I really am passionate about the football played in this conference. I think it’s the best. The SEC is nice, but the Pac-10 has always had more innovative/effective offenses. Florida’s 23-20 win over Arkansas was alright, but there’s something about West Coast teams throwing haymaker after haymaker.

It is indeed possible to have well played football where both teams score the shit out of the ball. Skeptics look at the 81 total points and say, “No defense.” Wrong. Both Stanford and Arizona have shown themselves to be solid defensive teams this year. That was just transcendent offense. That was the Pac-10 doing just the fuck it do.

Was the USC loss a moral victory for Charlie Weis? Masoli or Costa for Oregon? Does it matter? Vontaze Burfict: crazy or really fucking crazy? (And to be clear: yes I would want him to play for Washington.)

All that and we pick next week’s games vs. the spread. Then we never talk about how we did because it’s usually poorly. But our hearts are in the right place. Click the links below to enjoy!!

10.20.09 Pac-10 Football Podcast (part one)

10.20.09 Pac-10 Football Podcast (part two)

As we approach yet another Pac 10 football season there is much commentary on what each team has to look forward to in the coming season.  This is the time of the year for unbridled optimism.  To provide a little perspective in contrast to everyone’s rose bowl colored glasses, here is why your favorite Pac 10 team is a joke. 

Arizona Wildcats

Hey did you know that your coach is Bob Stoops’ younger brother?  Did you know that?  Well, if you didn’t know then let me be the first to inform you that your head coach is the younger sibling of one of the best college football coaches in the country.  In fact, your coach made a name for himself (well…. sort of) by working for his older brother at Oklahoma.   Isn’t that neat?  He also has a gigantic temper problem and can often be seen on the sidelines acting like a complete ass.  Kinda like a spoiled little kid who’s older brother has always protected him but happens to be out of town so that spoiled little kid has no idea what to do when a bully takes his lunch money except hop around, piss and moan, and just generally act like an assclown.   Yeah, he’s a classy guy down there.

Seriously though Arizona – you are a fucking joke.   You once played in the “Salad Bowl,” and you lost.  To Drake.  You’ve never been to the Rose Bowl.   That’s right.  Zero Rose Bowl appearances.  Ever.  Only school in the Pac 10 who can make that claim.  Nice work.

Arizona State Sundevils

That’s an awesome 8.4 million dollar “devil dome” you have there ASU.  Man that thing is sweet.  Good idea building a indoor facility for your players so they can get out of the heat sometimes.  What’s that made out of  anyways, toothpicks and glad garbage bags?  Oh and how long was that “devil dome” standing before it got absolutely owned by a windstorm?  1 month?  Nice.  Did you clear it with god before you constructed a fabric building named after satan in a region of the country prone to windstorms?  No, looks like you did not.

Your devil dome does provide a nice metaphor for the stability of your program though. 

(also – I gave Zona crap for losing the “salad bowl” to Drake, but you one upped them there didn’t you.  0-2 lifetime with losses to Xavier and Miami of Ohio.  Xavier hasn’t played D1 football since 1973.  Well done.)

California Golden Bears

Hey Cal, do  you guys have a tree I can live in?  Do you?  I’m in the market for a  tree that’s kinda close to your stadium.  A nice tree with good foliage and that may or may not be where you’d like to construct a few upgrades like a nice new weightroom.  If all  goes according to plan, myself and a few other tree hugging hippies who have no money or clout good samaritans will succeed in stalling out your improvement plans for several seasons.  Nothing says, “our football program has political juice in the University” like the inability to get a few people out some trees around your stadium.  Sure you can beat USC, but when it comes to tree-sitters, you get owned. 

If this was the SEC or Big 12 this tree sitter scenario would have lasted about 2 weeks.  One week for the alumni association to plan the “beer, brats, and shooting hippies out of trees (BYOG)” alumni event, and then one week to hold the “Beer, brats, and shooting hippies out of trees (BYOG)” alumni event.

 The last time Cal played in the Rose Bowl Alaska wasn’t even a state.  The last time Cal won a Rose Bowl our President was Franklin Roosevelt.  Anyways, your ‘resurgent’ football existence continues this year Cal.  I look forward to visiting your stadium soon and sitting on “tightwad hill,” where the joke is that people don’t even care about your team enough to pay to come into the stadium. 

Oregon

So my shoelaces on my new running shoes just snapped.  Should I call admissions or the administration to find out about where I can get a new pair?  No I’m serious, what about my running shoes?  I paid 115 dollars for these shoes but it appears that the kid in Malaysia that assembled them didn’t do a very good job – so I want answers Oregon. See if you can’t pull yourself away from your flatscreen TV’s and automatic frosted glass doors for 2 seconds to address the needs of the shoe-buying public. 

You know what else is weird?  I went to your football practice facility to try and evaluate this year’s team, but all I found were a bunch of guys with sewing machines.  I interviewed the quarterback, who  thought that the new wings on the shoulderpads were “Fabulous” and the Linebackers chipped in that the new white Uni’s were “breathtaking” and “stunning.”  I guess you know what’s important down there.  Oh and one more thing – your mascot is literally Donald Duck.  Want to know what happens when you search “Oregon Ducks Funny Pics”  on google?  Here:

Real nice.  Explain that. 

I leave you with this:

 ”Ducks are the college football version of Paris Hilton…they’re famous for no reason, they look pretty and they got a rich daddy.” – Kirk Herbstreit

Oregon State

Are you a Beaver believer?  Do you realize that your team mascot is a beaver?  How do you feel about that? 

