Parity expected in PAC-10 conference

Pacific-10 won't be a runaway, says UCLA head coach

By Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

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Close the book on first-semester basketball. Tip your cap to the "Tip Off" classic.

The Pacific-10 Conference season opens today with everyone tied at 0-0 and some preconceived notions getting seriously tested.

Maybe UCLA isn't going to dominate, maybe Arizona without Lute Olson isn't going to go gentle into the desert night, maybe USC freshman DeMar DeRozan isn't all that yet, maybe Oregon State won't go 0-18 again.

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SIZING UP THE PAC

A look at the conference race based on the nonconference records:
- Stanford (10-0)
  Opening Pac act: host Arizona State (today) and Arizona (Sunday).
  Comment: People focused on what Stanford lost (the Lopez twins) and forgot the three quality seniors Johnny Dawkins inherited: Mitch Johnson, Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill.
- Arizona State (11-1)
  Opening Pac act: at Stanford (today) and Cal.
  Comment: Holding firm at its preseason prediction position while boasting the conference's best player in sophomore guard James Harden.
- Cal (11-2)
  Opening Pac act: host Arizona (today, 5:30 p.m., CSNC)and Arizona State (Sunday).
  Comment: Montgomery is already proving why he was one of the nation's best coaches in his 18 seasons at Stanford.
- UCLA (10-2)
  Opening Pac act: at Oregon (today) and Oregon (Sunday).
  Comment: Program is oiled enough under Howland to lose three top picks to the NBA (Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) and still be favored to win the league title. Bruins are undersized in the post and are going to see a lot of zone defenses.
- Arizona (9-3)
  Opening Pac act: at Cal (today) and Stanford (Sunday).
  Comment: A program left stranded after Lute Olson's abrupt retirement is holding tough, led by able veterans Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Nic Wise. Can these guys ride the Wildcats to a 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance?
- USC (9-3)
  Opening Pac act: at Oregon (today) and Oregon State (Sunday).
  Comment: Much-hyped freshman star DeMar DeRozan got off to a slow start but has scored 18, 17 and 18 points in the Trojans' last three wins over North Dakota State, Georgia Tech and Oral Roberts. USC could be really good in a month.
- Washington (9-3)
  Opening Pac act: at Washington State on Saturday.
  Comment: ESPN basketball expert Andy Katz called Washington the conference's most disappointing team in preseason, but the Huskies, led by senior forward Jon Brockman, are expected to go ahead and play out the schedule.
- Washington State (8-4)
  Opening Pac act: host Washington on Saturday.
  Comment: The Cougars definitely are down a notch after losing top-notch backcourt players Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, yet the team's methodical style of play and tenacity on defense will keep it in most games.
- Oregon (6-6)
  Opening Pac act: host USC (today) and UCLA (Sunday).
- Oregon State (5-5)
  Opening Pac act: host UCLA (today) and USC (Sunday).
  Comment: Oregon State appears improved, but now comes the real test. The Beavers were 6-7 entering Pac-10 play last season before losing all 18 league games.

Maybe the league is down after losing seven players to the NBA's first round, maybe it won't get six NCAA bids again and maybe UCLA is still the team to beat.

But maybe the Pac-10 is going to be better and closer and tougher than we thought. Last season, UCLA won the regular-season title with a record of 16-2.

This year?

"I'd be surprised if the winner was better than 14-4 or even 13-5," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.

UCLA lost a lot of long arms and long legs, but no one's waving a sympathy towel. "I'd like to have UCLA's problems," first-year Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.

As of today, though, the preseason media poll looks like an airball.

Bay Area rivals Cal and Stanford, picked to finish eighth and ninth in the Pac-10, begin conference play a combined 21-2. Stanford is 10-0. Cal is 11-2.

"Mike is sandbagging people up there," USC coach Tim Floyd joked of Montgomery's Bears.

Stanford got shorter when it lost the towering Lopez twins, but new coach Johnny Dawkins now has the Cardinal playing faster.

"It coincided with the fact you don't have the bigs that were here," Dawkins said. "So it kind of fell that way for us."

Stanford is averaging nearly 80 points per game after a 111-66 victory over a Texas Tech team still coached by a Knight (Pat).

Arizona State, projected to challenge UCLA for this season's title, did not earn many early-season compliments from its coach, Herb Sendek. "I think our team has a hell of a lot of work to do, to be honest with you," Sendek said.

Soon after he spoke, the Sun Devils got to work and made a school-record 17 3-point shots in a 90-55 victory over Idaho State.

First-year Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, brother-in-law of the president-elect Barack Obama, has introduced big words and fresh ideas to a sad-sack program.

The Beavers snapped a 25-game losing streak against Fresno State and carry a four-game winning streak into the conference home opener against UCLA.

"There's a plethora of behaviors that you have to learn, and that's what we're trying to do," Robinson said. "We're following the template, start at bottom. Not quite John Wooden telling them how to tie their shoes, but certainly sort of how to go about behaving at practice and in games and things of that nature."

Arizona's record of 24 consecutive NCAA tournament bids was thought to be in serious jeopardy when Olson abruptly resigned before the season and left the program in the hands of an interim, Russ Pennell.

The Wildcats, though, had enough front-line talent to hand Gonzaga its first loss, while also scoring a big win over Kansas.