In this marathon of a Pacific-10 Conference season, two runners are separating from the pack as the season’s midpoint nears.
Arizona.
And … California?
In recent years, the Golden Bears have fielded stars like Sean Lampley and Jamal Sampson, but it took a rag-tag bunch of semi-stars to turn Cal into a true Pac-10 title contender. Led by Joe Shipp and Amit Tamir, the No. 20 Bears have gone undefeated in Pac-10 play thus far, and are tied with Arizona atop the conference standings.
Of course, Cal hasn’t played the tough Arizona schools yet — Arizona is No. 1 in the nation while Arizona State is tied for fourth in the Pac-10 — and the Bears will make the trip to the desert this weekend. But even if Cal loses both games in Arizona, the Bears will hold second place in the conference at midseason.
“I didn’t want the players listening to what everybody else was saying,” California head coach Ben Braun told the San Francisco Chronicle about preseason criticism. “Sometimes, if you hear something often enough, you start to think that’s who you are. Everybody starts talking about who’s coming in next year and your team just gives up on the season. I didn’t want that happening.”
Shipp is the Pac-10’s leading scorer, averaging 20.8 points per game, while Tamir is fifth in the conference in rebounding.
Cal’s clash with Arizona on Saturday will be broadcast nationally by Fox Sports Net, with tipoff set for 4 p.m. Pacific Time.

Wild man, really wild
It’s like beating a dead horse that’s already been beaten, then beaten again.
But damn, Arizona is good.
The Wildcats proved just how good they are by coming back from a huge deficit — 20 points, to be exact — and shocked then-No. 6 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Arizona, which has made a habit of ending home winning streaks this season, ended Kansas’ 25-game win streak at Allen Fieldhouse. If Arizona hadn’t ended Oregon’s home win streak in January, the Ducks would currently hold the nation’s longest home streak.

Still no Lavin love
Where’s that dead horse? We need it again, and the subject this time is the struggling UCLA Bruins and their slicked-back coach, Steve Lavin.
The boys from Westwood still haven’t turned things around, have lost five-straight and are 2-5 in Pac-10 play. After losses over the weekend to California and Stanford — two games in which the Bruins never contended — UCLA is right down there with Oregon State and Washington State at the bottom of the conference standings. It doesn’t get easier for UCLA, either, as the Bruins face Oregon on Thursday, then USC and Georgetown next week.
“It’s becoming familiar,” UCLA guard Cedric Bozeman told the Daily Bruin after Saturday’s loss at Cal. “We are just not getting it done. I don’t know what it is. We just have to figure it out.”
The Bruins will want to figure it out soon, or Lavin will almost certainly be out of a job come March.

Heee’s baaaack
Stanford, which has won five of its last six Pac-10 games, didn’t need a boost. But the Cardinal got one anyway, when forward Justin Davis — the conference’s top
rebounder — returned from a knee injury that kept him out for five games. With Davis back in the lineup, the Cardinal pulled away and beat USC on Saturday, moving Stanford into sole possession of third place in the conference.
“(Davis) got word right before the game that he could go,” Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery told the Stanford Daily. “I thought he added some stability. I told
(the team) before the game that he was going to be available. The crowd responded, and I think the kids responded.”
Stanford, currently one game ahead of Oregon and Arizona State in the conference standings
will head to Arizona along with Cal this weekend.