A question I had for you Oregon State is what’s the deal  with your stadium? Why, when you remodeled it, did you only make it so that 1/2 of it is beautiful and nice and the other half looks like a high school stadium?  Further to that point, why when your games are televised, does it appear that the camera crews are only allowed to show the side that makes it look like you have a legitimate stadium?  Where are the panoramic views of “Reser Stadium” showing both the side with the nice seating, the luxury boxes, and the  2-tiered designed, across from the side featuring 40 rows of straightback bleacher seating?  What happened there exactly?  Why is one entire side of your stadium 1/2 the size of the other side?  Did you run into some construction problems?  Did too many Beavers fall victim to falling trees, causing construction to be halted?  Is that it?

Moment of silence for those Beavers who lost their lives in the construction of a completely unbalanced stadium:

I guess you might be a joke if you construct your home field to appear to television audiences as if it is large and in charge, but if you pan the camera just a little bit to the… “DON’T PAN OVER THERE…. DON’T!!”.. Oh ok. 

Stanford

Stanford, you have a problem with Shrinkage.   That’s right, you actually shrank your football stadium’s capacity and it still isn’t full of people.  Maybe you need to see your doctor about that.  Maybe you should playfootball in Maples Pavillion.

I did see that your band can take a tackle or two though.  How does it feel that the most famous play in your school’s football history involves your teams band?  How does it feel that John Elway’s career at your school ended with him on the sidelines watching “the play?”   I bet that sucks actually.  It probably hurts to think about even today.  My question Stanford is if you are so smart, why was your band on the field before the game was over? 

 Pull your pants up Stanford,  your shrinkage is embarassing.

UCLA

Hey, I know you.  You’re that other school in LA aren’t you?  The school in the nice area of town with the incredible basketball tradition and the coach who systematically destroyed the institutions where he was previously employed.  Yeah I thought I recognized you UCLA.  How’s that coaching thing going anyways?  Any NCAA violations yet? No.  Ok well just hold on a few months because they are on the way.  Let me ask you this UCLA, what exactly about your coaches reputation drew you to him as a coaching candidate?  Was it his nickname?  Slick Rick.  Was it the fact that nobody has heard from Colorado or Washington since he left those schools in a smoldering pile of ruins? Is that it?  I mean, I would  think that you feel invisible already seeing as you share LA with a team that absolutely owns the conference.  I’m surprised you would take the next step of leveling your own program just to make sure that people knew you were irrelevant. 

“FOLLOW ME.”

USC TROJANS

You know what I love about Pete Carroll, his energy.  He’s bouncing around practice, he’s yelling, he’s pumped, he’s having a good time.  Whether he’s talking to players or boosters or agents or steriod dealers or money launderers or ineligible high school kids, that guy’s message is always on point.  “We will cheat our ass off to win.”  It’s ironic because you’d think being in the largest market in the conference and having incredible tradition and a rich recruiting base to draw from would be enough to win straight up, but I like that you guys over at USC don’t leave anything to chance. 

And speaking of all that tradition at SC, how about that Heritage Hall.  You still have OJ Simpson featured there?  Of course you do, because you don’t care about the fact that he’s a cold blooded killer.  You care about the fact that he could really knife through a defense and won you a heisman. Stay classy USC.

Washington

Sigh.  You are a motherfucking joke of a joke Washington.  Your sorry sack got slashed and burned by Slick Rick, went on a wins diet with Keith “Slim” Gilbertson, and then watched as Tyrone Willingham came in and treated everyone and everything around your program like shit for 4 seasons.  You got punked by that guy.  0-12.  Nice. Fucking. Job.   Oh and then when you did fire him you let him coach out the season “for the kids” and let him air you out every chance he had.  Especially nice touch when he played the race card and said that minority coaches only get the “Downtrodden” programs.  Fuck I guess he’s right, when he showed up in December of 2004 it had  been almost four years since you won a Rose Bowl Washington.  FOUR.  I mean, imagine if you were like Cal or Oregon or Arizona and it had been 50 or 90 years since that had happened, or if it had never happened.  Think of how downtrodden you would have been then.

Yeah, you played your cards well there you sly dawgs you.  Your big plan for revival consists of robbing a bank and then robbing USC of half its coaching staff.  Good luck with that.

Washington State

If you can believe it, you are more pathetic than Washington.  Can you believe that Washington State?  You beat them last season and people still believe that you were the worst team in the conference.  How sad is that?  Speaking of sad, have you seen your stadium?  Calling it a postage stamp is being generous.  You cram almost 34,000 people in on gamedays, except when your team is bad and then it’s nowhere near that many.  WSU you have played a college football game in the past 3 seasons that had less people at it than a Syracuse basketball game.  Fail. 

Oh and it gets worse – you named your stadium after a UW grad.  How the hell is that possible?  Who was asleep at the tractor wheel for that call?  I don’t care how much money Mr. Martin donated to your school, when it comes to naming your football stadium, you don’t name it after a graduate of your rival institution.  If you want to name a building after him, fine, do it on campus somewhere far away from the sports complexes. 

When Ted Miller came up for a Northwest tour of the Pac 10, he  spent time at all the schools.  Washington, Oregon, Oregon State.  Yep, he got ‘em all.  Didn’t miss anybody.  Joke’s on you Wazzu.  

