We’re getting the feeling that Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball is loaded as it seldom has been loaded in the past decade or more.
Look at the first two weekends of conference games and you’ll find no fewer than six teams that could make the NCAA tournament.
Including – don’t laugh – Washington State.
In case it’s escaped notice, the Cougs are 14-2, are in a four-way tie for the top spot in the Pac-10 at 3-1, are on a three-game winning streak and have RPI-friendly victories over Gonzaga and Arizona.
The Cougs also pushed then-No. 1 UCLA before falling 55-52 at Pauley Pavilion, but came back two nights later and beat USC, another likely tournament team, 58-55.
Watch for the last weekend of the season, the first weekend of March, for the rematch in Pullman.
Oh, yes. Things are changing in the Palouse. Before Saturday, Washington State hadn’t won at home against a team ranked as high as No. 7 Arizona in 24 years, since beating sixth-ranked UCLA in 1983. WSU’s win Saturday was just the second against Arizona in 43 meetings. The Wildcats hadn’t lost in Pullman in 21 years.
The Pac-10 is getting to know 6-foot-7, 216-pound forward Daven Harmeling, who lit up the Wildcats Saturday for 28 points, five rebounds and four assists in a 77-73 overtime victory. He hit seven 3-pointers.
Many have been wondering what the Cougars had to do to crash the national ratings. When asked by reporters about the issue after Saturday’s victory, Harmeling just shrugged.
“We don’t care,” he said. “No one has respected us from the beginning.”
That’s about to change.
WSU is tied with Notre Dame for 22nd in this week’s Associated Press poll, the first Cougar appearance in the top 25 since they crashed the list for one week in February 1983, when George Raveling was head coach and Craig Ehlo was the star.
As usual, the Pac-10 media picked WSU to finish last in the conference. No news there, but it does make 14-2 all that more shocking.
So, is first-year coach Tony Bennett a genius, or what?
“We’ve had different guys step up at different times,” Bennett said to reporters Monday. “We have mostly juniors and sophomores, and they’re kids who have taken their lumps and have some legitimate game experience with some heartbreaking losses and some bad losses.
“It’s a start, and that’s all it is. We’re in the No. 1-ranked conference in the country and we have 14 games to go.”
WSU’s upset of Arizona Saturday capped a wild weekend in the conference, in which Oregon knocked off then-No. 1 UCLA, two days after falling to USC. Washington, an absurdly young team whose potential and talent is seemingly unlimited, got its first Pac-10 victory Saturday with a victory over Arizona State, but fell out of the AP rankings after losing its first three conference games of the season.
No crime there, when a team that usually starts three freshmen and two sophomores loses to UCLA, USC and Arizona.
So, just two weeks into the conference season, no Pac-10 team is undefeated in league play. Get used to it.
UCLA, USC, Arizona, Washington, Washington State and Oregon figure to stage a memorable battle for the top spot in the Pac-10. Along the way, each will pin multiple losses on the other, which will both sully win/loss records and damage RPI numbers.
For the sake of the Pac-10, we hope the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee takes that under consideration come March. Otherwise, a lot of teams deserving to be in The Dance will have to settle for the NIT.
“Tonight is typical of what you can expect in the league this year,” Arizona coach Lute Olson told reporters after losing to WSU. “There are so many teams that are evenly matched.”
Including, to the surprise of most everybody, Washington State.
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