College Basketball - Part 4

The 4th best conference in college basketball in my opinion this year is the PAC-10. This conference has at least 4 or 5 tourney teams with a couple more that have a legitimate shot at making it.

The thing that highlights this conference right now is UCLA is going for its 4th conference championship in a row. That hasn't been done since the late '80's early 90's when Sean Elliot played for Arizona.

The other thing is the coaches. I will be able to mention the name of every coach in this league and you will recognize the name for some reason. Almost every one of those reasons will be good.

This conference also features a few potential All-Americans along with potentially the freshman of the year in the country.

So here we go!

10. Oregon State Beavers - Craig Robinson. Ok, his name isn't very recognizable but he did win 19 games at Brown last year which seems pretty good. Oh, and he is Barack Obama's Brother-in-law. There isn't much to talk about with his team though. They were 6-25 overall and were 0-18 in the conference and I don't really see this season being much better in Corvallis. It may not get better for awhile either because there are no freshmen on the team. A few sophomores but more or less its seniors and juniors. Mr. Robinson, good luck!

9. Oregon Ducks - Ernie Kent. 2 years ago Oregon won 29 games and made it to the elite eight. That was probably Ernie's best team but this year, if this team does anything, will be his best coaching job. This team lost 60% of its scoring from last year and that's bad news for Ernie as he is rumored to be the coach on the hot seat in the PAC-10 this year. The roster in Eugene this year is made up of 7 freshmen and 5 upper-classman. Warranted or not, Ernie Kent is going to have to do a heck of a job to keep his job with the Ducks.

8. Stanford Cardinal - Johnny Dawkins. He was a star at Duke and became an assistant under coach K. This is his first year as a head coach but after learning from one of the best everything is going to be easy as pie, right? Not so fast, my friend. Lopez boys are both now playing in the NBA this team will have to rely on its backcourt to carry the load. They have 3 very solid players in Mitch Johnson, Lawrence Hill and Anthony Goods. But other then that not much. If those 3 players play like they are capable this could be a very respectable team, if they don't Dawkins' first season is going to be a long one.

7. California Golden Bears - Mike Montgomery. I know the people at Stanford remember this name because he was there for 18 years and won plenty of conference titles there. The people in the NBA might not remember him as well because after a season or two with Golden State he is back in college. At Stanford, he was great at getting his teams to overachieve. He is going to have to rely on this skill again. This team lost Ryan Anderson who was their main scoring option from last year. This is another team this year that will rely heavily on its backcourt and more specifically, Patrick Chistopher who is one of the better players in the conference.

6. Washington State Cougars - Tony Bennett. This is the guy you might have heard the least about so far. I think the appearance by this team in the regional semi's of last year's tournament really solidifies Bennett as a solid coach however. The huge problem Bennett faces this year however, is that he lost 3 of his top 5 players from last year. That's not easy for any coach to overcome. The expectations for this team should not be as high as last year. Taylor Rochestie is the best player they have coming back and could be the number 2 or 3 point guard in the conference. Another bid to the tourney would be a great season for this team.

5. Washington Huskies - Lorenzo Romar. I know this is a stretch here but 4 years ago this team won 29 games, was a number 1 seed in the tournament and made it to the sweet sixteen. The problem is that it was 4 years ago and Romar had Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy at the time. Not much has come from Seattle since then. 2006 produced 26 wins but since then 19 and 16. Not a good trend. Everything will have to fall into place for this team to make it back to 26. 19 seems a bit more realistic. They do have Jon Brockman who is a dominant force on the inside. He will help them win a few games with his scoring and rebounding but this is another team who will do well to make it into the tournament.

4. Arizona Wildcats - Not Lute Olsen. All signs pointed to the legend coming back, but a health set back made Lute retire. Now they have an interim coach in Russ Pennell. I don't know anything about this guy but he was an assistant under Olsen so at least he knows the players. Chase Buddinger is one of those players and a great one at that. They also have Jordan Hill who is darn good on the inside. A lot of people are picking this team to under-perform but I can see this being the team that surprises a lot of people in the PAC-10 and could very easily finish higher then this.

3. Arizona State Sun Devils - Herb Sendek. This is coach Sendek's third season at Arizona State after left NC State where he did a great job for many seasons. This team went from 8 wins in Sendek's first season to 21 last year which may be his best coaching job ever. They lost in the quarterfinals of the NIT to Florida which may turn into a quarterfinal spot in the NCAA's this year. James Harden is a potential All-American in the backcourt for the Sun Devil's who have a real chance at making a lot of noise in the PAC-1o as well as nationally this year.

2. USC Trojans - Tim Floyd. Floyd took an Iowa State team deep into the tournament and then went to Chicago where he failed miserably. The college game is where he is at his best and he is obviously a great recruiter. OJ Mayo is now in the NBA but was the best recruit before last season and this year he has DeMar DeRozan who is potentially the best recruit in this years class. This team has three returning good players in the frontcourt and with the addition of DeRozan to an already solid and experienced lineup this team could be better then last years which had a first round exit in the NCAA's.

1. UCLA Bruins - Ben Howland. Two straight final fours. Three straight PAC-10 titles. I don't really think I have to say much more about Mr. Howland. He has a stronghold on this conference and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I am not sure however, that the final four is likely again. Losing Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute really hurts. Darren Collison may be the best point guard in the country still but that is a lot of talent to overcome. They also still have Josh Shipp who is a darn good wing player. The do have three solid freshmen coming in highlighted by Jrue Holiday. This kid will be special. They already have a loss to Michigan this year which again is scary. This team will still go deep into March but its going to be interesting to see how deep.

That's the PAC-10 this year. Check back tomorrow to see who comes in at number 3.