I started writing this as a response to Constable’s Pac-10 preview below, where he discussed the merits of Jordan Hill over Blake Griffin.  I have decided to analyze their respective talents further by comparing their complementary big screen personas.  Let us begin…

Jordan Hill is the Predator.  He cannot be killed by conventional weaponry.  On the other hand, Blake Griffin has been called the Terminator, also difficult to kill.  Predator was killed (sort of) by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch, whereas Arnold himself was The Terminator.  Edge: Terminator

The Predator killed Jesse Ventura and Carl Weathers, as well as scores of other hardened commandos in the South American jungles.  The Terminator killed a bunch of Sarah Connors, other random people, and also the T-1000 and the sexy chick Terminator.  Jordan Hill has had to battle against some talented bigs in the Pac-10 like Jon Brockman, Jeff Pendergraph, Taj Gibson, and Aron Baynes (ok, some not talented).  Griffin has pretty much slaughtered a bunch of poor ladies and nobodies in the Big 12, with the occasional badass (Taj Gibson again) or sexy chick (Cole Aldrich could be a sexy lady if you are in the right mindset).  Edge: Predator, mainly for having the audacity to kill Carl Weathers.

The Predator died by blowing itself up after Dutch pinned it under some logs, but Predator was laughing menacingly until the moment it exploded.   The Terminator died in T2 by lowering himself into some molten iron and giving a totally lame thumbs-up to a sobbing John Connor.  Hill’s Arizona team will surely self-destruct in some awesome, spectacular way.  Griffin’s Oklahoma team will just go out embarrassingly in the second round of the tourney, crying with their heads covered by towels. Edge: Predator, although T2 is an incredibly awesome movie.

blog.oregonlive.com

Predator had all sorts of weapons built into it.  It had a rocket launcher, infrared vision, super hops and strength, and it was a sneaky bastard.  The Terminator was almost invincible and just basically used force and a minimal grasp of the English language to kill his enemies.  Jordan Hill is similarly equipped to the Predator.  He can beast you down on the post, slam it so hard diarrhea dribbles out of your butthole, hit the midrange J’s, or come out of nowhere and swat your weak shit into the stands.  Blake Griffin just uses his supreme athleticism to rack up huge numbers, and he also dunks so hard my balls shrink.  Sometimes though, like the Terminator, Griffin gets knocked in the head too hard and his internal systems get all fucked up.  Edge: Predator (I deducted points from Blake Griffin for having poor English skills, even though that is purely a fabrication of my mind for the sake of this analogy.)

Definitely doesn't have the sexy ladyness of Cole Aldrich.

Final Score: Predator wins 3-1.

Hard to focus on Pac 10 basketball right now with the Lobestaal mania that has swept… well basically just this site and other blogs where Husky and Cougar fans like to fight about stuff.  But I’ll do my best to break down what happened in the world of hoops this past week.

Big Winner(s): UW and ASU 

Washington:  The Huskies are big winners in week 8 simply because of the fact that they got through the LA trip (with a little help from their friends/mortal enemies) in sole possession of first place in the conference.  Granted it’s only a 1/2 game lead because ASU has played one less game than UW, but nonetheless, to escape  that road trip with a split and to have UCLA and Cal both suffer a bad losses to WSU and OSU was about as good as UW could have hoped for. 

I suppose you could also peg UW as a big winner this week for the manner in which it beat USC.  The Trojans were fighting for their NCAA tournament lives and desperately needed a resume building win against a ranked opponent.  UW beat USC however, and sent the Trojans into meltdown mode after the game.  More impressive is that the Huskies won despite minimal output from guards Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas.  The emergence of Quincy Pondexter for UW continues to make the Huskies a team that can beat you in any number of ways.  Inside UW has Jon Brockman (and on occasion MBA), outside Dentmon and Thomas have been virtually unstoppable,  and now QPon is providing incredible play at the 3 spot.  His contribution has really created an incredibly balanced team.

Final note on UW:  good teams win games in which they don’t necessarily play their best, but still find a way to get it done.   The Huskies have done that several times this season and completed their conference road trips without having been swept by anyone.  Overall, the dawgs were 6-3 on the road against Pac 10 opponents.  Going into the season, basically any coach in the conference (maybe even Ben Howland) would take that record if it was offered.

ASU:  Another squad that benefitted from UCLA and Cal’s losses, ASU stepped up and won a huge game against the red hot Arizona Wildcats on Sunday.  The Sun Devils continue to get contributions from their supporting players who have helped reduce the strain on James Harden to carry the team.  With Glasser and Abbott shooting better, Pendergraft stepping up in the block, and the entire team doing a better job on defense, Harden gets a little more room to operate and can be that much more effective at creating scoring opportunities for himself and others out on the floor (he is an incredibly unselfish player).  

With the win, ASU finds itself only a 1/2 game back of UW for first place in the conference, with a huge game looming on Thursday as the Sun Devils head to Seattle.  Even though it’s a tough road game, ASU still controls it’s own destiny in the conference and can come out of week 9 in a position to win an outright conference championship (regular season).  It will be tough, but ASU has played great basketball since losing to UW in Tempe a few weeks ago.  Since that loss, the Sun Devils have rattled off 5 straight victories and all but guaranteed themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament in March.

Big Loser(s): UCLA and USC

UCLA:  After travelling to Pauley Pavillion on Thursday and watching UCLA beat Washington, I had a few observations about this Bruins team. 

