Two teams predicted to contend for the Pac-12 Conference cellar open league play against each other when USC travels to Washington State on Friday night. The Trojans, one of the early-season surprises of college basketball with a 11-2 start, were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 preseason media poll while the Cougars, looking to snap a streak of seven straight conference opening losses, were forecast to finish last.

Utah would appear to have the edge Friday when the 22nd-ranked Utes visit Stanford in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. The Utes feature one of the league’s top players in 7-foot center Jakob Poeltl and beat Duke at Madison Square Garden, while Stanford has been plagued by injuries and ranks last in the Pac-12 in scoring offense at 72.7 points per game.

Isaac Hamilton is playing with an offensive consistency not seen at UCLA in years, and he'll try to continue his stellar play when the Bruins open Pac-12 Conference play Friday night at Washington. Hamilton, a 6-foot-5 wing, has made at least eight field goals in his last five games, the first UCLA player to accomplish that feat since Tracy Murray went six straight in 1991.

The Pac-12 is the second-best college basketball conference in the country, ranking only behind the Big 12 in the latest conference RPI rankings found at CBSSports.com. And two of the Pac-12’s top teams will open conference play against other Friday when California hosts Colorado.