Let’s rank Pac-12 men’s basketball teams coming into the new season.
The Pac-12 is back! Sort of. Maybe. Not really.
In name, the Pac-12 is back, which is cool. Would it be cooler if the conference featured at least some of the prestige programs that defined the league in its past life? Sure, but beggars and choosers and all that.
Maybe we should all just be happy that the nine teams below are going to provide us with some Pac-12 after dark magic throughout this winter.
1. Gonzaga Bulldogs
2025–26 Record: 31–4 (16–2)
2025-26 Conference Finish: T-1st in WCC
After years and years of rumors and speculation, Gonzaga has finally made the jump out of the West Coast Conference and into a power league … or at least to something that closely resembles a power league.
The Zags will start their run in the new Pac-12 as the clear preseason conference favorites. Hall of Fame head coach Mark Few returns star forward Braden Huff, who missed most of the second half of last season after suffering a dislocated kneecap in his left knee. Huff will join forces with Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop to form what should be one of the best frontcourts in the country.
2. Utah State Aggies
2025–26 Record: 29-7 (15-5)
2025-26 Conference Finish: 1st in Mountain West
If there is a legitimate challenger to Gonzaga in this conference, Utah State feels like the safest bet. Head coach Jerrod Calhoun bolted for Cincinnati after two successful campaigns in Logan, leaving the job for Ben Jacobson, who takes over after a two-decade run at Northern Iowa.
Jacobson has the opportunity to hit the ground running thanks to the return of 2025-26 Mountain West Player of the Year Mason Falslev (16.0 ppg), as well as Mountain West 6th Man of the Year Karson Templin (8.8 ppg). Jacobson also brought big man Will Hornseth (11.1 ppg/4.6 rpg) with him from UNI, and landed coveted transfer portal point guard AJ Bates (12.1 ppg/5.9 apg) from Louisiana Tech.
3. San Diego State Aztecs
2025–26 Record: 22-11 (14-6)
2025-26 Conference Finish: 2nd in Mountain West
There are serious questions about where SDSU’s offense is going to com from after an offseason that saw Miles Byrd (Providence), Magoon Gwath (DePaul) and BJ Davis (Creighton) all bolt for the Big East. Still, Brian Dutcher hasn’t had a team finish outside the top 21 in adjusted defensive efficiency since 2018-19, so the bet on San Diego State to still be among Gonzaga’s top challengers in the Pac-12 feels like a safe one.
Returning guard Elzie Harrington (8.0 ppg) will be asked to take a massive step up in his sophomore season, while incoming transfers Jeremiah Cherry (Sacramento State) and Isaiah Sy (Oregon State) should provide solid veteran experience. Highly-touted Rice transfer Nick Anderson suffering a season-ending knee injury will be a tough hurdle for this team to overcome when it comes to trying to make the NCAA Tournament.
4. Colorado State Rams
2025–26 Record: 21-13 (11-9)
2025-26 Conference Finish: T-7th in Mountain West
After a run to the second round of the Big Dance in 2025, Colorado State took a bit of a step back in their first season under new head coach Ali Farokhmanesh. Still, the Rams won 21 games, and Farokhmanesh is hoping that roster retention in an era where programs like CSU aren’t supposed to get their best players back will make all the difference in his second season.
Colorado State brings back its top three scorers from last season in Brandon Rechsteiner (12.0 ppg), Kyle Jorgensen (11.5 ppg) and Carey Booth (10.7 ppg). With that level of retention mixed in with the fact that CSU won eight of its last nine regular season games a year ago, it’s not difficult to talk yourself into the Rams finishing even higher than this fourth-place prediction.
5. Oregon State Beavers
2025–26 Record: 17-16 (9-9)
2025-26 Conference Finish: 4th in WCC
Of the two original Pac-12 programs that are now back in the league, Oregon State is the one that appears to have the better chance of finishing in the top half of the conference.
After spending seven seasons as Randy Bennett’s top assistant at Saint Mary’s and then helping Dusty May win a national title at Michigan last season, 38-year-old Justin Joyner gets his first shot as a head coach. Joyner’s first victory at OSU was convincing senior guard Josiah Lake II — the team’s leader in scoring, assists and rebounding last season — to return to Corvallis. Lake II has help in the form of Daniel Freitag, who averaged just under 20.0 ppg at Buffalo last season, and BYU transfer Xavion Stanton, a former top 60 recruit.
6. Boise State Broncos
2025–26 Record: 20-12 (12-8)
2025-26 Conference Finish: T-5th in Mountain West
Leon Rice is a living legend in Boise, but in order to have top-tier success in his first season in a new conference, he’s going to have to get a significant boost in production from multiple returning players who didn’t show a ton last season.
The team’s biggest transfer portal addition — Ty Rodgers from Illinois — figures to be out for an extended period of time with a knee injury. That means the Broncos’ success will hinge mostly on how much returners Pearson Carmichael (7.9 ppg) and company can improve from last season to this one.
7. Texas State Bobcats
2025–26 Record: 19-13 (11-7)
2025-26 Conference Finish: T-2nd in Sun Belt
The only addition from a conference outside the Mountain West and the WCC is an absolute wildcard here. Texas State has won two regular season conference championships over the last five years, but there’s no way to know how that success in the Sun Belt will translate to this step up in competition.
Terrence Johnson scored a huge victory by convincing Sun Belt Freshman of the Year DJ Hall (15.6 ppg/7.7 rpg) to return to San Marcos for his sophomore season. Southern Illinois transfer guard Quel’Ron House (15.2 ppg) is the biggest name from an underrated transfer portal class that has the potential to make the Bobcats a team that can give the best squads in the league fits this winter.
8. Fresno State Bulldogs
2025–26 Record: 13-19 (7-13)
2025-26 Conference Finish: 10th in Mountain West
Vance Walberg has to be frustrated. It seems like he’s built a pattern of bringing in or developing promising talent, and then losing them to bigger programs the moment that talent starts to produce. He’ll hope that a decent portal class headlined by Baye Fall (Rutgers) and Quentin Rhymes (Nebraska) will be enough to replace the production lost by his latest batch of defectors and surprise some folks in the new Pac-12.
9. Washington State Cougars
2025–26 Record: 12-20 (7-11)
2025-26 Conference Finish: 8th in WCC
Third-year head coach David Riley needs to show something after a 2025-26 campaign that saw the Cougars lose seven of their last eight games.
Star freshman Ace Glass signed with Vanderbilt in the offseason, while other standouts Jerone Morton and Eemeli Yalaho moved on to Kentucky and NC State, respectively. Riley replaced those defections with the worst transfer portal class in the conference. It’s going to be an uphill battle in Pullman.