1.  They really are in trouble with their interior players. 

2.  Although the Bruins handled the Huskies fairly easily in the game, a majority of UCLA’s points seem to come from solid perimeter shooting.  Sitting next to a UCLA fan, I struck up a conversation and at one point he observed, “if we keep shooting like this, there’s just no way we lose.”  As simple as that sounds, he was right.  UCLA won that game by making perimeter buckets and when a team is hot from the outside, they aren’t likely to lose.  I conceded the point at the time and he ended up being right.  The only concern, which we went on to discuss, was what happens if UCLA isn’t shooting great from outside.  The answer appears to be that they lose.  I’m not sure how great this Bruin team is at coming up with “scrappy” victories. 

3.  Pauley Pavillion is pretty cool, even though it’s antiquated.  They literally have NCAA championship banners lining the rafters.  Unreal.

Allright, well, back to why UCLA is a big loser this week.  Basically because they lost to WSU after they beat UW.  Following thursday’s victory over the Huskies, UCLA was absolutely in a position to win out in conference play, with a worst case scenario being that ASU would also win out and win the tie-breaker for the regular season champion.  Had that happened, UCLA would have found themselves with a nice seed in the NCAA tournament and had a great deal of momentum heading into March.  Instead, UCLA let Taylor Rochestie come into Pauley and hand the Bruins a really bad loss.  A loss that drops UCLA into a tie for third place in the conference and a loss that reduces the Bruins chances of a conference title.  It is mind boggling that after the terrible Arizona trip that UCLA had, that they would let a well coached but undermanned Cougar team come into Pauley and get a win.  Now the Bruins have lost 3 of 4 and are in danger of falling out of the rankings altogether if they suffer any more slip ups down the stretch.  Not a good spot to be in this close to Tourney time.

USC:  While the Bruins were busy losing to Washington State on Saturday, the Trojans were suffering an epic meltdown against the Huskies.  First, losing an ugly game 60-51, and then having guards Dwight Lewis and Daniel Hackett get into a physical altercation in a hallway in the Galen center.  There has been a lot made of this so I won’t waste a lot of time talking about how bad it is to have 2 teammates actually fighting one another, but the end result from the weekend was 6th place in the Pac 10 conference with a 7-7 record.  That’s not going to get it done. 

The Trojans now must go 4-0 in their remaining games to really put themselves safely into the NCAA tourney discussion.  11-7 would probably get it done because it would mean that USC (who currently sits with an overall record of 16-10) would get to the 20 win barrier.   It would also mean that USC would have swept California, which figures to be the other Pac 10 team sitting squarely on the bubble come selection sunday. 

The bottom line is that USC’s only good wins this season are against ASU, Arizona, and Cal. They have zero nonconference wins that are meaningful and thus they must rely on their Pac 10 performance to justify their inclusion in the big dance.  Sitting at 7-7 with games against the NorCal schools and the Oregon schools means that USC will have an opportunity to get a few more W’s, but they can’t afford to lose one more game. 

Biggest Surprise: WSU’s win at Pauley Pavillion

WSU is not as talented as UCLA.  I don’t think anyone would argue that.  Also, WSU is not really in any post season tournament discussions at the moment.  On saturday when they arrived at UCLA, the Cougs were 5-9 in conference play.  Add to that the fact that UCLA had just snapped at 2 game losing skid by beating UW on Thursday and reclaimed a share of the Pac 10 conference lead and most people would conclude that the Bruins would just run over the Cougars.  Not so.

The Cougars were led by Taylor Rochestie who blew up for 33 points, but they also got solid outings from Caleb Forrest (12 points), Aron Baynes (13 points) and Klay Thompson (15 points).  Overall, however, it was a surprise to me that UCLA allowed WSU to come in and just will themselves to a victory.  The Bruins were more talented, had more on the line, and were the home team in that game.  They shouldn’t have lost.  Hats off to the Cougars for going into Pauley and taking one from the vaunted Bruins.

Player of the Week: Taylor Rochestie, WSU

33 points in the big win over UCLA, including 10-10 from the free throw line.  Those free throws were pretty important considering the Cougs won the game by 1 point.   Rochestie also had 16 points in WSU’s loss to USC, but the obvious reason for the award is the ridiculous performance against UCLA. 

Standings:

Halfway through the Pac-10 conference slate and we’ve learned a few things about some  teams that we didn’t know heading into conference play.  Oregon State is way better than anyone thought and Oregon is way worse.  UCLA and Washington share the conference lead and moving forward there are several contenders who have shown flashes of  being very competitive.  Here’s how week 5 came out.

Big Winner:  Arizona

Big weekend for the Wildcats who bounced back from a 2-5 start in conference play to get a sweep of the Washington schools.  For the Cats this weekend was huge not only from a standpoint of conference position, but also to pad their NCAA resume a little bit.  Keep in mind that Zona has already beaten Gonzaga and Kansas this season so when  you add to that a win over Washington (#20 RPI and #19 strength of schedule), Arizona is well positioned to make a little comeback in the conference and then snag an at large berth at the end of the season.  Those are 3 great wins and if they can go 6-3 in the second half of conference play, they should be able to recover from their miserable start. 

Putting all that aside, this weekend may be where Arizona recaptured some of its mojo.  Especially point guard Nic Wise.  A week ago they had just barely defeated Houston (in overtime) and were sitting in 9th in the Pac-10.  Today they have climbed to 6th in the conference and are only 2 games out of 3rd place.  Not to mention the fact that they appear to have more confidence now moving forward.  They could be dangerous in the second half of conference play.

