Which Stanford team will show up to play UCLA in Wednesday’s first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas? The one that clobbered the Bruins by 24 a month ago or the one that then sputtered and lost four of its last five?

“If we can be the team that values the basketball and makes the open shots, we’re pretty darn good,” head coach Jerod Haase said. He said the team’s record is tied “very closely to our ability to make outside shots and the ability to not turn the basketball over. If we can do those two things … then I think we have a chance.”

Sophomore forward Oscar da Silva took a bolder stand.

“We’re going to be our best selves,” he said. “We’ve put in the work, and we’re prepared to go into the tournament and get win after win after win — and win the championship.”

That’s a tall order indeed for the No. 10 seed. The Cardinal (15-15, 8-10) finished in a three-way tie with USC and Arizona for eighth. In the tiebreakers, the Trojans and Wildcats both went 2-1 against the grouping, and the Cardinal was 1-3. USC got the No. 8 seed based on its head-to-head win over Arizona.

Pac-12 men’s tournament Wednesday At Las Vegas. All games on Pac-12 Network. Noon — No. 9 Arizona (17-14) vs. No. 8 USC (15-16) 2:30 p.m. — No. 12 Cal (8-22) vs. No. 5 Colorado (19-11) 6 p.m. — No. 10 Stanford (15-15) vs. No. 7 UCLA (16-15) 8:30 p.m. — No. 11 WSU (11-20) vs. No. 6 Oregon (19-12)

Read More

On the other hand, the Pac-12 is not exactly a murderers’ row of college basketball. It goes into the tournament without a single ranked team. If regular-season champion Washington wins the tourney title, the league could be the first power conference in the modern era to send just one team to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Pac-12 didn’t win a single game in the Big Dance.

“I’d be surprised if any of the 12 teams are going to say (a tournament title) cannot be done,” Haase said. “The 10th-, 11th- and 12th-place teams have all had some success against some of the teams that are at the top of the league.”

Stanford has lost its past three meetings with UCLA in the conference tournament, including last year’s 88-77 decision in the quarterfinals.

Both teams might be missing a starting guard. Stanford hopes to have point guard Daejon Davis back in action after he missed two games because of an ankle injury. He missed the Jan. 3 game at Pauley Pavilion, a 92-70 loss, because of an injury, but played in the rematch at Maples Pavilion on Feb. 16 — a 104-80 Stanford rout in which he had 12 points and 11 assists.

The Bruins will be without shooting guard Prince Ali, who has missed the past five games because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

However, UCLA’s freshman center, Moses Brown, will play after missing the regular-season finale against Utah because of an unspecified violation of the school’s student-athlete code of conduct. He is the Bruins’ leading rebounder and shot-blocker, averaging 8.5 rebounds and 2 blocks along with 10.2 points.

“Their talent level is off the charts,” Haase said. “Like many teams in our conference, they’re young, but at this time, that experience throughout the year tends to pay off. When they’re playing their best, they’re hard to guard.”

Turnovers have been a vexing problem for the Cardinal. Their 15.1 turnovers per game are the most in the Pac-12 and through Monday, they ranked behind 318 of the nation’s 351 Division I teams in that department. All-Pac-12 forward KZ Okpala, who leads the team in scoring (17.1), has been one of the main offenders with 80 turnovers, one behind Davis.

Stanford also needs to hit its 3-pointers. In the regular-season-ending loss to Cal, it missed its first 21 shots from distance. Its 31.8 percent accuracy was the worst in the conference.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald