The 2024 Pac-12 Tournament will take place from Wednesday, March 13 through Saturday, March 16 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All 12 of the conference’s programs will participate in this single-elimination bracket and the winner will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
A fewPac-12 teams are already considered locks for the NCAA Tournament and what they do in Vegas this week has no bearing on their inclusion into the Big Dance. Meanwhile, there are several teams whose only path to the NCAA’s is through winning the league tournament and grabbing the automatic qualifier.
And then there’s the bubble teams, whose performance in the Pac-12 tourney can make or break their shot at getting into the field of 68. We’ll take a look at those teams below.
2024 March Madness bubble watch
Pac-12 Tournament
Teams that are in: Arizona, Washington State
Teams that are out: UCLA, Cal, Washington, USC, Stanford, Arizona State, Oregon State
Teams on the bubble
Colorado – 22-9, 13-7 Pac-12 (28 NET, 27 KenPom)
Quad 1: 2-5
Quad 2: 7-4
Quad 3: 6-0
Quad 4: 7-0
Colorado had a middling start to conference play before ending on a heater with six straight victories to close the regular season. While 22 wins is impressive, the Buffaloes were not done any favors by a weak Pac-12 as road victories over Washington and Oregon were their only Quad 1 wins of the seasons. Because of that, there are various opinions of their NCAA Tournament worthiness as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has them out while Bracketometry’s Dominic Lese has them in.
As the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, CU will have a first-round bye and will await the winner of Utah-Arizona State in the second round. A win there would probably get the Buffs in, but a victory in the semifinals would most likely make them a lock.
Oregon – 20-11, 12-8 Pac-12 (68 NET, 69 KenPom)
Quad 1: 2-6
Quad 2: 4-4
Quad 3: 8-1
Quad 4: 6-0
Oregon was never able to establish sustained momentum in a weak Pac-12 and that’s what pushes it into bubble territory. It’s ranking in high 60’s in NET makes it a quintessential bubble team as a middling resume makes its case for a tourney bid iffy.
The Ducks have the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and will probably have to at least make the title game for at-large consideration for the Big Dance. As the No. 4 seed, they’ll await the winner of UCLA-Oregon State in the second round and if they pass that test, they’ll most likely get Arizona in the semis. That’s the biggest possible win they could get to pad their resume at his point.
Utah – 18-13, 9-11 Pac-12 (52 NET, 52 KenPom)
Quad 1: 4-8
Quad 2: 4-3
Quad 3: 5-2
Quad 4: 5-0
Utah is on the bubble according to the aforementioned bracket experts, but would be considered out of the field of 68 at the moment. The metrics have the Utes as a borderline top-50 team in the country, but they underperformed with just four Quad 1 wins and a below .500 mark in the Pac-12.
Utah is the No. 6 seed in the Pac-12 tourney and will most likely have to run the table with wins over Arizona State and Colorado in the first two rounds and whoever emerges in the last two rounds.