They also have incredibly hot chicks.  Life is good down there. 

Big Loser: Arizona State

Devastating weekend for the Sun Devils.  Ranked #15 in the country last week, ASU did their best Notre Dame impression and got their ass kicked twice at home by conference opponents.  Both UW and WSU walked out of Tempe with double digit wins. It’s hard to say which loss is worse. 

On the one hand, the WSU loss is bad because WSU is not as talented as ASU this season and should not be able to beat the Devils on their home court.  WSU’s true freshman Klay Thompson  went off for 28 points in leading WSU to the win (more than 1/2 of the Cougars total scoring in the game).  Hard to figure how ASU let a true freshman come in and drop 28 on their home floor to beat them by 10.  

On the other hand, the loss to UW may have been even worse.  Both UW and ASU had just suffered losses in the Thursday games and so both teams figured to be “desperate” to avoid the sweep and salvage something out of the weekend.  Add to that the extra desperation that ASU must have felt trying to avoid being swept  at home and it figured that Saturday’s game was going to be an absolute battle.  Two determined teams going head to head in a match up to see who could impose their will. 

Instead, ASU just kind of let UW do whatever they wanted.  ASU didn’t let any true freshmen score 28 points, but they did let senior Justin Dentmon score 30.  And they let Isaiah Thomas score 25.   The Sun Devils did make a push to get back in the game late, but it wasn’t enough and the end result was a weekend where they suffered 2 double digit losses and fell to a tie for 4th in the conference.  Now they head on the road to the Oregon schools, where they really need a couple of victories.

At least they still have their Co-eds, so life is good there too.

Biggest Surprise:   Individual scoring efforts in the state of Arizona.

In Thursday night’s UW v. Arizona game, 3 players scored over 25 points.  Nic Wise had 29, Jon Brockman had 27, and Chase Budinger had 25.  Meanwhile, up the road in the Cougar v. Sun Devil game in Tempe,  WSU’s Klay Thompson was dropping 28 points on ASU.  Conference scoring leader James Harden had 26points in defeat.

On Saturday, UW’s Justin Dentmon had 30 points against ASU, with teammate Isaiah Thomas chipping in with 25. 

So I count 7 players in the conference who scored 25 or more points in a game this weekend, ALL in the matchup between the Arizona and Washington schools. 

Player of the week:  Justin Dentmon, Washington

The kid averaged 26.5 points a game this weekend.  he scored 30 against ASU.  He was 12 of 13 from the Free Throw line in the two games and shot 58% from three point land going 11 for 19.  The senior from Washington also leads the scoring race in conference play, ahead of ASU’s James Harden (who is still averaging more PPG on the season as a whole). 

For Dentmon, this season has been an absolute re-emergence.  Playing alongside Isaiah Thomas, Dentmon looks like the talent he was as a freshman when he had Brandon Roy next to him (which may tell you something about how good Thomas is).  He is absolutely the reason that the Huskies have been able to get to the top of the Pac-10 conference thus far.  Coming into the season, UW figured to be a very questionable 3-point shooting team, but Dentmon is shooting 45% from beyond the arc and has really helped the Dawgs with his free throw shooting late in games.

Conference Standings

WEIRD RAMBLING COLUMN ALERT (just giving you a heads up)

As UW heads to the desert this week to take on the Arizona schools, I look at the University of Arizona and have to wonder what the future holds for the Wildcats.  With Lute Olson gone the Wildcats are in their second straight season with a “Interim” head coach (different coaches each season), and once this season comes to a close and Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill head to the NBA, the Cats are going to be faced with a monumental rebuilding job.

Their entire recruiting class from last year decommitted when Olson retired and thus there will be no infusion of talent for Arizona to rely on to replace Budinger and Hill.  I wonder who Arizona will turn to in order to regain its status as one of college basketball’s elite powers.  What big name is out there that they will go after.  Who can right the sinking ship?  I believe that one name above all others should be considered as the perfect candidate to keep the Wildcats in the national spotlight:  Pat Summitt.

Before I get too far, let me just say that I am perfectly aware that the University of Arizona is not going to hire Pat Summitt away from the University of Tennessee to coach the Wildcat basketball program.  I get that.  Neither side would likely be into the idea. So the point here isn’t to lobby for something that I know isn’t going to happen.  The point is just to illustrate how perfect and what a unique fit Pat Summitt and Arizona are for one another.

Why it should happen:

1.  By hiring Summitt to coach the men’s team at Arizona, the University would be gaining one of the toughest and most experienced coaches in the Country.  A coach who has won more NCAA titles than Bob Knight, Roy Williams, and Jim Calhoun combined.  A coach who will finish this season with over a thousand wins at the Division one level.  A coach who has proven everything there is to prove in women’s basketball and should be ready for the next challenge.

2.  The move makes sense for Summitt because she would be getting the opportunity to coach at one of the premier men’s programs in the country.  A program that has won a national title in the last 15 years.  A program that goes to the NCAA  tournament almost every year (this year: pending).  A program who has lost an icon and needs a coach who has a personality and an ego big enough to step in and make the team their own.  A program with a loyal fanbase that can be rebuilt quickly.  A program in a major conference featuring coaches like Mike Montgomery, Herb Sendek, and Ben Howland (Romar status as a featured coach: pending).

3.  After this season the Wildcats will be searching for a name that will make a splash and gain national recognition.  They will need someone who will not fall under Olson’s shadow and who has a personality sufficient to establish the job as their own.  At the same time, they need a damn good coach.  They will be facing a talent deficiency the likes of which they haven’t seen in years.  They need recruits to come back to Tucson and need a coach who can instill a system that is both exciting to the players and fans.

