Although the Pacific-10 conference has always had its share of elite teams and success in the NCAA Tournament, it hasn’t seen this type of competitiveness from its mid- to lower-level teams in years.
This year, the usual conference powerhouses Arizona and Washington continue to have their expected success, UCLA emerged as a national contender after playing in the title game last year and Oregon, Washington State and USC have made their presences known by beating highly-ranked opponents in a conference that should expect to see its fair share of dogfights this season.
“We’ve said every year, the Pac-10 is going to be tough,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said.
Last weekend exemplified the conference’s expected level of competitiveness as the supposed underdogs Oregon and Washington State beat their higher-ranked UCLA and Arizona opponents, while USC beat Oregon two days earlier and remains to be the only unranked team among the five of them.
With that type of balance, it seems like any team is capable of taking off with the conference title.
“We have four teams ranked in the Top 25 and then USC is just hanging on the outside, so we know any team can win on any given night,” junior forward Maarty Leunen said.
“It’s tough from top to bottom,” senior guard Aaron Brooks said. “Every game’s going to be a good game. You can see that from teams that are supposed to be (lower in the conference rankings) are playing really well.”
But is there a reason that every game the conference plays against a ranked opponent has the potential to be an upset?
“The conference is more balanced,” Leunen said. “In the previous years you’ve got UCLA or Arizona having three or four pros on their team, they have the hype and everything. But this year there’s not a big difference between the first and last place team. It’s good for the conference to have respect for every team.”
The top teams should have realized that by now.
“You can tell its tough,” Brooks said. “Washington started 0-3 before they got a win. Just shows how hard the conference is.”
Oregon’s one of the main factors for the Pac-10’s toughness by starting the season 14-1. Although the Ducks struggled the two previous seasons, the other conference teams knew they were capable of being a threat.
“They knew we had the talent but I don’t think they knew we could put it all together,” Brooks said. “I think that’s been the difference – that we’ve put all of our talent together this year instead of all playing like individuals.”
While Oregon’s success has been a surprise to most of the nation, Washington State has seemingly come out of nowhere to threaten the Pac-10’s top-tier teams.
“Washington State’s been a surprise because they haven’t been ranked in the Top 25 since the 1980s,” Leunen said. “But they’ve always played us tough every time we played them so we know they have a good team.”
Kent sees the parallels between his team and the Cougars.
“With Washington State they turned from sophomores to juniors. They’re a year older just like we are,” Kent said. “I think they’ve matured and have got a solid team.”
But with all the teams having success this season, should the Pac-10 be considered among the best conferences in the nation?
“With all the Top 25 teams and a good non-conference record, we definitely have an argument to be considered as one of the best conferences in the nation,” Leunen said.
[email protected]
Pac-10 brings its ‘A’ game in 2007
Daily Emerald
January 9, 2007
0
More to Discover