Seeds, Pairings Set for Men's Pac-12 Basketball Tournament

The seedings and first-round pairings for the Pac-12 men's basketball tournament were set after Saturday's action, and an overview of the event can be summed up in one long sentence:

Arizona is the favorite, second-place UCLA and third-place USC have NCAA tournament berths sewn up, Oregon is playing for its postseason life, and Colorado and Arizona State scare everybody in the field.

Cal faces Washington State in the first round Wednesday, and the Bears need to win the conference tournament to get an NCAA tournament berth.

Fading Oregon, which lost five of its last six games, including a 20-point loss to Washington State on Saturday, fell to the No. 5 seed, missing out on a first-round bye and perhaps needing to win the conference tournament to get into March Madness. The Ducks have to win at least a couple of games in the Pac-12 tournament to have any shot at an at-large bid.

Colorado, which was 5-7 in Pac-12 play not long ago, won seven of its last eight games, to steal the No. 4 seed.

Arizona State also won seven of it final eight games to move all the way up to the No. 8 seed and will face Stanford, a team the Sun Devils beat by nine points on Saturday.

UCLA beat USC Saturday night to finish alone in second place and get the No. 2 seed, although that doesn't mean much in the conference tournament because neither USC nor UCLA could face Arizona until the title game.

The tournament starts Wednesday in Las Vegas with four first-round games, while the top four seeds get byes. The championship game is next Saturday at 6 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

The seedings:

1. Arizona (18-2 Pac-12, 28-3 overall)

2. UCLA (15-5, 23-6)

3. USC (14-6, 25-6)

4. Colorado (12-8, 20-10)

5. Oregon (11-9, 18-13)

6. Washington (11-9, 16-14)

7. Washington State (11-9, 18-13)

8. Arizona State (10-10, 14-16)

9. Stanford (8-12, 15-15)

10. Cal (5-15, 12-19)

11. Utah (4-16, 11-19)

12. Oregon State (1-19, 3-27)

First-round matchups, Wednesday

No. 8 Arizona State vs. No. 9 Stanford, noon

No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 Oregon State, 2:30 p.m.

No. 7 Washington State vs. No. 10 Cal, 6 p.m.

No. 6 Washington vs. No. 11 Utah, 8:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals, Thursday

Arizona State-Stanford winner vs. No. 1 Arizona, noon

Oregon-Oregon State winner vs. No. 4 Colorado, 2:30 p.m.

Washington State-Cal winner vs. No. 2 UCLA, 6 p.m.

Washington-Utah winner vs. No. 3 USC, 8:30 p.m.

Semifinals, Friday

Arizona State-Stanford-Arizona winner vs. Oregon-Oregon State-Colorado winner, 6 p.m.

Washington-Utah-USC winner vs. Washington State-Cal-UCLA winner, 8:30 p.m.

Finals, Saturday, 6 p.m., FOX TV

Cover photo of USC vs. UCLA by Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports

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