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Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: 'Cats rolling to No. 1 seed, Colorado/Utah on the cusp, UCLA slips

In the penultimate week of Pac-12 play, a third true contender aside from the top dogs has emerged: Colorado. Utah is also lying on the fringes as one of the four teams to escape unscathed in a bloody weekend of Pac-12 basketball.

By Mason Duhon

Oregon v Arizona
Oregon v Arizona / Chris Coduto/GettyImages
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Pac-12 Tournament sleepers

. . . UO. . . 515. 19-10 (11-7 in Pac-12). Last week: 4. 5

KJ Lewis, Jermaine Couisnard
Oregon v Arizona / Chris Coduto/GettyImages

Oregon simply can't be trusted; they'll reliably beat the bottom-feeders in the Pac-12 but haven't shown up against high-level competition as the regular season winds down. It was to be expected that Oregon would sweep Oregon State on the season, and five players reached double figures against the Beavers in the 78-71 rivalry game win.

However, despite their best player Jermaine Couisnard putting up a career-high 39 points, the Ducks couldn't overcome the daunting 21-point deficit staring them down by halftime against Arizona. N'Faly Dante logged a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Jackson Shelstad also racked up 16 points, but those three weren't enough to overcome Arizona's depth and Oregon was served a 103-83 beatdown.

Next week: Oregon will look to step on the throats of some contenders when Colorado comes to town on Thursday and Utah follows suit on Saturday.

. UCLA. 14-15 (9-9 in Pac-12). . . 518. Last week: 5. . . 6

Dylan Andrews
UCLA v USC / Jayne Kamin-Oncea/GettyImages

After ripping off seven straight wins to escape the basement, UCLA has gone cold again and is on a four-game slide after a trip to the Pacific Northwest wasn't kind to them. Dylan Andrews showed out against Washington with a 21-point, 11-assist double-double, but the Bruins couldn't keep pace in the 94-77 loss. Adem Bona also logged a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds in UCLA's first loss to Washington in the last 10 matchups.

Washington State continued to stomp out UCLA's flames in the 77-65 loss. Andrews posted 21 points for a second consecutive game and UCLA held a 13-point lead in the first half, but it slowly faded away in the second half as UCLA lost its first game to Washington State in the last five meetings. It seems likely at this point that the Bruins will finish the regular season on a six-game losing streak.

Next week: UCLA will be homesteading in the last week of the regular season, with red-hot Arizona coming to Pauley Pavilion on Thursday and Arizona State doing the same on Saturday.

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