Four northwest area teams entered the 2012 Pac-12 Tournament in hopes of claiming the conference championship and its accompanying 2012 NCAA Tournament berth. The Washington Huskies claimed the regular-season title and entered as the top seed, in search of their third straight conference championship. The Oregon Ducks entered as the No. 3 seed and seemed to have a decent shot as well.
But of course, it didn't work out that way. Both the Ducks and the Huskies were sent packing in the quarterfinals, in their first games of the tournament. The No. 9 seeded Oregon St. Beavers personally eliminated two area teams by themselves, knocking off the No. 8 seed Washington St. Cougars in the first round before upsetting the Huskies in the quarterfinals. For a brief moment, it appeared as though they might just upset the No. 4 seed Arizona Wildcats in the semifinals and make it all the way to the championship game before their season -- and the seasons of all northwest teams, save for perhaps Gonzaga -- came to an end.
It's all come down to Saturday and one last game for the Pac-12 title. The Wildcats will face off against the No. 6 seed Colorado Buffaloes, who scored an upset win over the No. 2 California Golden Bears in Friday's nightcap.
Championship: Saturday, March 10
3 p.m. PT - Championship Game (CBS) - No. 4 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 6 Colorado Buffaloes
Here is the original bracket in PDF form.
For updates on the 2012 Pac-12 Tournament, keep watching this StoryStream. For news and information regarding the Washington Huskies, please visit UW Dawg Pound. For updates and perspective on the Oregon St. Beavers, head on over to Building the Dam. For Oregon Ducks info, check out Addicted to Quack. Your source for the Washington St. Cougars is always CougCenter. For NCAA Tournament Bracketology, check out Blogging the Bracket. And for everything else about college hoops, stay tuned to SB Nation's dedicated NCAA basketball hub.
