Pac-12 might earn respect after starting NCAA Tournament unbeaten

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pac-12 is enjoying something of a coming-out party after the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The conference’s five entrants in the Big Dance have advanced to the Round of 32. UCLA won its First Four matchup against Michigan State in overtime Thursday and joined three other Pac-12 members in winning their Round of 64 games. Oregon moved on due to a COVID-19 outbreak within VCU.

Still, it was an undefeated mark for the Pac-12 through the opening rounds of the tournament after what some coaches felt like was a disrespectful national conversation surrounding the conference in the regular season.

“You’re finding out that the Pac-12 not being ranked all year was an absolute joke. And some people ought to be ashamed of themselves,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said. “Maybe people can’t stay up late, and I don’t blame them because I can’t either.”

After the conference tournaments, only two Pac-12 teams were ranked: No. 22 Colorado and No. 23 USC. Regular-season champion Oregon remained outside the Top 25.

On Saturday, 11th-seeded UCLA beat No. 6 BYU, which was tied with USC for No. 23 in the last AP poll of the year. No. 5 Colorado knocked out a No. 12 Georgetown team that entered the Big Dance off a white-hot run through the Big East tournament. No. 6 USC took care of business like a higher seed should against No. 11 Drake.

And No. 12 Oregon State on Friday continued its March run by eliminating No. 5 Tennessee.

“Oregon State, Oregon, Colorado, ‘SC, those teams winning is not a surprise to me. It’s not a surprise,” Cronin said. “I know we didn’t have great early-season stuff, but that’s COVID and scheduling. It was way against us.”

Cronin continued, “On the West Coast, man, our teams didn’t have the whole summer, where the rest of the country had workouts in summer. We didn’t. So I think the Pac-12, the teams we played down the stretch really prepared us for the NCAA Tournament.”

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