SEATTLE – Sports Illustrated predicts that just two Pacific-10 Conference men’s teams will get NCAA bids. Other publications have been just as pessimistic.
Between rocky preseason results that make lasting impressions in some circles and the fact that the Pac-10 is as wild and competitive as its ever been, the bottom line – records – won’t attract as many looks as coaches would like.
“The league is at a higher level than has been given credit by the so-called experts,” Washington State coach Dick Bennett said. “I think there are a number of teams that can be competitive in the NCAA Tournament. I would like to see four or five of our teams get serious consideration.”
Two NCAA bids would be the fewest the Pac-10 has earned since the 1987-88 season, when Arizona and Oregon State went. Arizona went to the Final Four that year, but lost in the semifinals.
Besides top-ranked Stanford (21-0) and Arizona (16-6), it’s difficult to see which teams Bennett is referring to. None of the other Pac-10 teams with winning records – Oregon (12-7), Cal (11-10) or Washington (12-9) – will knock anyone’s socks off. Nor does it seem that those teams have room to lose even one more game the rest of the season, including in the Pac-10 Tournament, if they want to get even a sniff of consideration.
In a league where cellar-dwelling Arizona State can come within one point of beating Stanford, Cal came come within two points of beating second-ranked, unbeaten St. Joseph’s and surprising Washington State can sweep the Los Angeles schools on the road, no win or loss is a lock.
To the outside, however, the Pac-10 is simply bad. The two main conference power raters, Sagarin and The RPI report, rank the league eighth and ninth, respectively, among the nation’s conferences.
Much of that is because of dismal showings in preseason, non-conference games. Just a few examples:
Portland beat Oregon State. Cal Poly beat USC. UC Santa Barbara beat UCLA. Wyoming and Houston beat Washington.
The result: Less impressive records going into the conference season. Then, during the conference season, most teams (save for Stanford) take a hit.
“I said from the get-go that people weren’t going to give our conference respect,” Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery said. “Our issue is that teams come into the conference race with less than stellar records. As a result of that, there’s the assumption is that they’re not very good. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“If you look at the ACC or some of the other leagues, a lot of those teams go into the conference season 10-1 or 9-2. So when you start doing that and they start beating each other, the assumption is that they beat a good team because they’re 15-6.”
Washington’s scheduling dynamics: UCLA coach Ben Howland howled when his team had to travel to St. John’s for a game Jan. 31. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, whose team travels to North Carolina State for a nationally televised game Sunday, looks at the positives.
“It’s a game we felt would help us with exposure,” Romar said. “Yes, the travel is going to be very taxing, but we felt that it was something that would be very helpful for us.”
The Fox Network approached Washington about playing a home-and-home series against N.C. State, which knocked off then-No. 1 Duke 78-74 Saturday and is ranked 13th.
The Wolfpack will come to Seattle season, probably in December.
The timing of the North Carolina St. game would appear wrought with pratfalls.
Romar is taking a team across the country in the middle of a Pac-10 race in which the Huskies could finish as high as second. With such a high-profile team on the horizon, it’s possible that a young team such as the Huskies could overlook their Pac-10 game Thursday against Washington State.
Not only that, but the Huskies’ opponent after N.C. State is Arizona, on Feb. 26 in Tucson – never a successful venue for Washington. So how much is the risk of overlooking Washington State and how realistic is the possibility of having dead legs for Arizona, all in the name of exposure.
“If it were me, I’d not be in favor of it,” Bennett said. “I think Washington will compete well against them. They can match their quickness. But, no, I’m not a fan of it. If I had a bye or a weekend off that this stage of the season, I’d prefer to take it.”
Brooks not ready: Olson said he thought Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks would be back Thursday from his broken wrist to play the Wildcats, but that might not be the case.
Ducks assistant coach Scott Duncan said Brooks, a freshman from Franklin High School, still is doing conditioning drills and dribbling just a little with his right hand.
“He’s not doing any shooting or any contact,” Duncan said.
Brooks has been on the shelf since he broke the wrist Jan. 4 against UCLA.
Tip-ins: Arizona forward Andre Iguodala collected his third triple-double of the season Saturday against UCLA, scoring 14 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. Only Cal’s Jason Kidd, who had four triple-doubles in 1993-94, had more in one season among Pac-10 players … Cal is 4-5 in games decided by five points or fewer but has won three of its last four decided by that margin … In his last three games, Stanford center Rob Little is 21-for-29 from the floor (72.4 percent) … Washington’s Mike Jensen leads the conference in 3-point shooting percentage, burying half of his 28 attempts.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
