---

Pac-12 basketball is quietly asserting itself among the NCAA’s best conferences.

---

This year’s college basketball season has largely been void of dominant teams. Some of the sport’s perennial mainstays at the top of the polls, such as Duke and Kentucky, are finding themselves trending downwards. Just two losses separate the nation’s best team, Oklahoma, and the 23rd ranked Oregon Ducks. No conference has been more representative of the broader theme of this college basketball season, perhaps, than the Pac-12.

With just two ranked teams, the conference is ripe with parity. Just two games separate the conference’s first and eighth place teams – Oregon and Stanford, respectively. Even the conference’s best teams are just one bad week on the road from finding themselves near the basement of the Pac-12.

Nearly a quarter of the conference’s games have been decided by a single possession.

This week presents an opportunity for Oregon to set itself apart from the rest of the pack, as the Ducks took down Arizona in Tucson last night – ending the nation’s longest home winning streak at 49 games. If Oregon can overcome Arizona State’s now famed “Curtain of Distraction” on Sunday, the Ducks will emerge from this week as the conference’s premier team.

It seems as though Pac-12 teams have only made headlines this year for things like tripping a ref or welcoming a speedo-clad Michael Phelps to one of its student sections, but there is much more to the conference than these SportsCenter diversions. A closer look at the body of work from the Pac-12 may shock you. With the second highest RPI, nine of the conference’s 12 teams have a strength of schedule in the top 50 – the most of any conference. And they aren’t just grinding out half-court sets and bleeding the shot clock, they also lead the nation in points per game.

Current projections estimate that the Pac-12 will place between 7-9 teams in the NCAA Tournament. If these projections hold true, and the conference can place nine teams, it would tie for second most in the history of the tournament.

The Pac-12’s level playing field will likely prevent it from featuring a number of ranked teams, but the conference’s games are worth paying attention to now, because you’ll be seeing a lot of these teams in your bracket come Selection Sunday.

WATCH: Ben Simmons Destroys Rim Against Oklahoma