It says a lot about the Pac-12 that only 2 players received votes for the 2023-24 Associated Press preseason All-America men’s basketball team, and only a combined 5 votes at that. And they didn’t even go to the Pac-12 preseason player of the year, Arizona’s Oumar Ballo (USC’s Boogie Ellis got 3 votes and Colorado’s Tristan da Silva got 2).

UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell are gone, as is Arizona big man Azuolas Tubelis.

In some ways, the all-conference team feels totally up in the air.

But that doesn’t mean the league is devoid of talent.

In preparation for Monday’s start to the season, here’s a look at the top 15 players in the Pac-12 this year.

15. Arizona G Kylan Boswell

Boswell reclassified last summer to move up a year, joining the Wildcats as a 17-year-old and the youngest player in college basketball. But he showed a poise and savvy that was beyond his years, averaging 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists while shooting 39% from 3-point range in 15.3 minutes per game. Boswell stormed out of the gates with 62 combined minutes in Arizona’s first 3 games — all blowouts — but he was relegated to the bench when the Wildcats started seeing tougher competition. By the end of the year, he was regularly seeing 15-22 minutes against top Pac-12 competition, closing out the regular season with back-to-back 14-point games against USC and UCLA.

14. California F Fardaws Aimaq

A 3-time transfer from Mercer to Utah Valley to Texas Tech and now to Cal, Aimaq is looking to rekindle the magic that lifted him to the WAC Player of the Year award in 2020-21 and to back-to-back WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors (2020-21, 2021-22). Aimaq had a difficult time in Lubbock dealing with injuries, but he managed 3 double-doubles in 11 games last year with the Red Raiders. The biggest incoming talent on a retooled Cal roster under first-year head coach Mark Madsen, Aimaq should see heavy usage under his former UVU coach.

“It was awesome to reunite with Fardaws,” Madsen said at Pac-12 Media Day. “Obviously we’ve had a strong relationship for 3 or 4 years. Four or 5 years now actually. Fardaws is completely healthy, and he’s worked hard to be in phenomenal shape. The year at Texas Tech last year was kind of an aberration year because of all the injury, because of adversity he went through. He has been fantastic with the team. He’s been fantastic in practices, and he’s going to have an extremely strong year this year in the Pac-12.”

13. USC G Kobe Johnson

In addition to drastically improving his scoring — from 1.2 points per game as a freshman to 9.2 last year — Johnson was among the best defenders in the Pac-12. It’s more than just the 2.2 steals and 5.0 rebounds per game, though both of those numbers are impressive for a 6-6 guard, and his 72 steals actually tie him for 3rd on USC’s all-time single-season steals list. Johnson was just an all-around bug, disrupting passing lanes and flustering opponents. Alongside Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier, he should be an ideal complement.

“Kobe, to me, is the best defensive player in our league and possibly the United States,” Andy Enfield said. “He’s 6-6. He anticipates tremendously. Evan Mobley and De’Anthony Melton, who are both in the NBA right now, were our 2 best defenders and Jordan McLaughlin was pretty good, too, and he’s in the League. But Kobe has that unusual ability to anticipate. He can gamble, but still be in position to recover at the same time. He gets a lot of deflections, a lot of steals, and he can guard big or small. So it’s fun to watch him, and our players know that when he’s guarding them in practice, it might be a long day.”

12. Oregon State G Jordan Pope

Arguably the top freshman in the league last year — though UCLA’s Amari Bailey and Adem Bona have something to say about that — Pope was Mr. Everything for the Beavers. His resume was impressive: Oregon State records for freshman scoring (tie) and 3-pointers, 3 conference freshman of the week honors, 12.6 points per game and 23 games in double figures.

“Coming back stronger and more physically prepared for what might be thrown at me next season, I’ll probably get one of the tougher defenders, longer wing defenders to try to disrupt some things and make things hard for (me),” he said. “Individually just coming back mentally stronger and physically stronger and making sure my guys are ready to go because last year we were young. We can’t use that excuse this year.”

11. Stanford F Spencer Jones

An impact player for the Cardinal since he arrived, Jones took his game to another level last year, earning second-team all-conference honors after upping his scoring to 14.1 ppg and his rebounds to 4.7. This came after a junior season in which Jones earned honorable mention all-Pac-12 after leading the team with 12.0 ppg.

10. Colorado G KJ Simpson

Simpson teamed with Tristan da Silva (see below) to form one of the best duos in the country. Simpson was an adept facilitator, leading Colorado with 111 assists while ranking 2nd just behind da Silva with 15.9 points per game.

He fell sick at just the wrong time for the Buffaloes, missing the final 5 games of the year, so he should be champing at the bit to return after more than doubling his scoring average as a sophomore.

9. Arizona G Caleb Love

Love was an unmitigated star in Chapel Hill, but a strange divorce with the Tar Heels — combined with North Carolina’s fall from preseason No. 1 last year to missing the NCAA Tournament — soured some people on him. That, of course, is ridiculous. Dude averaged 16.7 points and had 11 20-point games.

He earned second-team preseason all-league honors despite being one of the highest-profile transfers in the game. He’ll thrive in Tommy Lloyd’s offense.

“What he did at Carolina, people would maybe say it’s inconsistent or inefficient or whatever you want to say,” Lloyd said. “All I know is this: 2 years ago in the NCAA Tournament, that guy had 30 points in an Elite 8 game and 28 in a Final Four game. So there’s not many guys in the history of college basketball that can say they’ve done that. They didn’t have a great year as a team last year, and he was part of it, and he owned it. He and I have had amazing conversations about how we can help him and how he can help us. So I think we got him at the right time.”