4.  Summitt almost owes it to herself to take a shot at coaching Mens’ basketball.  She has accomplished all she can in the womens game.  Her legacy is secure.  But, a coach of her stature should not be forced to take some lower tier D1 job just because she is a woman coach.  She is a legend and should only consider an opportunity befitting her status.  It would be unfair to take a mens’ program with zero prestige and ask Summitt to build it up like she did Tennessee.  That stage of her career is over.  She is established amongst the elite.  By taking a job like Zona, Summitt would get the almost perfect situation.  A well established powerhouse that has fallen on hard times and needs to move past Lute Olson.  Everything Summitt did starting next season would be building on the solid infrastructure that already exists.  But because of the unique set of circumstances that has transpired, Summitt would get Arizona at a time when they lack an identity and are in need of her star power to regain their prior stature.

5.  Arizona is a nice state to lead into your retirement years.  Tucson is especially nice.

In short:  This should happen.

Why it won’t happen

1.  I don’t see Arizona stepping out and making such a bold move.  Hiring a (gasp) woman coach to take the helm at their program.  The concerns over whether recruits would come play for Summitt would likely be voiced very loudly, as would those concerns as to whether Summitt’s style of coaching would work at the D1 Mens’ level.  Basically, I believe that the reaction from Arizona fans to this idea would be, “  This is a great idea, but we are Arizona and are above being an experiment regardless of how much star power Pat Summitt has.  We will just get whoever else we want who has already won at the D1 men’s level.”

2.  I’m not sure Summitt is ever going to step up and take the challenge to coach men.  She should.  She really should.  But she stands to lose a little luster on her overall image (not at Tennessee or at the Womens’ level) if she takes a mens’ job and then does not succeed.  At this point in her career, would she risk that?

3.  Summitt probably realizes that at the mens level there is waaay more parity than there is with the women.  Women’s basketball has about 2-4 great teams every year, and then about 10 more that are pretty good.  But the great teams are so much better than everyone else that there is little chance for an upset on any given night.  Take this season for example.  Go look at UConn’s record and what they are doing to people.  It’s sick.   At the mens level, Summitt would have to recast what her notion of “success” was.  She could not realistically expect to be in the final four every year.  Rather, she would need to understand, as would the public at large, that making the NCAA tournament every season, with runs to the sweet 16, elite 8, final four, once every recruiting cycle is pretty damn good.

4.  Prejudice.  Plain and simple.  Summitt is a woman and no woman has ever succeeded as a coach at the men’s level.  I’m not sure if a woman will ever be given the chance to do so.  It’s too bad, because Summitt’s unique blend of attitude and experience would be perfect for Arizona, but it will likely never happen.

Back to this week – Zona won’t have either Lute Olson or Pat Summitt  coaching them when the Huskies come to town.  They are talented, but need to stay out of foul trouble to have a chance against the Dawgs.  If they can do that, it should be a great game.  We’ll see I guess.

If you watched the Arizona v. ASU game last night then you already know what I’m talking about.  If you didn’t, then what you missed out on was one of the worst displays of officiating in college basketball that you could ever hope to see.  It was an absolute disgrace and the outcome of the game was directly affected by it. 

Here’s the set up:  with around 12 seconds left to go in the game, Arizona is trailing by 2 but has the ball on the side, ready to inbound.  The Cats get the ball in and run a high pick and roll between Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill.  PAC 10 official Dave Libbey then jumps into things and calls a ‘moving screen’ on Jordan Hill, even though the replay showed there was basically nothing wrong with the pick (per the announcers, who all agreed it was a pretty good screen).  Hill was set and although he appeared to dip his shoulder a little, in the overall scheme of things, it was nothing.  It would have been a terrible call if it had occurred with 13 minutes left to go in the first half.  As it was, it took the outcome of the game out of the players hands.  The officials did not let them settle it on the court.

But that’s not all… Oh no.  Arizona’s bench, properly indignant with the call, exploded.  Boom!  One of Arizona’s assistant coaches get’s a technical foul.  Game over.  So, the officials made an extremely questionable (or ridiculously bad) call in the final 15 seconds that kept the players from playing out the game, and then cemented the victory for ASU by giving a technical foul to Arizona’s bench.  It was absolutely inexcusable.

This is probably about the 3rd or 4th time already this season that I have brought up the PAC 10 officials (some could call it whining… I’m fine with that).  The reason I just can’t let this go is because night-in and night-out, the PAC 10 officials are embarassing the conference.  There is no consistency.  If you watch Big East or ACC basketball, and let’s face it you have to since it’s usually all that’s on ESPN (in HD even), you see teams settling games based on their abilities.  In the Big East especially, the officiating precedent is pretty consistent: there’s going to be a lot of contact. 

But with the PAC 10 that is not the case.  Generally throughout the course of any 1 game you cannot tell what the officials are doing.  Touch fouls are called early, contact is allowed in the middle portion of the game, and then by the end touch fouls are all the rage again.  Sometimes you will see 4-5 palming violations in a game, sometimes none.  If a bad call is made, a makeup call is an absolute guarantee.  Seriously, on that last point, if you are the beneficiary of a bad call you should either just volunteer to turn the ball over to save a foul, or have one of your players shoot a 30 foot three point attempt and make sure that none of your guys go for the rebound because 9 times out of 10, PAC 10 makeup calls occur before the other team even has a chance to shoot.  Just getting the shot up would be an accomplishment.

