Rebounding from a downturn that briefly put its status as an elite conference in jeopardy, the Pac-12 announced its return to the national scene in 2013-14.
Technically, the Pac-12 rated better top to bottom the previous season, when a balanced conference had no teams ranked worse than 108th in the country in ESPN Insider contributor Ken Pomeroy's rankings. That balance also applied to the top, however, and despite Arizona and Oregon reaching the Sweet 16, the Pac-12 had little national impact in 2012-13. That changed in a big way last season.