The Pac-12 has been a bit of a mixed bag once again this year in the season’s first two months.

Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State: Fantastic.

USC, Utah, Washington and Colorado: Pretty darn good.

Oregon State and Oregon: Decent enough.

Stanford and Washington State: Needs work.

Cal: Lost cause.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly as the Pac-12 heads back into conference play …

Good: Arizona’s second straight sensational start

In his debut season last year, Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd led the team to an 11-0 start and an early No. 6 ranking. Those Cats finished 33-4 and reached the Sweet 16.

This year, the Cats enter regular conference play at 12-1, with their lone loss coming to Pac-12 mate Utah on Dec. 1.

Arizona ranks 5th in the country and features the top 2 scorers in the Pac-12 in Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo. Things are going great once again for Lloyd and his Cats.

Bad: Arizona State’s 97-60 loss to San Francisco

A 37-point loss at a pedestrian USF squad is not the way you want to head into a 10-day break, especially when it snaps a 9-game winning streak.

The Sun Devils had just snuck into the rankings for the first time at No. 25 before the loss, only the team’s second of the season. ASU’s first loss was by 1 point in overtime; in between the Sun Devils picked up a win over No. 20 Michigan.

Ugly: Cal’s 0-12 start

The Bears lost a dozen straight games until finally beating Texas-Arlington on Dec. 21, snapping an ignominious streak as Cal was the last Division-I team to win its first game.

Mark Fox is barely hanging on by a thread after one of the worst starts regardless of sport in Bears history. Cal is averaging a league-worst 59.15 points per game as the overall team shooting ranks among the worst in the country. The Bears, already 0-2 in the Pac-12, rank last in the conference in field-goal shooting and 3-point shooting.

Good: Colorado’s record-breaking win

In what has been an up-down-season for the Buffaloes — who boast wins over No. 11 Tennessee and No. 24 Texas A&M as well as losses to Grambling and Boise State — the team had its ultimate high in an 86-78 win over Southern Utah to close out non-league play.

Not only was it Colorado’s 4th straight win, a streak that has put them at 8-5 on the season, but it was also Tad Boyle’s 262nd career win with the Buffaloes, a school record.

Boyle has been a steady presence in Boulder going back to 2010, with 9 20-win seasons, though he is still seeking his first Sweet 16 appearance.

Bad: Oregon’s ball security against ranked teams

Losses to UC Irvine and Utah Valley are pretty ugly, but the Ducks’ 0-4 record against ranked teams is merely bad.

Oregon lost to No. 3 Houston, No. 20 UConn and No. 12 Michigan State in 3 consecutive games, then dropped 65-56 contest at UCLA on Dec. 4.

One common thread: turnovers. The Ducks committed 58 giveaways in the 4 losses, an average of nearly 15 per.

Ugly: Oregon State’s 1-6 stretch

Like its in-state rival Oregon, the Beavers have some forgivable losses and some truly bad ones. But a 1-6 stretch — with losses to Portland State, Duke, Florida and Portland State again, followed by a 1-point win over Washington and then back-to-back losses at USC and Texas A&M — is a low point for Oregon State this season.

Losing twice to Portland State is particularly harrowing. The Vikings are just 6-7 on the season.

Good: Stanford senior guard Michael Jones’ season-opener

Talk about new beginnings. Jones, a senior transfer from Davidson, opened the year with 31 points in an 88-78 win over Pacific. Several Pac-12 players have 30 points in a game this year, but Jones’ 31 is the high mark for the league so far.

Jones went 9-of-15 from the field with 3 3-pointers and 10-of-12 free-throw shooting for the Cardinal. He hasn’t come close to that success the rest of the season; his second-best night of the season resulted in 17 points in a 72-62 loss to Texas.

Bad: UCLA’s 2-game November stretch against Illinois and Baylor

UCLA’s failed both of its early tough tests, dealing a blow to the Bruins’ RPI with losses to the No. 19 Illini and No. 5 Bears.

Had UCLA won those 2 games, in addition to a huge win at No. 20 Maryland and a 10-point victory over No. 13 Kentucky, the Bruins very well could be ranked No. 1, if not in the top-3 by now.

UCLA absolutely collapsed against Illinois, getting outscored 51-33 in the second half, while the Bears maintained control throughout their matchup.

Ugly: USC’s season-opening 13-point loss to Florida Gulf Coast

It feels like a lifetime ago when USC head coach Andy Enfield was leading FGCU (aka Dunk City) to a Sweet 16 in 2013. That run helped Enfield land the Trojans’ head-coaching position.

Nearly a decade later, Enfield’s impressive USC squad stubbed its toe to open the 2022 campaign, dropping a 74-61 home game to the Eagles. The Trojans trailed by as much as 20 points with 4 minutes left before cutting the gap a bit. Still, a brutally ugly game.

Good: Utah’s convincing early December win over Arizona

It’s one thing to catch a good team early and surprise them, particularly a league opponent that hasn’t shifted gears to the “second season.”

But the Utes didn’t just sneak past the Wildcats in their Dec. 2 matchup. Utah outplayed, out-physicaled, outworked and simply put the clamps on Arizona’s terrific offense. Utah held the Cats to 35.2 percent shooting including just 4-of-28 shooting from 3-point range, while winning the rebounding battle, 51-42.

Even off to an impressive 9-4 start, it’ll be surprising to see Utah play as well the rest of the season as it did on that December day. And it’ll be a shock if Arizona plays as bad.

Bad: Washington’s first half against Cal Baptist

In the midst of a 9-4 start to the season, with losses to Oregon State, No. 18 Gonzaga and No. 23 Auburn, the Huskies suffered a bad home loss to Cal Baptist as their offense went cold late in the first half.

The Lancers shot 51.1 percent but really took flight with less than 4 minutes late in the first, when they went on a 14-7 run to take control.

Ugly: Washington State’s inability to bounce back

The Cougars have 4 — yes, 4 — 2-game losing streaks this season. What a weird stat. After losing to Boise State, they lost to Prairie View. A loss to Oregon bled into a loss to Utah. UNLV and Baylor took out the Cougs in back-to-back games, as did Hawaii and Utah State.

As a result, Wazzu, which was expected to be one of the teams on the rise this year, is off to a 5-8 start.