Worst of all, in the PAC 10, officials are taking games away from the players.  The outcomes aren’t being determined on the court.  You will never see a better example of that than the Arizona v. ASU game.  I have no idea if Arizona was going to score and tie the game on their final possession, but I would have liked to found out.  And if you are a ASU fan, don’t get too stoked or laugh to loudly about this because it will only be a matter of time until it happens to you.  That foul was called on Jordan Hill.  One of the top 5 players in the conference.  That foul was called on Arizona’s home floor, with Lute Olson sitting up in the stands.  These refs obviously do not give a damn about when and where they call a bad foul or take over a game. 

As a team with designs on a PAC 10 championship, I would argue that ASU fans should be fairly concerned about last night’s game because it provides proof positive that you can have a game end in a absolutely horrific manner.  ASU could lose a really important game (with championship implications) on a whistle like that and then it won’t seem as amusing (in fact, didn’t that happen last year in pretty important game?  Was that cool?  Did that cost you?). 

Let’s put it this way, as a UW fan, what happened last night was great.  ASU is a tournament team and everyone knows it.  UW is likely to be fighting it out with the middle of the conference which means going head to head with teams like USC, Arizona, and Cal for the final few PAC 10 slots in the tourney.  With the loss, Zona goes to 2-5 in the conference and is really struggling.  So I should be happy.  But I see the potential for UW to get hammered like Zona did (and you argue the refs played a huge role in the Cal  game, although I think it was just terrible for both teams) and so I’m worried.  I’d rather it just get settled on the court.  Apparently I’m the only one.

The second week of conference play has come and gone in the PAC 10 with California making a statement with a rare roadtrip sweep of the Washington schools.  Arizona also got off the mat and got two much needed victories but alas, the Oregon Ducks have fallen on hard times and find themselves alone in last place in the conference.

Big Winners:  California, Arizona

California:  The Bears came into the state of Washington and got two big wins, propelling them to first place in the conference.  Getting a few road victories is always key come March and Cal did it’s part this weekend.  The way the Bears won the Husky game was especially impressive.  Down but not out on several occasions, the well coached Bears took advantage when the Huskies couldn’t close them out.  Add in a few gaffes by the Dawgs and the end result was a 3-OT thriller that is sure to increase Cal’s confidence moving forward.  Also of note, Cal’s duo of Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher is as good as any two man combination in the conference.

Arizona: The Wildcats benefitted from having the Oregon schools come to town last week, but took advantage and got back to .500.  There wasn’t anything spectacular in the way that Arizona won either game, and Jordan Hill needs to assert himself as more of a force down low if this team is going to compete with the likes of UCLA, Cal, and ASU, but for now, the Cats did what they had to do and beat up on Oregon State and Oregon.  Now at 2-2, they have climbed back to 5th in the conference. 

Big Losers:  Washington, Oregon

Washington:  Well, the Huskies have no one to blame but themselves.  They were outcoached down the stretch, missed several big free throws that would have iced the game, and ultimately just let Cal hang around until eventually the Bears decided to go ahead and win the game.  The Dawgs were up 10 with 3 minutes to go in the game and couldn’t finish.  They were up 5 in the second OT with 30 seconds left and couldn’t close.  They were up 4 in the 3rd OT and squandered that lead, despite the fact that Cal’s point guard and floor leader had fouled out.  This loss could prove huge for the Huskies.  If they come up a little short in March – all fingers will be pointed to this game.  They now have to bounce back this week or face the prospect of another season where they are close, but just can’t quite get over the hump.

Oregon:  To be fair, the Ducks have started off PAC 10 play with a tough schedule.  The LA schools at home and then a trip to the Desert to play the Arizona schools means that Oregon has likely played 3 of the top 5 teams in the conference so far.  However, you gotta play who’s on the schedule and the Ducks have gotten swept now 2 weeks in a row.  Realistically, for this young team to have a chance in the conference, they needed to get some early momentum.  Falling into a 0-4 hole is really tough when you have so many young players.  There is talent on the team.  Crittle and Dunigan look like they will be good players down low, and Longmire and Garrett Sim seem like they will be legit PAC 10 players in the future as well.  The problem for this Duck team, is that none of these guys is ready to step up and lead the team.  They are too young. 

Tajuan Porter is really the only Duck with the experience to lead, but his style of play is phrenetic and he takes way to many dumb shots to set an example for the others.  It’s not that he doesn’t make some good plays, he does.  I just don’t think you want your floor leader to be molded in the style of play that Porter brings to the table.  He’s a good role player, an ‘instant spark’ kind of a guy.  He’s not the kind of guy who can settle a  team down and get them into good offensive sets, however.  His game is predicated on a certain amount of chaos and he appears most comfortable when bodies are flying around and the game is a race up and down the court.  Unless someone else on this team steps up, the Ducks are going to be out of this thing pretty early.

Biggest Surprise:  Stanford’s 1 point loss to WSU

It’s not that WSU beat Stanford that’s the big surprise.  The Cougs will probably get a couple of good home wins this season.  What is surprising is that the Stanford team that came into Seattle on Thursday was nowhere to be found on Saturday.  Now, a lot of this has to do with WSU’s style of play.  The change in pace from the UW game is going to be something that a lot of teams are going to have to adjust to when they play the Washington schools.  However, the core of Stanford’s team – Johnson, Hill, Goods, and Fields, all played on a Stanford team last year that was very methodical.  This year’s team that runs up and down the court is nothing like the Stanford team of the past few seasons.  These players should not have struggled so much in a slower game.   They did though, and the end result was two very disheartening losses for Stanford this weekend.  First losing to UW by 1 in a game that they probably should have won, and then not showing up in Pullman and getting handed another 1 point defeat to a Cougar team that is not as talented. 

