Barring Cal upset, Stanford poised to win Pac-10 title

Yet again, it’s Stanford’s league to lose.

Until someone knocks the Cardinal from the top of the Pac-10, it seems reasonable to call them the favorites.

And that’s exactly what the coaches in the Pac-10 did when they gave the nod to Stanford in the preseason coaches’ poll.

It is hard to vote against a team that was the national runner-up last season and has won 17 conference championships in the 22 years the league has existed, including the last eight in a row.

But the Cardinal won’t be without challengers. Joining them in the elite tier of the conference and the nation is Bay Area rival Cal, who came within two points of tying Stanford in the poll.

While the Cardinal will return First-Team All Pac-10 forward Jayne Appel and the conference’s Freshman of the Year Kayla Pedersen, Cal appears primed to take a run at the title, returning all five starters from a year ago, including duo of Pac-10 First-Teamers Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton.

Arizona State and USC are also expected to compete for NCAA Tournament bids. The Arizona State Sun Devils return three starters from a team that made the dance last year, while the Trojans, who missed out on an at-large bid last year, will look for different results come March.

It’s these four teams that have caught the attention of the national media early on. In both Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today preseason polls, Stanford sits at No. 2 and Cal at No. 9, while Arizona State sits at No. 17 and No. 18, respectively. The Trojans received five votes in the AP poll, but were left out of the ESPN/USA Today poll.

In both polls, the consensus No. 1 team in the nation is Connecticut, who will be seeking its sixth national championship under coach Geno Auriemma.

UCLA was slotted fifth by the Pac-10 coaches, followed by Oregon, Washington, Oregon State, Washington State and Arizona.

Like UCLA, Arizona will welcome a new coach to town this year in Niya Butts, who will look to turn around a program that finished 4-14 in conference last year.