Which Conference Is Best Represented in This Year's NCAA Tournament?

Pac-12

When you think of the Pac-12, you think of Arizona and then everyone else, right? That's partially the case, as they helped carry this conference to the third-highest average nERD among the qualified conferences, all while only sending four teams to the dance.

Arizona finished second in our power rankings with a 20.30 nERD and were one of only three teams to finish with a nERD above 20. Arizona also has a top-five defense on the year to go along with their top-15 offense, entrenching themselves as a potential favorite. However, despite finishing second in our rankings, they were the only top-four team to not receive a 1 seed -- instead, they're the 2 seed in the West region.

For all the accolades to Arizona, Utah is another team to watch in the Pac-12. They finished as the eighth-best team in our power rankings thanks to their seventh-ranked defense and an offense is ranked above Arizona's. Despite being ranked above Oklahoma, Baylor, Iowa State and Notre Dame (all 3 seeds), the Utes were relegated to a 5 seed.

UCLA and Oregon round out the conference, but both are slightly below-average teams in the tournament. The average nERD for the teams is the tournament is 9.66, and both UCLA and Oregon fall below that that mark with a 9.48 and 8.73 nERD, respectively.