UCLA expected to shine in Pac-10 again

One thing is still the same this year in the Pac-10: UCLA is the favorite. After three Final Fours and two straight conference titles, the Bruins are once again the team to beat in this conference.

But it seems like that’s the only thing that has not changed.

Four of the other nine teams in the conference have switched coaches. All the big names from last year; USC’s O.J. Mayo, the Lopez twins at Stanford, Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless and even the Bruins’ Kevin Love have left for the NBA.

Arizona, once the king of the conference, is sliding, and Arizona State is on the rise. Stanford and Cal each have new coaches. USC has a new superstar recruit. And, after UCLA, there’s no easy way to arrange the league into a hierarchy.

It should be an interesting year.

Arizona State

Last year Arizona State may have been the best team left out of the NCAA tournament.

There should be no reason to worry this season.

Herb Sendek’s team returns its top two players ““ guard James Harden and forward Jeff Pendergraph ““ and should contend for a Pac-10 title.

Sendek turned the program around last season in just his second year as head coach. The team won 21 games, including two big wins over rival Arizona.

It started with Harden. The Los Angeles native led the team in scoring with almost 18 points per game. Pendergraph is the inside force. He tended to foul too often last season and played only 28 minutes per game. If he can stay on the court longer, the Sun Devils will boast an outstanding inside-out presence.

This year looks like it could be a huge year for Arizona State. The program has a chance to overtake Arizona and enough talent to pose a threat in March.

Arizona

It was a tumultuous offseason in Tucson from the beginning; Jerryd Bayless, the star of last year’s team, left early for the NBA, and top recruit Brandon Jennings decided to play in Italy.

Then Lute Olson shocked the college basketball world.

Olson retired from coaching on Oct. 23, weeks before the start of the season, and now Arizona must begin a new year without the man who led it to dominance over the past 20 seasons.

Russ Pennell was named interim head coach, and even he says that he was surprised at the situation.

And now what already looked like a difficult, rebuilding season will be even more of a challenge.

Forward Chase Budinger will have to carry the load. Budinger opted out of the NBA draft after averaging 17 points per game last year.

One of the Wildcats’ biggest issues last year was rebounding, and although Jordan Hill, their best rebounder, is back, it will probably be a problem area this year too.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this year’s Arizona team is its lack of a blue-chip freshman. Without Jennings, the Wildcats may not be able to count on any one freshman, unless center Jeff Withey improves very quickly.

Cal

The stories will all be about coach Mike Montgomery.

Montgomery accepted Cal’s head coaching job this offseason, and it was a shocking announcement if for no reason other than that he had coached Stanford, Cal’s archrival, for 18 seasons.

He has a very daunting task ahead of him, though; turning around a program that slipped into mediocrity under former coach Ben Braun.

Montgomery is left with just two starters from last year’s team ““ guards Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle. The pair combined to average 27 points per game last year, and they’ll have to contribute even more if Cal wants to compete this season.

Forward Theo Robertson could be critical if he is able to return from hip surgery that forced him to take a medical redshirt last year. If the 6-foot-6-inch Robertson is healthy, he will definitely start and probably have the opportunity to contribute significantly.

Oregon

Get ready for the Tajuan Porter show.

Porter ““ a speedy, 5-foot-6-inch guard”“ has nailed almost 200 three-pointers in his first two seasons at Oregon.

Now he’s the team’s unquestioned leader and best scorer.

Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor and Marty Leunen, the top players from last year’s team, graduated. Porter is the most experienced remaining Duck. He dominated in his first season but struggled at times last year. Consistency and shot selection will be crucial this year as he assumes a greater leadership role.

The other huge factor for this team is its star freshman, Michael Dunigan. Dunigan, a Chicago native who plays center, will have to fill the shoes left by Leunen. He should begin the season as a part of the starting rotation.

This is a rebuilding year of sorts for Oregon, and if it gets really bad, coach Ernie Kent might start to feel some pressure.

Oregon State

New coach Craig Robinson takes over a team that finished 6-24 last season and lost its final 20 games.

Robinson plans to institute a version of the Princeton Offense in Corvallis, which he played in as a player at Princeton years ago, but there’s almost no talent to work with.

None of the players on this year’s team averaged more than 10 points per game last year. Guard Seth Tarver will be the team’s sharpest all-around player, and his brother Josh may start as well.

Inside 6-foot-7-inch Omari Johnson will have to be the team’s post presence although he played on the wing at time’s last year.

Stanford

Yet another new coach. Johnny Dawkins, the longtime No. 2 man at Duke, jumped across the country to Stanford this offseason to replace Trent Johnson.

And Dawkins now has an intriguing roster of players to work with.

Brook and Robin Lopez, the two most prominent and important players from last year’s Stanford team are now in the NBA. Brook Lopez averaged 19 points and eight rebounds per game as Stanford nearly knocked off UCLA as the Pac-10’s best team.

That huge presence is now gone.

But still, six of the 10 players from last season’s rotation return, including guards Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson and forward Lawrence Hill.

Johnson, the team’s senior point guard, led the league in assists last season and also boasted a stellar assist-turnover ration. Goods is one of the best outside shooters in the conference. And Hill managed to put up almost nine points and five rebounds per game last year even though he did not start.

USC

Another year, another rock star freshman at USC.

Demar Derozan has been hailed as the best freshman in the Pac-10, if not the entire country. He comes to USC from Compton High, and he was recruited along with his best friend, Percy Miller. Miller is best known for his rapping stage name, Lil’ Romeo.

Forward Taj Gibson made the smart decision to return to school, and he is poised for a huge junior season. After averaging about 11 points and 8 rebounds last year, Gibson now has more experience and a much, much easier set of defenders to go against in the Pac-10.

Another important, under the radar, situation at USC involves Alex Stepheson. Stepheson just transferred to USC from North Carolina, where he was a valuable role player. Because he left Chapel Hill to be closer to his family, he may not have to sit out this season. If he can play right away, the Trojans’ will have the best frontcourt in the league and a scary backcourt to go with it.

Washington

The Huskies are one of four teams many have said have a real chance to win the conference title, along with UCLA, USC and Arizona State.

It all starts with Jon Brockman, the bruising center and master rebounder. Brockman averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds last year, for a Washington team that struggled to a mediocre, 16-17 finish.

This year should be different.

There’s a lot more talent around Brockman and a fantastic incoming freshman class.

Isaiah Thomas is ready to start as point guard in his first season. He’s got much more hype than experience after spending the past two years in prep school. But, by all accounts, he has the speed and talent to be one of the better point guards in the league.

Quincy Pondexter and Justin Dentmon, two more experienced players, will join him in the backcourt.

If Washington is to reach the top tier of the league, its defense must improve. The great Washington teams of the last five years always thrived on defense, but the Huskies couldn’t stop anyone last year.

Washington State

The Cougars lost star players Kyle Weaver, Derrick Low and Robbie Cowgill, the core of a group that challenged for Pac-10 titles in each of the past two seasons.

But they still have Tony Bennett.

Bennett, one of the top coaches in the conference, turned down an offer to go to Indiana this offseason. He decided to stay in Pullman to try to keep his Washington State program at a high level.

The burden now falls to the only two returning starters, point guard Taylor Rochestie and big man Aron Baynes.

Rochestie is a very solid point man who engineered the offense last year even though Low and Weaver handled most of the scoring.

Baynes is probably the biggest player in the country. He stands 6-feet-10-inches, and he easily outmuscled UCLA’s Kevin Love last year.