Pac Ten Could Get Only 1 Team in the Big Dance

It has been mentioned a million times how the Pac Ten is having a down year and we will all find out on Selection Sunday how the committee viewed the Pac Ten this season. At the beginning of the year California and Washington were ranked in the Top 20, but now the top two teams in the Pac Ten are Cal and ASU. The problem with the Pac Ten is their 1st place team is not ranked in the Top 25 in the country. The Pac Ten is the only major conference that does not have a ranked team. The bottom line is Cal and ASU will not get the benefit of the doubt if they are upset in the earlier rounds of the Pac Ten conference.

The best-case scenario for the Pac Ten is for Cal and ASU to meet in the championship game of the Pac Ten Tournament. If that happens California and Arizona State should receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament. If ASU does not advance to the title game there is a good chance that they will be on their way to the NIT. Assuming that California wins the Pac Ten regular season, but does not win the conference tournament they could also be left out of the tournament. That sounds far fetched, but the 4th or 5th place team in the Big East, Big Ten and ACC are locks no matter what they do in their conference tournaments. That type of reputation is what the Pac Ten has been lacking all season.