A wild, wild race shaping up in Pac-10 conference

  Mike Maloney E-mail Maloney at [email protected].

Let’s see if I have this straight. UCLA lost to Arizona,
who lost to Oregon (twice), who lost to Arizona State, who lost to
Washington (?!), who has lost to everyone BUT Arizona State.
Meanwhile, Cal won a big game against Stanford, not to be confused
with its big loss to the Cardinal less than 48 hours before. And
did we mention USC beat UCLA last week to stay unbeaten in the
conference, only to get pounded by Arizona this past Thursday
night?

Welcome to the “Wild Wild West,” where there are no
sure things; not even 20-point, second-half leads. If you listen
closely, you can hear Dru Hill and Mike Montgomery wailing to the
back-beat like a pair of stray cats in labor, while Will Smith and
Lute Olson show off mad rapping skills that enable them to rhyme
“west” with “best.” Who said poetry is
dead?

It’s tough to know what to make of all this parity,
especially when the Pac-10 conference is just a year removed from
it’s strongest national showing in recent memory.

Last season, the conference sported the national runner-up
(Arizona), two teams that came within 40 minutes and a few breaks
of reaching the Final Four (USC and Stanford) and another that had
the unfortunate luck of running into a buzzsaw named Jason Williams
in the Sweet 16 (your own UCLA Bruins). Without much arm-pulling or
outright bribery, you could have gotten even the most East
Coast-biased hoops pundit to admit that the Pac-10 was home to four
of the best 10 teams in the country by year’s end.

From what we can tell from the early returns this season, the
conference has abandoned its top-heavy dynamic in favor of balance,
balance and yes, even more balance. Coming into the week, an
astounding six Pac-10 teams were ranked in the uber-important RPI
top 35. Those same six teams ““ the four California entrants,
Arizona and Oregon ““ are also separated by just a single game
in the conference standings. That’s right, we’re almost
halfway through the round robin and the race for the title is still
more wide open than a hippo’s mouth at the orthodontist.

Trying to handicap the winner of this whole thing isn’t
easy, just ask Steve Lavin ““ he “really likes”
everybody. This guy heaps praise on the opposition as if his
lifetime supply of hair gel depended on it. Let’s face it,
it’s not officially a Lavin press conference unless he utters
the following words: “I really like (insert Pac-10
opponent)’s team. They have a lot of talented players.
(Insert coach’s name) is obviously a great coach, and they
have great leaders in (insert the names of the two guys on the
opponent’s press guide).” Is it just me, or without
warning, has Lavin become the Lou Holtz of college basketball?

Actually, Lavin is right on the money ““ for once.
There’s plenty to like about each member of the “Six
Pac.” USC has the conference’s best low post player in
Sam Clancy. Arizona has the best one-two punch in the league with
Jason Gardner and Luke Walton. UCLA has the deepest and most
athletic rotation. Stanford has Casey Jacobsen and the
conference’s best shot blocker in Curtis Borchardt. Cal has a
deep front line and an improving backcourt.

And Oregon, of course, has Joey Harrington running the show.
(Okay, so I admit it: I haven’t seen the Ducks play for more
than five minutes this season).

Then again, any of last year’s aforementioned “Big
Four” would probably be a sure bet to win the league this
season. The balance of the 2002 campaign bears witness to an
expanding talent pool in the conference, but also a less
concentrated one. Sure, the Pac-10 is a great bet to place an
unprecedented six teams in the tournament this season, but
it’s probably a stretch to think anyone from that group will
be cutting the nets down in Atlanta.

So who’s going to win the conference? Well, if UCLA can
defend its home court and get a much needed split in the Bay Area
next month and “play the way they’re capable of
playing,” and Arizona continues to struggle away from McKale
and sees its many talented freshmen “hit the wall,” and
Oregon wakes up and realizes they’re “playing over
their heads,” and Joey Harrington quits the basketball team
to “pursue football full time,” and USC can’t
find a worthy compliment to Clancy, and Brandon Granville
can’t improve his assist to turnover ratio, and Stanford
can’t find a way to spring Jacobsen for open looks, and
Borchardt or Justin Davis fall prey to the injury bug again, well
then, I like the Bruins. Make sense?

Good, I’m glad we could straighten that out.