8. USC G Isaiah Collier

Perhaps the conference’s 2nd-highest profile newcomer — or 3rd, depending on your view of teammate Bronny James — Collier is one of USC’s highest-rated recruits in history and the top player in the Class of ’23. The Naismith Prep Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American Game MVP, Collier is the crown jewel of Enfield’s eye. The USC coach will rely on Collier to take some pressure off of Boogie Ellis, though, by year end, it could be the other way around.

“He’s going to make life for me a lot easier,” Ellis said. “I don’t have to score off the dribble so much. I get a lot more catch-and-shoots. So just having me and him pushing the ball we’re going to play a lot faster, and I feel like we have an elite group of guards. Everybody’s not talking about Kobe offensively, but he’s a great offensive player as well. He’s definitely made a jump, and you all will see that this year.”

7. Colorado F Tristan da Silva

One of the league’s top returning scorers, da Silva built on a solid sophomore season to star as a junior for the Buffaloes last year. He averaged 15.9 points on 49.6% shooting, but he really made improvements on his deep game (he almost doubled his 3-pointers made), on the glass (improving from 3.5 to 4.8 rebounds) and in his pressure defense (from 19 steals to 44 steals last year).

“Tristan da Silva is what college basketball is all about,” Tad Boyle said. “To me, he’s one of the top players in the game, in the college game today. If he’s not top 10, he’s certainly top 20. I’ll go to war with him every night. He’s gotten better every year. He’s worked on his body every year. He’s committed. He could have left. He could have gone overseas. He could be playing in Germany for a lot of money right now, but he wanted to finish what he started, and we’re thankful that he did.”

6. UCLA F/Adem Bona

This is probably a little low for the springy UCLA sophomore, one of the best and most athletic defenders in the Pac-12. He could have gone to the NBA but realized he could improve his stock with another year in Westwood. But this year will look much different than last, and his role will change drastically.

Last year, the Bruins were one of the most veteran teams in college hoops, led by stalwarts like Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyger Campbell and David Singleton. Even Bona’s fellow freshman Amari Bailey had far more of an offensive presence.

On this squad, Bona is going to be asked to do everything after earning freshman of the year honors while posting 7.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 23 minutes per game while shooting 68%.

5. Oregon C N’Faly Dante

Dante blossomed into Oregon’s top player last year, finishing as one of just 2 conference players to average more than 13 points and 8 rebounds while shooting better than 60 percent from the field (along with Arizona’s Ballo).

Dante’s usage rate may fall this season as Dana Altman’s Ducks hope to be deeper, but he’ll undoubtedly be one of the best 2-way bigs in the league.

4.  Utah C Branden Carlson

Carlson dipped his toe into the NBA Draft waters but returned to Utah in one of the biggest moves of the Pac-12 offseason. He was the only player in the league to rank in the top six in points, rebounds and blocks.

But he has room to grow, at least on the floor. The 7-footer shot just 49.6% from the field last year and NBA scouts told him he needs to be more assertive.

“I tested the waters, and it was a great time,” Carlson said. “I had a lot of fun with it and learned a lot of things about myself. And I think just being able to see what a lot of these guys at the next level envision me as a big in the next league, and what they want to see from me going forward and coming back for 1 more year, and a lot of them were kind of encouraging that saying that this will be I think very beneficial for you to come back and have some specific things to focus on.”

3. Washington F Keion Brooks Jr.

One of the league’s top transfers a year ago, Brooks arrived in Seattle and instantly became the Huskies’ top players and one of the league’s best offensive threats. He is the Pac-12’s top returning scorer at 17.7 points per game and finished 9th with 6.7 rebounds per game.

Brooks somewhat surprisingly returned to Washington despite the Huskies struggling to a 16-16. But it was his bond with coach Mike Hopkins that kept him in the PNW.

“He means a lot to me,” Brooks said. “I like to think we came into each other’s lives at the perfect time. I needed him to continue to help build me back up as a player, and I feel like I helped him in some ways as well. So I just feel like our relationship is very strong. I’ll do anything for Coach Hop. I’ll run through a brick wall for the man. I really love him, and he’s been great with helping me develop and continue to get better as a player, but even more as a man.”

2. USC G Boogie Ellis

In addition to having the league’s best name, Ellis has maybe the league’s best game. And with a new running mate in Collier, he has a chance to be truly special this year. The former Memphis transfer has always been a fantastic scorer — though he really turned it on late last year with 7 20-point performances in USC’s last 11 regular-season games — but his passing will be on display this year.

“Boogie and Isaiah Collier are great,” Enfield said. “They complement each other very well. Boogie is a natural scorer, but he’s come a long way in his decision making, and he’s a really tremendous lead guard right now. He’s really improved, had a tremendous trip to Greece and Croatia in August where he had 7:1 assist-to-turn ratio.

1. Arizona C Oumar Ballo

Ballo isn’t short for baller but it may as well be. He grew leaps and bound last year — no small task for a 7-footer — upping his averages to 14.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg. Conditioning seemed to get to him later in the year as his scoring suffered, but Arizona is counting on a lot more than stats from Ballo this year.

“It’s the leadership,” Lloyd said. “He has that. He has so much potential there. His leadership can be grounded in the fact that he’s dealt with struggle and come through it. I think all these guys, these young players struggle as part of their growth process. So to have somebody who’s done it, come through the other side, I think he can be a great example for others, especially within our program.”