Today's Look At Pac-10 Hoops

The Pac-10 has often been mocked by college basketball fans outside the region in recent years. That perception has changed this season, even though conference leader UCLA (without starter Darren Collison) lost at West Virginia on Saturday. Here’s how the Pac-10 shapes up after this past weekend’s games.


UCLA: 10-2 Conference, 21-3 Overall: Guard Aaron Afflalo looks to lead the Bruins back to the Final Four. The NBA will ultimately be perfect for him: his initials are AA, and the refs let you take 12 steps.

Washington State: 10-3, 21-4: In coach Tony Bennett’s initial season after taking over for father Dick, the Cougars have won 20 games for the first time since 1993-94. Reached for comment, Tony remarked, “Dad was a real slack-ass.”

USC: 8-4, 18-7: O.J. Mayo will make the Trojans even better next year, but the prized recruit just received a three-game suspension. Reggie Bush must be involved somehow.

Oregon: 8-5, 20-5: Guard Aaron Brooks might win the Pac-10 player of the year award. Still, a confused Randy Moss blasted Brooks for not getting him the ball.

Arizona: 8-5, 17-7: After a win in Eugene, the Wildcats’ 23rd consecutive NCAA tournament bid appears safe. They’re as much of a March fixture as sloppy drunks wearing “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” buttons.

Stanford: 7-5, 15-8: The Cardinal has been boosted by freshman twins Brook and Robin Lopez. Too bad they don’t play for Arizona, where they’d be the Lute Olson Twins.

Washington: 6-7, 16-8: U-Dub still faces an uphill climb to return to the NCAA tournament. But inspiration will come from former Huskie Nate Robinson’s credo at the NBA Slam-Dunk Contest: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try again.”

California: 4-8, 12-12: The Bears have lost six in a row. Fans are blaming Rex Grossman.

Oregon State: 2-11, 10-16: The Pac-10 tournament used to exclude the bottom two teams. But could you imagine this event without the Beavers? Yeah, I could too.

Arizona State: 0-13, 6-18: Although coach Herb Sendek left NC State, his current team represents what most ACC fans would love to see: the Devils in last place.


Pac-10 commissioner Thomas Hansen is confident that the league will make him proud in March. If nothing else, he already gets points for accuracy. Unlike the Big Ten and Atlantic 10, the Pac-10 actually has 10 teams.

Pac-10 Coaches Seek To Eliminate Second Half

According to reports from Tempe, 8 head football coaches from the Pac-10 are lobbying to cancel the second half from conference matchups.  The coaches contend that playing an entire game unfairly benefits USC and is harmful to the competitive balance of the league.

 

In each of its past two contests, USC has trailed a conference foe at halftime, only to dominate the second half and emerge victorious.  Last week Oregon led the Trojans 13–10 after 30 minutes, but the Ducks were outscored 35–0 the rest of the way.  Today USC seemed in serious danger, trailing Arizona State 21–3 at halftime.  However, once again the Trojans put up 35 in the second half, triumphing by a 38–28 margin.  In total, the two-time defending national champions have outscored opponents 140–28 in the second half this season.

 

This situation does not sit well with rival coaches.  “The system is completely biased towards Southern Cal,” fumed the leader of one Pac-10 program.  “They have so many great football players and are so much deeper than anyone else, it’s completely unfair that they get to play a whole football game.”  Added another coach, “Why are they so afraid to play only the first half?  All that playing another half accomplishes is to wreck our football players’ self-esteem.  Are you proud of yourself, Pete Carroll?”

 

California’s Jeff Tedford is the lone dissenter among USC’s foes.  He referenced Cal’s victory over the Trojans in 2003, as well as a close call last year.  “I think we can beat them in a 60–minute game,” proclaimed Tedford.  A reporter responded, “C’mon, seriously!”  To which Tedford replied, “Yeah, really!”  The reporter added, “Dude, quit messin’ with me.”  The exchange continued for another five minutes with no further progress.

 

The angry coaches are hopeful not only that the measure will be passed, but that it will be applied retroactively.  Under that scenario, USC would be 2–2 and effectively eliminated from the national title chase.  Hearing this news, Mack Brown, Frank Beamer, and Bobby Bowden immediately announced their support for the proposal.

 

USC head coach Pete Carroll remains unfazed by the development, stressing that this week’s practices will assume that the entire 60 minutes will be played in the upcoming Arizona game.  Whatever the outcome of the measure is, the following week’s contest at Notre Dame will be unaffected as the proposal only applies to conference games.  Knowing this fact, Irish head coach Charlie Weis is hoping that Joe Montana, Rocket Ismail, and Paul Hornung in their primes will be available on October 15.

 

The controversy is certain to be the central story in USC’s remaining Pac-10 matchups.  It remains to be seen whether the resulting debate lasts for 30 or 60 minutes.