Your obligatory Pac 10 primer
by Nick Fasulo on Oct 26, 2009 8:54 AM EDT
4 comments
With all the familiar faces that were part of three consecutive Final Four trips from 2006-2008, the UCLA Renaissance Era currently sits in flux and Pac 10 supremacy is now up for grabs.
Who wants it? California has a quartet of seniors looking to grab the first conference title for the Golden Bears since 1960 - way back when Pete Newell was the face of the program. They're nice, and one of the more intriguing teams given their expectations coupled with their mediocre status for so long. Washington boasts one of the country's most likable players ironically named after one of the most evil figures in basketball. How far can 5'8" Isaiah Thomas take the Huskies? Lorenzo Romar's bunch are guard heavy but its a nice mix of youth and experience.
One other shift in the conference landscape are three new coaches manning the sidelines. Two, Sean Miller of Arizona and Kevin O'Neill of USC (Ken Bone of Wazzu is the third) are huge additions, for better or worse, and could serve as moves that significantly alter the identity of their respective programs for quite a long time.
With all that, it probably doesn't need to be argued that this is the worst of the six BCS conferences this season.
Our breakdown is after the jump
Tourney teams (in order of conference finish):
- California
- Washington
- Arizona
- Oregon State (perched directly on the bubble)
All-Conference Team:
- Isaiah Thomas, Washington
- Nic Wise, Arizona
- Jerome Randle, Cal
- Patrick Christopher, Cal
- Klay Thompson, Washington State
Most overrated - This conference. Problems at Arizona.
Most underrated - UCLA's thin, young and precarious roster. Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson.
Notable non-conference match-ups:
- 11/19 - Cal vs. Syracuse
- 12/22 - Cal @ Kansas
- 12/12 - Washington @ Georgetown
- 12/28 - BYU @ Arizona
Five story lines to keep tabs on:
- Arizona. Will their current streak of 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, second longest of all time, be snapped?
- UCLA's youth. Does anyone in their recruiting class emerge as a viable and consistent scoring threat?
- Patrick Christopher. Is he the league's best player? Or does the pesky sophomore Isaiah Thomas snag that title.
- Stanford. How long will Johnny Dawkins' leash be?
- President Barack Obama. How often does he plug the Oregon State basketball program?
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Nits to pick
1. It’s Ken Bone.
2. You really think Arizona is the third best team in the conference? Holy cow, I just don’t see that. You must think Sean Miller is some kind of crazy shaman miracle worker.
3. The answer on the league’s best player is neither Christopher nor Thomas. It’s Randle. Christopher is too enigmatic; Thomas is an inefficient offensive player and too much of a defensive liability. Randle is the best player in the country nobody’s ever heard of.
4. I can’t believe you don’t have UCLA in the top four. Ben Howland gets a high school team into the top half of this conference this year. They’ll be no worse than third.
5. Agree that you’ve picked the five best players in the conference for your team (although Quincy Pondexter might disagree); however, what the heck does that say about the quality of big men in the Pac-10 this year? Sheesh.
6. I’m pretty sure Craig Robinson is no longer underrated, at least not out here on the West Coast, given all the gushing that took place last year. Did you know that Barack Obama is his brother in law?
7. You’re right — this is probably the worst the Pac-10 has been in a long time. Which gives me hope for my Cougs.
man that’s a lot of nits. i think this is where a bit of an east coast bias comes into play on my part.
ill hold firm on UCLA. nothing jumps out at me.
it bothers me too when you have a “first team” full of guards, but that’s how it’s playing out.
randle, christopher. gold jacket, green jacket. it’s all relative.
that is all
Well, they weren't all nits
You get major bonus points in my book for even knowing who Klay Thompson is, let alone putting him on your first team. I think he’s honestly got an outside shot at winning Pac-10 player of the year for two reasons: 1) For the first time in forever, there just isn’t a transcendent talent in the conference; 2) He’s going to take an assload of shots for a team that needs him to carry it. While his O-Rating is probably going to take an enormous hit, he’ll likely put up shiny point per game numbers that the media loves so much.
by Jeff Nusser on Oct 26, 2009 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm a Cal fan
But no way they win the conference. Washington is the best team in the Pac-10 this year. Even Monty wants everyone to cool down on the expectations.
FIRE BRUCE BOCHY NOW!!!!!!
AND TAKE BRIAN SABEAN WITH HIM!!!!!
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