Week 13 ATQ Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings. Ducks extend the gap

1. Oregon (18-4) (7-2)

The Ducks create some room in the power rankings thanks to a stellar week in the desert. Of course things got off to a great start with the win to break Arizona’s streak, but I was really impressed with surviving the hangover against Arizona State. This team is really clicking and is the class of the conference.

2. Arizona (17-5) (5-4)

After the scorching hot shooting to begin the Oregon game the Wildcats had to be stunned with the outcome of that one. A nice response to beat the Beavers by 17 though. I’m interested looking ahead at the matchup this week against Washington in Seattle.

3. Utah (17-5) (6-3)

The Utes just keep on rolling in conference as they knocked off California by 9 and Stanford by 22. With those wins Utah has now rolled to five straight conference wins with their last loss coming from Oregon a few weeks back.

4. Washington (14-7) (6-3)

The Huskies defense was certainly not at its best this last week in Southern California. Washington got out to a big lead over UCLA but needed to eke out an 86-84 victory and then responded with a 98-88 loss to USC. Andrew Andrews was held in check this week as he averaged just 13.5 points.

5. USC (17-5) (6-3)

A solid week for the Trojans as they knocked off both the Cougars and Huskies by ten. I really like the game of big man Nikola Jovanovic who this week averaged 19 points and 6 rebounds. A nice chance awaits this week to sweep the season series with UCLA.

6. Colorado (17-5) (6-3)

It’s hard to find many teams for Colorado to jump in the rankings but they did the best they could after knocking off Stanford and California. The impressive part this week though is that the Buffaloes did their damage with red hot three point shooting.

7. California (14-7) (4-5)

The Golden Bears continue their streaky season as they respond to a two-win week with back-to-back losses. As usual, when the offense doesn’t show up they don’t have much of a chance. This week California averaged 63 points in their two losses.

8. UCLA (13-9) (4-5)

The Bruins had a real chance at a nice sweep of the Washington schools but couldn’t complete the comeback against the Huskies. They pulled off one of the biggest defeats in Pac-12 play this year beating the Cougars by 33 though. Bryce Alford did the best he could this week with his 20 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds week.

9. Oregon State (12-8) (3-6)

The Beavers keep on sliding down the power rankings thanks to two more conference losses. They were really never in either game as they lost to the Arizona schools by a 17.5 average. Gary Payton II's 5.5 per game was a major culprit in the two losses.

10. Stanford (11-9) (3-6)

Many bracketology "experts" have the Cardinal very near the bubble. I have a hard time seeing that after blowout losses to Colorado and Utah. Arizona State didn’t do enough this week to jump them though.

11. Arizona State (12-10) (2-7)

I actually really like the way this team plays. I thought that after Oregon got off to the quick start they would lie down but they proved otherwise. Bobby Hurley, as crazy as he is, will have this team in the right direction soon.

12.  Washington State (9-12) (1-8)

Make it seven straight conference losses now for the Cougars as nothing is still going right. Another week with porous defense as USC and UCLA put up an average of 82 points. The lowlight came with the 33 point drubbing to UCLA.

Now, for a look at the big games in the week ahead:

Thur. Feb. 4th: UCLA at USC

Sat. Feb. 6th: Arizona at Washington

Sun. Feb. 7th: Utah at Oregon