2023 Pac-12 Basketball Tournament: Updated projected seeds, schedule, magic numbers

March is nearly here, and with that conferences are preparing for their conference tournaments. The Pac-12 is, obviously, included in this. So, with a little help from playoffstatus.com, here is a look at the current Pac-12 standings, the tournament schedule, upcoming games, and more.

Current Pac-12 standings

So, first, let’s take a look at the current Pac-12 basketball standings:

1. UCLA, 25-4 (16-2)
2. Arizona, 24-5 (13-5)
3. USC, 21-8 (13-5)
4. Arizona State, 20-9 (11-7)
5. Oregon, 16-13 (10-8)
6. Utah, 17-13 (10-9)
7. Washington State, 15-15 (10-9)
8. Washington, 16-14 (8-11)
9. Colorado, 15-15 (7-12)
10. Stanford, 12-17 (6-12)
11. Oregon State, 10-19 (4-14)
12. California, 3-26 (2-16)

UCLA and Arizona have led the Pac-12 throughout this season. However, with Arizona dropping a conference game over the weekend, UCLA has clinched the top spot in the conference. That means the Wildcats will likely finish second, though USC still has a chance to take that slot. The two will meet in a key game this week.

Right now, UCLA’s magic number is 0 for that top spot. Nobody else controls its own destiny for the one-seed. For their part, both the Wildcats and Trojans have a magic number of two for the second seed and one for the third seed.

California has, clearly, had an incredibly difficult season, dropping to 2-16 in conference play. With that, the Golden Bears have locked in the bottom slot in the Pac-12. They’re not alone, though, with Oregon State likely to finish in 11th.

Thursday’s Pac-12 games

There aren’t any Pac-12 games until Thursday. They are:

• Arizona State at No. 4 UCLA, 9:00 p.m. EST
• Stanford at Oregon State, 9:00 p.m. EST
• No. 7 Arizona at USC, 11:00 p.m. EST
• Washington State at Washington, 11:00 p.m. EST
• California at Oregon, 11:00 p.m. EST

Schedule and times for conference tournament

Here is a look at the schedule and times for the Pac-12 conference tournament:

Wed., March 8 TV (Talent)
Game 1: No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed, 12:00 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein, Don MacLean)
Game 2: No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed, 2:30 p.m. PT* Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein, Don MacLean)
Game 3: No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed, 6:00 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Bill Walton)
Game 4: No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 seed, 8:30 p.m. PT* Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Bill Walton)
Thurs., March 9
Game 5: No. 1 seed vs. Game 1 winner, 12:00 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein, Don MacLean)
Game 6: No. 4 seed vs. Game 2 winner, 2:30 p.m. PT* Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein, Don MacLean)
Game 7: No. 2 seed vs. Game 3 winner, 6:00 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Bill Walton)
Game 8: No. 3 seed vs. Game 4 winner, 8:30 p.m. PT* ESPN (Dave Pasch, Bill Walton)
Fri., March 10
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6:00 p.m. PT Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson, Bill Walton)
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 8:30 p.m. PT* ESPN (Dave Pasch, Bill Walton)
Sat., March 11
Game 11: Championship, 7:30 p.m. PT ESPN (Dave Pasch, Bill Walton)