My 2021-2022 Pac-12 Preseason Basketball Media Poll Ballot
Fresh off an impressive showing for the conference in the last NCAA Tournament, a very intriguing Pac-12 basketball 2021-22 season is upon us. The media poll results will be published on Wednesday morning, and the following is the ballot I submitted to the league with my projections for this campaign.
1. UCLA I'm not going to stray from the popular selection here for a team that started March Madness in the First Four just to end up in the Final Four. So momentum won't be in short supply in Westwood, not when you return quality proven payers such as Johnny Juzang, Cody Riley, Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez, Jules Bernard, and then you add a formidable transfer in Myles Johnson in addition to two blue-chip freshmen in Peyton Watson, Will McClendon. With this insane level of talent, it will be a shocker not to see UCLA win the Pac-12 regular-season crown.
2. Oregon No program in this conference reloads quicker and more impressive doing so than the Ducks. More than half of the teams in this league would kill to have three transfers such as Quincy Guerrier, De'Vion Harmon, and Jacob Young, or even just one five-star freshman in Nate Bittle. That, along with plenty of returning firepower in Will Richardson, Eric Williams, and N'Faly Dante, is more than capable of giving UCLA quite the run in the Ducks quest to repeat as regular-season champs.
3. USC True, Evan Mobley, and Tahj Eaddy are huge losses, but plenty of returning talent headed by Isaiah Mobley with a stud transfer in Boogie Ellis and a promising freshman in Malik Thomas should keep USC in the upper echelon of the Pac-12.
4. ASU Last season, the Sun Devils had two missing ingredients: a better overall team character/culture as well as quality depth in the frontcourt. In my opinion, Bobby Hurley adequately addressed both aspects and has just the right mix of talented returning players along with newcomers, mostly proven veterans in other leagues that are poised to make this season one of the most successful ones in his Tempe tenure.
5. Arizona On the one hand, you have outstanding returning players such as Azuolas Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin, and Kerr Kriisa played in just eight games due to academics and, with an entire season, can truly now make his impact. But an uncharacteristically bad recruiting class (although the circumstances make sense here), suspect depth, and a first-time head coach in Tommy Lloyd may prevent UA from contending for the league championship, but they should be plenty good enough to hold off most of its conference foes.
6. Washington State I'm aware that this is the preseason darling of the Pac-12, and whether it's a proven player such as Noah Williams, impressive transfers such as Michael Flowers and Tyrell Roberts, and an intriguing freshman such as Mouhamed Gueye, there is perhaps plenty to be excited about in Pullman. But I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach for now because I think depth may prevent the Cougars from truly making some serious noise this season.
7. Stanford I don't know what to make of this team. On the one hand, trying to replace talent such as Oscar da Silva, Daejon Davis, Ziaire Williams, and Bryce Wills is beyond brutal. But Jaiden Delaire may be the best returning player in the league that you're not aware of, and if five-star freshman Harrison Ingram and fulfills his potential could get pretty interesting on The Farm this season.
8. Colorado Under the radar, perhaps an impressive 2021 class. Replacing McKinley Wright IV won't be fun, and not a lot of returning talent back in Boulder. They may still sneak up on some teams here and there, but I don't see them as an upper-tier team.
9. Washington Cleaning house from last season makes sense because that's the only way to try and turn around a program that struggled quite a bit in the previous two years. Terrell Brown Jr. Daejon Davis are impressive transfers from other Pac-12 schools, and Langston Wilson is one of the best junior college prospects in his class. But the rebuilding process continues in Seattle, so not seeing a massive improvement from last year.
10. Oregon State The team that not only shocked the conference winning the Pac-12 Tournament but showing it was no fluke advancing all the way to the Elite Eight is about to come down to earth this year. Their recruiting class didn't even come close to capitalizing on this miracle run, and while Jarod Lucas is one of the best returning players in the league, the shoes of Ethan Thompson are simply impossible to fill.
11. Utah Yes, Craig Smith was a great hire in Salt Lake City, but getting no real help from its recruiting class, nor much help from its returning players, it's going to have to rely on plenty of newcomers, so that combination with any first-year coach is less than ideal.
12. Cal I don't believe any program retunes more players than the Golden Bears, but that is hardly good news for this program. Losing both Matt Bradley, Ryan Betley and not really have any newcomers who can come close to compensate for that don't exactly provide a rosy outlook.
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