it’s like to be a top-ranked team. The Huskies rebounded with a 3-point home win over sneaky-good San Diego, avoiding a start below .500 in the opening week.
The nerves and jitters for a new Arizona State team nearly surfaced an opening night defeat to Cal State Fullerton, but thanks to the athletic pairing of Zylan Cheatham and Luguentz Dort, the Sun Devils escaped in double-overtime before holding their next two opponents under 60 points.
With several teams preparing for their early-season tournaments, let’s dive in to how our Pac-12 Power Rankings shape up after week one.