The worst is over. At least, that’s what George Kliavkoff and Co. are telling themselves right now.

UCLA and USC, debilitating losses, but not paralyzing. Colorado? More of a blow to the ego and to the optics than an actual loss on the playing fields or in the classroom.

But lose an Arizona? Or an Oregon? Or a Washington? We’re talking nightmare fuel.

Hold onto all 3? Life would be a dream. Or, at least, Kliavkoff could get some rest. For a night or 2, at least.

Here are the top 5 dream scenarios for the Pac-12:

1) Arizona spurns the Big 12 and stays out west

Rumors abound that the Wildcats are being heavily courted by Brett Yormark to become the Pac-12’s next ship-jumper and the Big 12’s 14th team.

To lose the one remaining basketball powerhouse in the conference to what is already the best basketball conference in the country would be a major blow to the conference. It’s not that Arizona has a particularly fruitful football history, but the Cats are on the rise and the Desert Swarm defense wasn’t all that long ago, was it? To watch UCLA and then Arizona leave in successive years would leave a hole that I don’t think the conference could fill.

Now, Arizona State? That’s palatable. The Sun Devils have been the marginally better football program, but their basketball team isn’t in the same stratosphere as the Wildcats. It would continue to be a horrendous PR disaster if the Big 12 were able to pluck another Pac-12 squad, but Arizona, both Oregon and Washington schools, along with the Bay Area schools and Utah, remain a foundation upon which you can build. It might not be fun for now, but the cupboards aren’t bare.

2) Oregon and Washington continue to get the cold shoulder from the Big Ten

Losing Arizona would be a painful pill to swallow. Lose Oregon and Washington, and you might as well close up shop.

Dream scenario No. 2 sees all 3 commit long-term, even in the face of future expansion by the Big Ten. For whatever reason — and I truly do not understand it — the Big Ten seems averse to 2 of the biggest brands on the west coast. The Ducks seem like a no-brainer; who wouldn’t want Phil Knight and the Nike machine a stone’s throw away. The Huskies just feel like the kind of school that fits in with the Michigans and Penn States of the world. Call it a certain dignity.

For now, the Big Ten is holding at 16, which makes sense. But if there was a chance to bring in the 2 PNW powers as well as the Bay Area schools, that would truly lock up at least 3 of the 4 time zones.

But, sure, let them stay in 2023 instead of leaping straight to 2035 in one fell swoop. That’s a dream for the Pac-12.

3) San Diego State and SMU come aboard by September, UNLV and Colorado State next year

So in this scenario, the league is holding steady at 8, including the truly can’t-lose programs, and ready to start fortifying once more. The goal is to get to 12 as quickly as possible, before we start thinking bigger.

We already know of the league’s rather public flirtation with San Diego State, which, by the way, would be an upgrade over Colorado. SMU also appears to be a prime target to replace Coach Prime, and the Mustangs would be a key introduction into an incredibly fertile recruiting area, as well as a key market.

But the league can’t afford to stop there. UNLV and Colorado State aren’t the most competitive squads on the block, but geographically they are perfect fits. It makes sense for a conference that is almost entirely based out of Las Vegas to extend an invite to the home school.

4) Florida State, et al, are lured over

OK, now we’re talking crazy. But these are dream scenarios here. True what-ifs?

So what if the Pac-12 is bold enough to go all the way to the other coast? The Big Ten is bi-coastal, why not the Pac-12. In fact, the PACC — the Pacific Atlantic Coastal Conference — kind of has a nice ring to it.

We know Florida State is itching to leave, and Clemson would be a wild get as well.

Picturing Arizona vs. Duke basketball in February is dream-worthy. A Holiday Bowl rematch of Oregon and North Carolina in the regular season? I’ll take it. There are some natural cultural connections between the fine institutions of higher learning on Tobacco Road and the Harvard of the West, Stanford, as well as a place like Washington.

As I see it, the first 2nd-tier conference that gets to 20 marketable schools has the early leg up. The SEC and Big Ten are inevitably headed to 24-team super conferences. There’s only room for one more.

5) George Kliavkoff steps down

This is not a personal knock on the Pac-12 commissioner, who seems like a nice enough guy and inherited an absolutely untenable situation from a predecessor who performed professional malpractice in his long tenure.

If it were just the Pac-12 Network debacle, that would be one thing. But when you consider all of the financial improprieties and the plush league offices and galivanting all around the world on the company dime — let’s just say I wouldn’t have wanted to be in Kliavkoff’s shoes when he got the gig.

But I wouldn’t want to be in them now, either. His response at literally every turn has been truly preposterous.

Just look at Pac-12 Media Day.

Q. In regards to obviously the Big 12, they talked about last year they’re open for business. In terms of them potentially poaching schools, is that a major concern, or has it kind of been nipped in the bud privately?

COMMISSIONER GEORGE KLIAVKOFF: It’s not a concern. Our schools are committed to each other and to the Pac-12. We’ll get our media rights deal done, we’ll announce the deal. I think the realignment that’s going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle.

The truth is we have bigger fish to fry. There are incredible opportunities and also challenges in front of college athletics. I need to be able to work with all of my colleagues in Division I and particularly in the A-5. We’ll do that and move past kind of all the bitter squabbling of the last year and work together to make college athletics better.

Not a concern?

Bigger fish to fry?

How incredibly tone-deaf.

Granted, if Kliavkoff can somehow manage to pull off scenarios 1 through 4, you may want to at least let him stick around a bit. But if not, this league sorely needs both new messaging and new leadership.