Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: How does Arizona stack up against the conference?

Need a few lucky breaks

Arizona State is quickly looking like a team that was finding itself during non-conference play and figured it out just in time to cause problems in the Pac-12 slate. The Sun Devils looked frail in the season opener, falling to Mississippi State by 15 points. Just a few weeks later, they lost by over 25 points to BYU. Sandwiched in between were a pair of wins, one of them coming over UMass Lowell, who currently sits at 10-4).

The Sun Devils won their next four games after the BYU loss, but fell flat on their faces just ahead of conference play, dropping the next three straight games against San Diego, TCU, and Northwestern. Conference play, though, has been an entirely different story. They started on the right foot, defeating Stanford by 3 points and Cal by 2 points on the road trip, and Arizona State is currently 4-0 in Pac-12 play.

Last weekend: The Sun Devils put on another clinic and swept their second straight weekend. They handed Utah a 12-point loss before taking down Colorado in a tightly-contested 76-73 affair. They very quickly turned a 6-5 season record into a 10-5 record while remaining undefeated in Pac-12 play.

Next week: Arizona State will host Washington for a midweek matchup on Thursday for their sole game of the week.

Washington State looked to be paper tigers initially, having set up a cakewalk of a non-conference schedule and still ending it with a few losses. The first loss of the season came to Mississippi State, which currently sits at 11-3, before Washington State rolled their next six opponents, all mid-major programs. They then fell to Santa Clara (currently 11-6) and followed it up with a win over Boise State (currently 10-4) to cap off non-conference play.

The Cougars entered Pac-12 play with a strong 9-2 record before the luster started to wear off. The Cougars tipped off conference play with a rough weekend, dropping back-to-back games against Colorado and Utah on the road. The Colorado game was only a 7 point loss, but Utah made it sting with an 80-58 beatdown. However, last week's games hosting the Oregon-based schools showed much more promise.

Last weekend: The Cougars started the weekend off strong by hosting Oregon State. Washington State won in a close 65-58 affair before having to turn its attention to the Ducks. Despite holding multiple leads and playing until the end, Washington State fell to Oregon by just 5 points in an even-closer 89-84 defeat. Make no mistake though, this was a quality loss.

Next week: The Cougars will head to Los Angeles to take on USC on Wednesday before returning home on Sunday for the toughest test of the season in No. 8 Arizona.

Washington drew a tough schedule, but has shown to be very inconsistent against good competition. The Huskies won three of their first five games, with two losses coming at the hands of a dominant Nevada squad that sits at 14-1 right now and a San Diego State team that's 13-2. They got back in the win column but faced yet another setback with a close 86-81 loss against No. 20 Colorado State.

The Huskies finally settled in and won their next four straight, which included a 5-point win over No. 7 Gonzaga and a 2OT thriller against Seattle U that ended 100-99. Once Pac-12 play began, though, the Huskies weren't able to finish in close games, where Colorado won by 4 points and Utah won by 5 points in a pair of road matchups.

Last weekend: The Huskies returned home to play Oregon and Oregon State. They started the weekend with a heart-shattering 2-point loss to Oregon before finally making positive headway with a 79-72 win over Oregon State.

Next week: The Huskies will host a surprisingly good Arizona State team on Thursday before they head to UCLA on Sunday and look to prey on a spiraling team.

Oregon State is a team that swings back and forth between bursts of wins and strings of losses. The Beavers took down the first three opponents they face, but it didn't all come easy, with the second and third games going to at least one overtime period. They proceeded to lose the next three games, all against high-major competition, before winning five straight after that.

The five consecutive wins all came against mid-major competition, though, and the Beavers were stunned at home in a 69-62 loss to UCLA to start Pac-12 play. They rebounded by handily taking down USC in a 16-point win later that weekend, but things haven't looked great since.

Last weekend: Oregon State took to the road to play Washington and Washington State. Washington State won by 7 points despite and Washington narrowly won a 79-72 affair despite a 29 point day from Jordan Pope.

Next week: Oregon State's sole matchup of the week will be a midweek home game against Stanford on Thursday, so expect the Beavers to make a push to secure their 10th win of the season.