The top three teams will be much better. Overall, I don't think the conference perception across the country will improve all that much but the winner of the regular season title will actually get in this year. Idk, I think Stanford has a really good chance. OSU doesn't looking at them since Cunningham is leaving and their recruiting class is less than stellar. I mean, it can't get any worse than it was last year but the bottom is still going to be really, really bad. Maybe Nik or Goose have some more insight (hopefully).
Bennett not going to UW next year is no surprise. I think there is a better than 50/50 shot that UW will still land a big, but they won't take one unless it is a good fit. That could determine ultimately how good they become. They're loaded at the 1-3, and weak at the 4,5.
Having said that, it would not surprise me in the least if UW is a better team next year. They won't be a deep tourney team by any stretch, but I would be shocked if they are worse overall. The backcourt is deeper, there will be more veteran leadership and if they stay healthy they could be a better overall squad... It will certainly be a more veteran and seasoned squad. This year's UW team has long been thought to be the weakest in years due to the youth. It showed down the stretch. UW won't have 8 freshman next year like we did this year ;) If CJ is healthy he will mitigate Ross's departure, and the backcourt will likely be stronger with Andrews and McLaughlin adding to the rotation with Gaddy...
If we just look at the number of tourney teams, 3 isn't all that impressive. But there were literally NO teams in the conference last year that had any kind of national profile. That should change next year, which gives the conference a big boost. And back to your original question, I'd like to see improvement in the Pac 12, but not enough to knock us out of the top 3 or 4 teams. We need to keep the momentum going!
COLORADO BUFFALOES BASKETBALL: 2012 PAC-12 CHAMPIONS
2012 Charleston Classic Champions
+1
By default it's hard to top arguably the worst year ever in terms of conference perception...
The Pac still does not have an elite team. Arizona and UCLA are still paper tigers... The Pac is still a wide open conference, although there will be potentially a lot more mediocre teams IMO...
What we need to do is win in November as a conference.
Until we have 3rd and 4th year players with NBA talent we will be down... Oregon and Cal will be worse. Stanford, CU, UCLA, Arizona and UW could all be better. We need to win OOC match ups early or the perception will linger...
The bottom fourth of the conference should still be pretty bad. USC, Utah, Arizona State will have a tough competing next season imo.
Arizona and UCLA will be the favorites, but both have weaknesses. Arizona doesn't have much depth at guard, UCLA not much depth up front. Stanford and Colorado could both surprise in the conference. Both had very good recruiting classes and both have key returning players. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see either Stanford or Colorado win the conference.
California will likely remain relevant.. hard to see them dropping off too much. As a whole, it should be a better conference... but then again UCLA and Cal were both ranked early last year, and neither finished that way. Arizona had a top 5 recruiting class that largely disappointed.
Perris Blackwell is the newest Husky transfer...
6'9" 240# PF transfer from San Fran.