Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Arizona No. 1, Cal on the rise, Stanford falling

Bubble watch

Colorado is slowly building a resume that could be worthy of one of the last few spots in the NCAA Tournament come March. That is, if they stay locked in; losing four out of your last seven isn't a great look down the stretch.

KJ Simpson's 28 points helped power the Buffaloes to an 89-65 beatdown over rival Utah at home after the Utes narrowly beat them on the road a few weeks ago. The Buffs played with incredible discipline and boasted the same number of turnovers as they had double-digit scorers: four. J'Vonne Hadley also just missed a double-double with 20 points and nine total rebounds.

Next week: Colorado's homestead will continue against Cal on Wednesday in a midweek throwdown and against Stanford on Sunday.

Oregon was finally able to pull off its second straight win again for the first time in over a month and a half against Stanford, but it all came crashing down when Cal pulled its typical tricks. The Ducks will need to put the pedal to the metal down the stretch if they have any hopes of being one of the last four in.

In the first game against the Cardinal, the 3-ball was hitting for the Ducks; they shot 12-25 from the arc. Jadrian Tracey made four of them and finished with 20 points in the 78-65 win, while Jackson Shelstad made three and finished with 19. Against Cal, though, Oregon went 4-18 from the arc and couldn't hold off the Golden Bears in the 69-65 loss. Jermaine Couisnard finished with 19 points, but it wasn't enough after the entire Oregon team went cold in the second half.

Next week: The Ducks will look to avoid a stunning series sweep in the final rivalry week at home against Oregon State.

I'm not going to punish UCLA too much for losing to USC in rivalry week. The Trojans have been on a slight upswing with some starters returning from injury, and UCLA got the win at Galen Center, so it's only fair. The Bruins will need to get back into better form if they want to compete in the Pac-12 Tournament and in March.

UCLA rallied from being down 33-19 in the first half to send the game into halftime knotted at 34-34. Things tapered off in the second half, and USC ultimately sealed the close 62-56 loss for the Bruins. Nobody on UCLA posted more than 15 points, and the team as a whole only shot 33% from the field.

Next week: UCLA will play Washington in Seattle on Thursday before heading to Pullman to play Washington State.