Player of the Week:  Patrick Christopher, Cal

2 weeks of conference play, 2 California Bears win the Player of the Week honors.  Christopher went off this weekend in leading Cal to a 2-0 record against the Washington schools and propelling his team to first place in the conference at 4-0.  He averaged 24.5 points and 6 rebounds per game.  He also managed to play the last 3:51 of regulation and all 3 overtimes against UW with 4 fouls. 

Conference Standings:

One week into PAC 10 hoops and I am reminded how much I love college basketball.  The nonconference season is great, but there is something special about playing conference opponents and having a full slate of conference matchups to watch every week.  Here’s how it panned out in week 1:

Biggest Winners:  Washington, California

Washington: UW only played one game, but it was a big one as the Huskies snapped a 7 game losing streak to WSU and won an all important conference road game in the process.  This game showed both that the Huskies have come a long way since last year’s team, and that WSU may struggle this season.  UW’s defense was superb and WSU could not slow down the Huskies on offense, allowing 68 points (which is a lot by WSU standards). 

This game also has brewed a little controversy courtesy of the Justin Dentmon to Quincy Pondexter slam off the backboard with one minute left to go in the game.  Many WSU fans have deemed it “classless” and the internet message boards have been full of discussion over whether or not the dunk was warranted.  A video of said dunk is below.

 Now, I’m not going to venture an opinion as to whether the dunk makes the Huskies a “Classless” team or not, but I will say that throughout the course of any college basketball game each team does something that is probably not in the best interest of good sportsmanship.  The UW v. WSU game was no exception.  Note that less than a minute before the Pondexter slam, WSU senior Caleb Forrest clearly throws a punch at UW freshman Darnell Gant.   The video is below (look at the bottom of the screen around the 8 second mark).

Both players were given technical fouls on the play, but apparently because they were jawing after the whistle was blown on an unrelated foul.  As I said, I don’t want to get into a lengthy debate about sportsmanship, but I would just say to WSU fans: let the dunk go.  Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but neither is sucker punching a guy from behind.  In fact, I’m pretty sure of the two incidents, the punch is worse.  Let it be. 

Cal:  The new look California Golden Bears got a couple of good wins this weekend against the Arizona schools.  Holding serve at home, new coach Mike Montgomery sent a message that this team is improved and picked up a couple of key wins against schools that it will likely be competing against for the top half of the PAC 10 this season.  The only other PAC 10 team to get 2 wins this weekend was UCLA, who predictably beat the Oregon schools.  I believe that momentum is really important in PAC 10 play and getting a good start is huge.  Cal now has a good start upon which to build.

Biggest Losers:  Arizona, USC

Arizona: The Wildcats came into PAC 10  play and got swept by Cal and Stanford on the road.  While it is difficult to get PAC 10 road victories, this Wildcat team really needed to pick up a victory, especially against a Stanford team that lost by 30 points to ASU two nights earlier.  With all the turmoil that has surrounded the program in the last few years, I really felt like it was important for this team to come out and get some positive energy early in conference play.  Avoid the ‘here we go again’ scenario from dragging the team down.  Now in an 0-2 hole, the Wildcats really need to stop the bleeding and get back on track.  They have the talent to do it. 

USC:  Technically I think anytime you go 1-1 on a conference road trip it is a positive, however, when your loss is to Oregon State, the analysis changes.  Oregon State, you may remember, is the team that went 0-18 in conference play last year.  They are certainly getting better under first year coach Craig Robinson, but they are still woefully deficient on talent and should finish 10th in the PAC 10 this season.  But for whatever reason, USC as an institution just refuses to take Oregon State seriously.  The football didn’t and it cost them a shot at the National Championship (although OSU’s football program is vastly superior to its basketball team) and now the Trojan Basketball team has done the same thing, falling in overtime to the Beavers. 

What really hurts about this loss is that USC’s post season hopes this year were predicated on finishing in the upper echelon of the conference.  They don’t have an amazing nonconference slate to fall back on if they are just average in conference play.  Realistaclly, USC needs to go 10-8, possibly 11-7 in conference play to make the NCAA tournament.  That means winning every home game and still picking up a few road victories as well.  They got one at Oregon, which is good, but letting OSU off the hook could really come back to haunt the Trojans later in the year.

Biggest Surprise of Week 1:   Oregon State’s victory over USC

Just discussed the Beavers big win against USC in the ‘most dissapointing’ category, but it’s worth following up on to talk about how big a win this could be for the OSU program.  OSU not only snapped the ridiculously long PAC 10 losing streak they had been suffering through, but gave their entire program a shot in the arm with the overtime victory over the Trojans. 

The Beavers are playing hard under first year coach Craig Robinson and will look to build off this win in the future.  It was really nice for them to get this win early in conference play, so the pressure to get a PAC 10 win would be released.  Now they can just focus on improving as a squad.

Player of the Week:  Jerome Randle, Cal

Randle averaged 20 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 7.5 assists this weekend against the Arizona schools.  He helped get the Bears off to a 2-0 start.

Standings after week 1: