The Pac-12 Tournament begins on Thursday and may be the tournament with the most eyes watching because of the chaos that the conference caused last March. 

On Thursday, we will see the lower seeds play as Arizona, UCLA, USC, and Colorado all earned a first round bye. 

The Pac-12 has three teams that are locks for the NCAA Tournament in Arizona (28-3), UCLA (23-6), and USC (25-6).  All three are considered favorites to win this tournament. 

While USC plays some of the best defense in the conference, and UCLA has shown the potential to be one of the best teams in the nation, Arizona is one of, if not the best team in the nation. This makes them a slam dunk pick to be the true favorite in this tournament and my pick to win.

The top-seeded Wildcats have the top offense in the conference and it is not even close. Built with a roster of high level shooters, dominant big men, and guys who love to distribute the ball, there are very limited if any holes in this roster. The Wildcats also have the player of the tournament for me, Bennedict Mathurin, a potential lottery pick, who allows for this team to be leagues above the rest.

The Pac-12 does not have a lot of true sleeper contenders, schools like Washington, Washington State, Arizona State, and Stanford just lack the talent to make a deep run in this tournament. In terms of what I’ll consider “The Oregon State Sleeper of the Year”, it is between the fourth-seeded Colorado and fifth-seeded Oregon. A more than likely quarterfinal matchup, sees two teams trending in opposite directions that both need to win to make the Big Dance. 

Colorado is riding a high of beating Arizona, while Oregon is limping into the tournament with a couple of huge losses in a row. Colorado is the team that I have the most belief can make a similar run that Oregon State did last year.

Only time will tell who will become the champion of the “Conference of Champions” when the tournament tips off in Las Vegas later this week.