Arizona, UCLA, and USC are all ranked teams this season and the trio are the betting favorites heading into the 2022 Pac-12 Tournament in Sin City, with the Arizona Wildcats the consensus favorite at -120 odds, and UCLA right behind at +160.
The Pac-12 Conference Tournament will take place over the next few days at T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas.
The top three teams in the Pac-12 — #2 Arizona, #13 UCLA, and #21 USC — are headed to the March Madness tournament regardless of what happens in the conference tournament. However, a bubble team like Colorado needs to win the Pac-12 tourney to punch their ticket to the Big Dance.
| 2022 PAC-12 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT WINNER ODDS |
- #2 Arizona -120
- #13 UCLA +160
- #21 USC +1000
- Oregon +1500
- Washington State +3000
- Colorado +4000
- Arizona State +5000
- Washington +2000
- Stanford +2000
- Utah +25000
- Oregon State +50000
- Cal +50000
At the same time, the other non-ranked teams in the Pac-12 — like Oregon, Washington, and Washington State — have a chance to run the table and get hot by winning four games in four days to secure an automatic berth to March Madness.
Unranked Oregon State pulled off that epic feat last year as the fifth seed in the Pac-12 tourney, and parlayed that success into a trip to March Madness. Oregon State continued their late-season surge and advanced all the way to the Elite 8. In 2019, unranked Oregon also secured a bid to March Madness by winning the Pac-12 tournament as the sixth seed.
#1 Arizona (#2) -120
Since 2009, the top seed in the Pac-12 won the conference tournament only three times — Arizona in 2015 and 2017, Oregon in 2016. Since 2002, the #1 seed won the Pac-12 tournament only six times. Arizona enters the 2022 Pac-12 tournament with the #1 seed and hoping they can be one of the rare #1 seeds who prevails.
Arizona (28-3) is ranked #2 in the country behind Gonzaga, and they should secure a #1 seed in when the selection committee releases brackets on Sunday evening. The Wildcats are the second favorite on the college basketball futures board at +650 odds to win 2022 March Madness.
The Wildcats started the regular season 11-0. Two out of their three losses were against ranked teams: Tennessee and UCLA. Arizona had a nine-game winning streak snapped in late February when Colorado ambushed them with a 16-point upset in Boulder. The Wildcats bounced back the next game with a 20-point blowout against USC, who were ranked #16 at the time.
Keep an eye on Arizona’s top scorer and playmaker. Bennedict Mathurin, a 6-foot-6 sophomore guard from Montreal, averages 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Arizona comes into the postseason as the betting favorite to win the Pac-12 conference tournament at -120 odds and only a slight favorite over UCLA at +160.
#2 UCLA (#13) +160
UCLA was the surprise team in the 2021 March Madness and went from the play-in game to a trip to the Final Four. Gonzaga needed overtime and half-court buzzer beater from Jalen Suggs to knock UCLA out of the national semifinals in one of the most epic Final Four games in recent memory.
The year’s UCLA (23-6) squad has a target on their back because everyone knows they’re a tough team led by Johnny Juzang. Juzang earned All Pac-12 honors and decided to return to school for a chance to lead his hometown Bruins to a national championship. The 6-foot-7 junior guard from Tarzana averages 16.7 ppg, while shooting 36.4% from 3-point range. His sidekick — Jaime Jaquez — is UCLA’s second-best scorer averaging 13.3 ppg.
Juzang and UCLA are +160 odds to win the Pac-12 tournament, but they’re probably going to earn a #4 seed in the March Madness bracket unless they can beat Arizona in the title game and snag a #3 seed.
#3 USC (#21) +1000
USC (25-6) had a hot start at 13-0 before they finally lost their first game in January. However, USC stumbled at the end of the season with back-to-back losses against #2 Arizona and UCLA, who was ranked #17 at the time. USC has a chance to get back on track in the conference tournament, where they’re +1000 odds to win it all.
Isaiah Mobley, a 6-foot-10 power forward, leads the Trojans with 14.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. His father is an assistant coach with the Trojans, and younger brother — Evan Mobley — played a one-and-done season with USC in 2020-21 before he headed to the NBA. It looks like Evan has the inside track to winning 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year, but his bro Isaiah has the Mobley clan excited with a shot at a national championship.
#4 Colorado +4000
Colorado (20-10) finished fourth in the Pac-12 this season. They hit the skids at the end of January where they went 2-6. The Buffs corrected the ship and finished the season with a 7-1 clip, including a huge upset over Arizona in front of their home crowd.
Jabari Walker, a 6-foot-9 forward from LA, leads Colorado with 14.7 point and 9.4 rebounds per game. He doesn’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers, but when he does, he’s knocking them down at a 52.3% clip.
Colorado is on the bubble and will need to win the Pac-12 tournament if they want an invite to March Madness. You can back Colorado at +4000 odds to get hot in Vegas and win the Pac-12 tournament. The Buffs earned a first-round bye and will play their first matchup on Thursday.
