The early slate of Saturday's college basketball scores put the Arizona Wildcats in prime position to control the Pac-12 race. Colorado lost a second half home lead to UCLA, opening the door for the Wildcats to jump into first place.
But, much like the last time Arizona faced Oregon, it squandered a lead in the final minute of regulation and fell in overtime Saturday night. That means ASU is alone in first place with a 10-4 conference record.
The loss to the Ducks hurt the Cats in the conference race as they fell down to fifth place (9-5), and with just two weeks of regular season play left, time isn't on Arizona's side to catch up.
Four Pac-12 teams (Colorado, Oregon, UCLA, Arizona) enter the final stretch right behind the Sun Devils with five conference losses, making it conceivable that any one of the five have a shot at the regular season crown. Even USC with six losses isn't mathematically out of it.
Here's a 1-12 look at the Pac-12 after Saturday's games:
Of course, there could be a scenario in which two or more teams end the year with the same win-loss record meaning they'd share the regular season championship such as when Arizona and Oregon split it in 2017.
In the event of a case like that, here's a look at how seeding for the Pac-12 Tournament would be determined via Pac-12.com.
Two-team tie
A. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
B. Each team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record (won-lost percentage) against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure), rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
C. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
Multiple-team tie
A. Results (won-lost percentage) of collective head-to-head competition during the regular season among the tied teams.
B. If more than two teams are still tied, each of the tied team’s record (won-lost percentage) vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings, and then continuing down through the standings, eliminating teams with inferior records, until one team gains an advantage.
C. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
The Wildcats' road trip to Los Angeles becomes that much more important now. A loss to either USC or UCLA could all but end UA's first place hopes and prevent it from securing a first round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament. Sweep the L.A. schools, and there's still a shot.
Either way, it should be a hectic few weeks.
