Just when you thought the Pacific-10 Conference was getting boring or predictable, the league went and slapped you in the face to wake you up.
Stanford, 19-0 before the weekend, beats Southern California, then loses by six to UCLA? Arizona gets destroyed by Oregon, then blows out Oregon State two days later? Oregon loses by 27 at home to Arizona State, previously 1-7 in the Pac-10? California beats UCLA by 29, then loses to USC by 14?
Finally, the Pac-10 is getting interesting to watch, and it should only get more interesting if past seasons are a guide.
Thank heaven for West Coast basketball.

Stanford stunned
Stanford dropped out of the top spot in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll after losing to unranked UCLA Saturday. The Cardinal dropped to second in both polls, while North Carolina — winner of 16 straight games — took over No. 1 in both polls.
Arizona dropped down as well in both rankings after its upset loss at Oregon. The Wildcats are 11th in the AP poll and 10th in the coaches poll. USC is 22nd in the AP poll and 18th in the coaches poll.
UCLA, despite knocking off Stanford, being unbeaten at home this season and owning a 7-2 conference record, couldn’t crack the top-25. The Bruins received 93 votes in the AP poll and six in the coaches poll.

Knight in shining armor
The Bruins’ Billy Knight was a major factor in UCLA’s upset win over Stanford this weekend. Normally a bench warmer, Knight practiced well on Friday at Maples Pavilion and Bruins coach Steve Lavin gave him the start Saturday.
The move paid off for Lavin, as Knight scored a career-high 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. It was Knight’s fifth start of the season.

‘Cats, Bruins still clawing
With UCLA’s upset of Stanford, the Bruins kept themselves and No. 11 Arizona in the hunt for a Pac-10 Championship. Both UCLA and Arizona have two conference losses, while Stanford has one. In the second half of the season, the Cardinal will take on the Wildcats at home and UCLA on the road.
USC and California are not far behind Arizona and UCLA in third place. The Trojans and Bears each have three conference wins.

True Storey
Arizona State’s Awvee Storey earned the Pac-10’s top award for his efforts in wins over Oregon State and Oregon last week. Storey was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after notching a double-double against Oregon and 17 points against Oregon State.
Storey averaged 20 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two wins, which were the first victories for his Sun Devil team in conference play.

Lightin’ the Lamp
California’s Sean Lampley became only the sixth player in Golden Bear history to pass the 1,500-point milestone this weekend.
The senior has 1,571 career points in three-plus seasons at Cal and needs 118 more to pass up Lamond Murray as the program’s all-time leading scorer.

More slices of history pie
With its victory over then-No. 1 Stanford this weekend, UCLA joined an illustrious short-list of squads that have knocked off eight or more top-ranked teams. Only Notre Dame, which has upset nine No. 1 teams, has beaten more than UCLA. Duke also has eight victories over No. 1 teams. North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Ohio State all have seven victories over the nation’s top-ranked team.