Watch out. This league is explosive.
Like a runaway train, the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball teams are collectively heading down the track toward the conference tournament, and many Pac-10 coaches see this as a time to reflect on the sheer madness that was the regular season.
“It’s a dynamite league,” California head coach Ben Braun said. “Now is a great time to showcase your league and, in a sense, celebrate the league.”
Cal will be “celebrating” by playing UCLA on Thursday in the first round of the conference tournament. The matchup is one of many scintillating first-round contests that also include Arizona against Arizona State, USC against Stanford and Oregon against Northwest rival Washington.
The first conference tournament in 12 years should be an exclamation point on a regular season that was highly competitive. Six of the top eight teams in the Pac-10 Tournament finished the regular season separated by only three games.
“The way this conference has played out this year, I wouldn’t expect anything but tough competition in the tournament,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said.
Those top six teams — Oregon, Cal, USC, Stanford, Arizona and UCLA — should all be headed to the NCAA Tournament, no matter what happens in the conference tournament. But two teams, Arizona State and Washington, will be trying to win it all and earn the conference’s automatic bid that goes to the tournament champion.
No. 1-seed Oregon plays No. 8 Washington at 1 p.m. Thursday on Fox Sports Net. The Huskies, led by Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year Doug Wrenn, defeated the Ducks in Seattle, 97-92, on Jan. 24 and played well at McArthur Court two weeks ago in a loss.
Arizona State could be the surprise of the weekend. The Sun Devils have beaten Oregon, Arizona and UCLA this season.
“ASU is in a position to win it all,” Olson said of his cross-state rivals. “They have the depth where they can go for three straight days.”
But don’t talk to the Devils about beating the tough Pac-10 field. On its official Web site, the Arizona State athletic
department is already allowing fans to pre-purchase tickets for the National Invitation Tournament, assuming the Sun Devils lose in the Pac-10 Tournament and host a first-round NIT game.

Another Lute Toot
With the tournament now approaching, Olson is still not in favor of the conference tournament, which he has been vocally opposed to since it was announced last year.
“I have two objections to it,” the Arizona coach said. “We’ve been beating up on one another for 18 games, and it makes no sense to me for whoever makes the final to play three extra games.
“The worst part about it is from an academic standpoint, I detest that the players have to miss three days of school at a very critical time.”
But don’t expect Olson to play down the importance of winning the conference tournament to
his team.
“When you’re in a game, you’re in a game to win it,” Olson said. “Once you’re there, you’re going to compete.”
Stanford’s Mike Montgomery, who has been alongside Olson as an opponent to the tournament, also spoke out earlier this week. Montgomery said he feels that the Pac-10 Tournament is essentially meaningless.
“The conference tournament title has nothing to do with seeding, only with the automatic bid,” Montgomery said. “The conference tournament champion is just that, the conference tournament champion. Everybody wants to win it, but give me 18 games to determine a real champion.”

Borch Art
Stanford junior center Curtis Borchardt led Stanford to a sweep of the Arizona schools on the road last weekend, and he was rewarded with Pac-10 Player of the
Week honors.
Borchardt averaged 23.5 points and 13 rebounds over a weekend that saw Stanford beat Arizona 76-71 on Thursday and Arizona State 81-76 on Saturday. The two wins revived a Cardinal team that could have been heading to the NIT had they not won both contests.