CORVALLIS - For the first time since 1999, when the conference still had 10 teams, the AP Top 25 poll features three Pac-12 teams in the top 10.
As No. 7 Arizona, No. 8 UCLA and No. 10 Oregon enter the final six weeks of the regular season in search of their long-awaited runs to the Final Four or beyond, Colorado (10-10, 0-7 Pac-12) and Oregon State (4-16, 0-7) will meet Thursday in Boulder in the midst of trying to turn around seasons that have gone so wrong.
Last season, the two teams represented prime examples of how far the conference had come since 2012, when Washington could not even make the NCAA Tournament as the regular season Pac-12 champion.