The Pac is back! The 2026-27 College Basketball season will mark the return of the Pac-12 after a two-year hiatus. However, after changing its name back in the early 2010’s, the new version of the Pac-12 will only have nine teams. The league is filled with former Mountain West schools, two former Pac-12 schools, a WCC powerhouse and a former Sun Belt team. The combination is sure to provide exciting games and could be the best league in all of mid-major basketball.
1. Gonzaga
Gonzaga will enter the
new Pac-12 with the best roster in the conference. The Zags do have eligibility questions, but if Xaivian Lee and Javon Bennett remain eligible and if Chauncey Wiggins gets eligible, Mark Few could have one of the best teams in the sport. If they aren’t eligible, Gonzaga is still the favorite in the Pac-12 by a decent margin.
Braden Huff is one of the best offensive players in the country whom Gonzaga greatly missed at the end of last season. Massamba Diop and now eligible Izan Almansa make a formidable duo defensively at the center spot. In the backcourt, we’ll see what kind of stability they can get out of Nathan De Sousa, and I’m high on a Davis Fogle sophomore year breakout. Luca Foster and Isiah Harwell give Gonzaga some depth on the wings.
2. Utah State
Once again, a Utah State head coach performed well and catapulted himself into a high-major job. With Jerrod Calhoun gone, the Aggies had to hire a new coach again. Ben Jacobson had been in Cedar Falls for two and a half decades and now he heads to Logan for a new adventure. Jacobson’s success and experience in the Missouri Valley made him a more than viable candidate for the job, and he’s got a nice roster for his first season there.
Utah State is another team with eligibility questions as for now, Dallin Hall and Connor Turnbull are good to go. That will be one of the better point guard/center duos in the league, but everything still goes as Mason Falslev goes. Falslev is entering his fourth season with the Aggies, and this will be his third different head coach. He’s stuck it out and has won a lot of basketball games in Logan as a result. Elsewhere, Jacobson added two additional transfer guards in AJ Bates and Solomon Callaghan as well as bringing Will Hornseth with him from UNI. Hornseth and Karson Templin are both solid options at the four and is likely the position battle to watch for this group.
3. San Diego State
Brian Dutcher’s team missed the tournament last year for the first time since 2019. As a result, there was a concerted effort to improve the offense after back-to-back seasons finishing outside of the top-90 nationally. That’s going to start with Chance Gladden, an efficient point guard from Boston University. They’re going to pair him with potential breakout candidate Elzie Harrington.
The frontcourt provides some question marks as Bear Cherry was excellent his first season at Sacramento State but missed most of last season with an injury. The Aztecs will also bring back Tae Simmons and Latrell Davis in addition to getting Isaiah Sy from Oregon State. This doesn’t feel like an SDSU team that produces a top-20 defense, but the offense feels significantly better. I trust Dutcher to get the most out of his guys.
4. Oregon State
Oregon State moved on from Wayne Tinkle and made a big-time hire with Michigan assistant coach Justin Joyner. From the get-go, Joyner showed he wanted to add size in the frontcourt and athleticism/creation in the backcourt. The Beavers added two 7-footers in Xavion Staton and Dennis Evans. Not many teams at the mid-major level can say they have one 7-footer, let alone two.
The backcourt is maybe more impressive than the frontcourt. Josiah Lake II and Daniel Freitag could be one of the highest scoring backcourts at the mid-major level. I have been high on Freitag since he was in high school, and he really showed out at Buffalo last year. DeShawn Gory and Jackson Rasmussen give Joyner more proven scoring for a team that will have plenty. The team isn’t super deep, but if Legend Smiley breaks out they have a real solid top seven.
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5. Colorado State
The Ali Farokhmanesh era has hit year two, and the Rams will look to take a leap in a new league. They bring back Carey Booth, Jase Butler and Kyle Jorgensen. All were solid last year, but specifically with Booth and Butler, there could be more to their game.
Colorado State’s second favorite team is apparently Marist as Justin Menard and Josh Pascarelli will both lead the backcourt with one of my favorite freshmen in the league: Pops Dunson. Dunson is a super quick guard out of Georgia who seems to get wherever he wants on the floor. He is probably their best backup point guard option with JoJo McIver out. We often see teams take major leaps in a coach’s second season, and Colorado State could be no different.
6. Boise State
Boise State has been a fairly consistent program in the Mountain West over the past five years and now in Pac-12, and I don’t expect much to change. The Broncos started off the season poorly but bounced back to reach 20 wins for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. If they want to make it seven out of eight, keeping Lamar Washington eligible is imperative.
Boise State might have a short bench, but the starting five is strong. Damari Wheeler-Thomas had a great junior season at North Dakota State, and the Broncos will get Julian Bowie back from injury. Bowie had the makings of a breakout candidate before he missed most of last season. Leon Rice is replacing a lot in his frontcourt, and he will rely on a step up from Spencer Ahrens as well as Campbell transfer Dovydas Butka. The starting five should keep this team competitive with the top of the league.
7. Washington State
It hasn’t quite clicked for David Riley at Wazzu after a stellar tenure at Eastern Washington. We’ll see if he can turn things around this year after a 12-win season last year. He’ll need to hit on some transfers including Lazerek Houston, who was one of the best players at the Division-ll level last season. Elsewhere, you have to hope for breakouts from both Tyler Kropp and Jaylen Harrell, who are moving down from high-major schools.
If Wazzu gets a couple of breakouts and Houston is a big-time addition like many think he could be, this Washington State offense could be a thrilling watch. I have many questions about the defense though and a lack of a true rim protector. There’s a chance that Kropp (only 2.6 block rate) is the only rotation player taller than 6-foot-8. That’ll be a major hurdle when going up against the frontcourts that Gonzaga, Utah State, Colorado State and others have.
8. Texas State
Texas State had some major upgrading to do after joining the Pac-12, and while it is evident that they are still a bit behind their peers, this team can certainly sneak up on some teams to get wins. Quel’Ron House was a good point guard in the Missouri Valley last year and will be the point guard for the Bobcats.
Despite the House addition, this team still runs through DJ Hall, who had an outstanding freshman season averaging over 15 points and seven rebounds per game. He was terrific for a team that closed the season red hot. The Bobcats will have to get contributions from their role players elsewhere if they want to compete with some of the better teams in this league, but this roster is a step in the right direction.
9. Fresno State
I have to give some credit to Vance Walberg here. In his first two seasons Fresno State finished higher than their preseason KenPom expectation. There’s certainly a chance that Fresno State can do that again and still finish ninth in the league. After all, this league is really good and someone will have to finish last.
Dragos Lungu was an intriguing pick up from UT Martin and should be one of the featured guys offensively. The Bulldogs do have some size with Bradey Henige and Baye Fall, which will be important when they play some of the better teams in this conference. What has me concerned about Fresno State at this point is the inexperience in the backcourt. Neither KJ Perry nor Roger Fabrega Urpina has played a single minute of Division-l basketball, and that’s going to certainly hurt you when you’re going up against the experienced backcourts in this league on a nightly basis.
