Underage drinking, emotional speeches and shaken-up lineups mean that Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball fans have been watching newspapers more closely than basketball courts recently.
After all, most of the Pac-10’s action took place in the league’s locker rooms last week.
Washington State coach Paul Graham suspended six players and, subsequently, the Cougars lost to Oregon by 15. The Ducks shook up their lineup after losing three straight and then dispatched the Cougars.
Stanford took another step towards a perfect season by playing balanced basketball against California and New Mexico.
Lute Olson returned to coach his Arizona team to victories over UCLA and Southern California, and Wildcat point guard Gilbert Arenas earned Pac-10 player of the week honors to cap Arizona’s return to dominance.
94 bottles of …
When Washington State came out onto McArthur Court for warm-ups before Saturday’s 81-66 loss to Oregon, Duck fans thought the budget might be running low in Pullman. After all, the Cougars only suited up seven players for the game.
In actuality, WSU coach Paul Graham suspended six team members — including his own son — for staying out at the Rock N’ Rodeo bar in Eugene Friday night. Three of the players were underage, and all were out past the coach’s curfew.
Graham told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the team will reconsider the suspensions before the Cougars take on California and Stanford in Pullman this weekend.
Lute … Skywalker?
The force was with Arizona coach Lute Olson in his return to the McKale Center last weekend. Less than a month after his wife Bobbi died from ovarian cancer, Olson tried to steer his emotionally-charged team back onto the path to respectability.
Oregon State senior guard Deaundra Tanner helped lead the Beavers to solid
back-to-back victories against Washington and Washington State last weekend.
It wasn’t easy for the Wildcats. Arizona crushed then-No. 24 USC 71-58 Thursday night, but trailed UCLA 43-35 heading into halftime of Saturday’s game. Whatever Olson said at the half worked, as Arizona outscored UCLA 55-22 in the second frame to win 88-63.
“We’re back in the mix,” Olson told the Tucson Citizen. “It was a good weekend for us.”
It’s possible to replace “We’re” with “I’m” and “us” with “me” in those sentences, as the coach finally returned to his second love behind his departed wife.
Beaver sightings
in the Northwest
Oregon State pulled off something that in-state rival Oregon failed to do this past weekend: It beat Washington and Washington State.
Not only that, but the Beavers — who were trounced by the Ducks 84-66 in their Pac-10 opener — managed to beat the Washington schools by a combined 12 points in Corvallis. Looks like Oregon State got the best of the weekend’s Northwest love-fest.
