This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

 The Pac-12 basketball standings gained some clarity this past weekend when Oregon completed a road sweep of Arizona and Arizona State.  Conclusion No. 1: Instead of a six-way tie for third place, there's now a four-way tie for second.  Conclusion No. 2: Oregon is very well positioned to win the conference's regular-season title, although the race could go down to the final week.  At the halfway point of the league schedule, the Ducks (7-2) have a one-game lead over Colorado, USC, Utah and Washington, with Arizona another game behind. That one-game margin is significant, because the Ducks have a somewhat easier schedule than any of the other top six teams.  With nine games to play, Colorado is the only upper-tier team that has five road games remaining. USC and Washington have slight scheduling advantages over Utah and Arizona, based on the number of projected NCAA Tournament teams they will meet (via ESPN.com's Bracketology) and the home/road splits of those games.  ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi has eight Pac-12 teams in the field: Oregon (No. 3 seed), Arizona (No. 6), Utah (No. 7), Colorado (No. 8), Washington (No. 10), California (No. 11) and UCLA (No. 12).  Oregon visits UCLA and USC to conclude the schedule. Other key games on that final Saturday are Colorado at Utah and Cal at Arizona.  The current standings: Oregon 7-2, Colorado 6-3, USC 6-3, Utah 6-3, Washington 6-3, Arizona 5-4, Cal 4-5, UCLA 4-5, Stanford 4-5, Oregon State 3-6, Arizona State 2-7, Washington State 1-8.  My projected order of finish is now Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, Arizona and Colorado.  – Kurt Kragthorpe