Remember what those crazy Pacific-10 Conference football standings looked like in the fall with less than one month to play in the regular season?
Oregon, Washington and Washington State all shared first-place on Nov. 5 with UCLA and Stanford breathing down their necks.
Anything could have happened at that point with the Ducks not knowing whether they’d be playing their bowl game in Tempe, Ariz., San Diego, Seattle or even Las Vegas.
But Oregon survived a trip to UCLA and a wet Civil War to claim a berth in the Fiesta Bowl as sole possessors of first place.
Now, it’s the Oregon men’s basketball team’s turn to see if it can do the same.
The Pac-10 standings are again muddled with the top six men’s hoops teams separated by just a game-and-a-half.
Oregon’s grip on first place finally slipped after its two overtime defeats in the Bay Area, and Arizona jumped to the top spot after sweeping the Washington schools. The Ducks are in second by themselves, but California, Stanford, USC and UCLA are all tied for third a half-game back from Oregon.
“We’re playing in a great conference, and I don’t think it’s surprising that we have six teams competing for the top spot,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “It’s just remarkable how much parity there is this year.”
Like football, anything can happen in the final month of this wild
Pac-10 race.
While Oregon gets to rest on Valentine’s Day and prepare for Saturday’s Civil War, the rest of the eight teams will all be going head-to-head.
The series that will probably have the most impact on the standings this week are the Arizona schools visiting Los Angeles. The Wildcats are hot after doing what the Ducks couldn’t — beating Stanford and Cal on the road — and then following that up by taking care of the Washington schools at home.
Thursday night, they’ll need to be ready for a fired up UCLA team that is coming off a 58-57 loss at Villanova. The Bruins will be out to avenge their 96-86 defeat at Arizona on Jan. 18 in a game they once led by 20.
“There’s no question that they really let this one here get away,” Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. “I am sure they are excited about us coming in. They are very good when they want to be good.”

Sound familiar?
A few days after losing at UCLA, 67-65, on Feb. 6, USC point guard Brandon Granville was still frustrated with his team’s inability to win the close game.
The Trojans had been tied for first place with Oregon, but dropped down after losing at McArthur Court, 73-69, on Feb. 2. Also, they had lost at Cal on Jan. 24 in a 92-91 overtime thriller.
“I hope we don’t dwell on it and we can get past it,” Granville told The Los Angeles Times. “None of us have really been in this situation before, so close in three games. It’s like, with those games (as wins), we’d be 19-3 and top-10 in the nation.
“We’re just concentrating on buckling down those last minutes of the game, really concentrate on putting all your energy and focus on coming out with the victory.”

Bracketology
During their Tuesday morning teleconferences with reporters, the coaches of the top six teams in the Pac-10 standings all agreed that, at this time, all six teams deserve to be invited to the NCAA Tournament.
“If they chose the teams today, I’d feel very confident that those six teams would be in,” Braun said.
ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi agreed, as all six teams showed up in his weekly “Bracketology,” where he predicts the entire field of the Big Dance.
Despite losing twice over the weekend, the Ducks stayed a projected fifth seed, but moved to the bracket in Albuquerque, N.M.
Oregon is projected to play 12th-seed Mississippi State on March 14.
Selection Sunday is less than a month away.