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Is Cal the second-best team in the Pac-12?

Grant Gibbs, Jabari Bird

Creighton’s Grant Gibbs, right, and California’s Jabari Bird struggle for a loose ball in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

AP

We know Arizona sits at the top of the Pac-12 Power Rankings right now.

That much is obvious. They’re the No. 1 team in the country, and the Pac-12 doesn’t currently have anyone else sitting in the top 20. That’s not a tough one to figure out.

What is tough, however, is trying to determine just who is the second-best team in the league.

In the preseason, the consensus seemed to be Colorado. They have been trending upwards for a couple of years and brought back the core of a team that, on paper, looked like a top 15 team. Wins over Kansas and Oregon helped solidify that logic. But they lost star point guard Spencer Dinwiddie for the season with a torn ACL over the weekend and collapsed in the second half against Washington after Dinwiddie went down.

Oregon is talented and fun to watch. They can score with the best of them. They also haven’t played a lick of defense in the new year. The same can be said for UCLA. Can you trust a team to win games if you can’t trust them to get big stops?

That brings me to Cal, who is the only team other than Arizona currently sitting at 4-0 in league play. The Bears beatdown Washington in Haas Pavilion on Wednesday night after winning their first three Pac-12 games on the road.

Most importantly, the Bears are finally getting healthy after dealing with injuries to a number of key players early in the season. Their perimeter attack is loaded. Justin Cobbs is a first-team all-Pac 12 point guard. Ty Wallace, Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews are all explosive scorers that can go for 20 on a given night. Richard Solomon is averaging a double-double while David Kravish isn’t that far behind.

A couple of ugly, early losses hurt the Bears, but this team seems to be peaking at the right time. Front court depth is a major issue, but given the fact that every other team in the league (save for Arizona) has a major issue of their own, I don’t think it’s crazy to say that Mike Montgomery has himself the biggest challenger to Arizona’s throne.

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