Pac-12 Conference Preview Week 2

UCLA (2)

The number 2 team in the country, UCLA already has a top 5 win (Villanova). Also, the Bruins have two wins against not-so-good teams of Long Beach State (100-79) and CSU Bakersfield (95-58). Johnny Juzang could be the reason UCLA ends up in the Final Four again this season. The return of Cody Riley would be significant for the Bruins, especially with their matchup against Number 1 Gonzaga next Tuesday. But the games before Gonzaga should be easy wins against (0-4) North Florida on Wednesday and (0-2) Bellarmine on Monday.

Oregon (12)

Oregon got upset (81-49) against the now (3-0) BYU in the Phil Knight Invitational. On both sides of the ball, the Ducks didn’t play great on Wednesday night. For Week 1, the Ducks are coming off easy wins against Texas Southern (83-66) and SMU (86-63). After last night’s matchup against BYU, Oregon will fly to Las Vegas to prepare for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, which starts next Monday. Oregon might have to chance to get a top 15 win (Houston) if they met in the Championship game. The Ducks rank will drop to at least outside of the top 20 for now.

USC (25)

For my last preview of the Pac-12 Conference, it will be the USC Trojans. The Trojans are coming off of one dominating win against CSU Northridge (89-49) and a close upset against Temple (76-71) last Saturday. The two players to watch from this USC squad are Isaiah Mobley and Boogie Ellis. Ellis is the top scorer averaging 15.5 points and Mobley averages near a double-double with 12 points and 8.5 rebounds. The excellent news is USC should rank in the top 25 for a while with no opponents this week and easy opponents next week of Dixie State (1-1) on Monday and Thursday against Saint Joseph’s (2-0). The bad news is the Trojans won’t face a top 25 opponent until January 15th against Number 12 Oregon.