A lot of talk has been made about the down year the Pacific-10 Conference is having.
Not a single Pac-10 school is ranked in the AP Top 25 or isn’t in the top 48 in teams when you include the teams receiving votes.
Teams have lost to a myriad of mid-majors and Oregon (10-5 overall, 2-1 Pac-10 Conference) is tied for first with California. It is yet to be determined whether the conference is truly less-talent filled than in years past or if there is just more parity from top to bottom, but the players have noticed a difference.
“Oh yeah, most definitely,” senior guard Tajuan Porter said before Tuesday’s practice. “Previous years here, there’s always been one great team and that was UCLA. But UCLA is not the UCLA of the past, so anyone can win it.”
UCLA is 7-9 this year, with losses to Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and a 27-point loss to Portland on its record (Oregon lost to the Pilots by seven). So it is true that the Bruins may not have the stranglehold on the top like they have in years past, but even last place Washington at 1-3 is only a game and a half behind first place.
Point in case, anything can happen, and with 15 conference games to go for the Ducks, winning home games is even more important, head coach Ernie Kent said.
“This is all about defending your home court and not giving any of those away,” Kent said.
Kent, who was hospitalized for two days last week because of internal bleeding caused by an anti-inflammatory medicine he was taking, said he’s fine now and that the focus of Oregon’s two upcoming games against Arizona State and Arizona is critical to forgetting the loss to Oregon State on Sunday.
“It’s more about us this weekend,” Kent said. “Getting us right back on focus and back on track.”
“This team feels like they let half the state down, and we want to get back to playing and back to the court sooner,” he added.
Oregon will get the chance to play tonight against the Sun Devils, who are riding high after sweeping the Washington schools at home last week. On Jan. 10, ASU beat Washington State 71-46 and the Sun Devils (12-5, 2-2) are in a good position to take over the top spot in the conference with another sweep this weekend.
Even without guard James Harden, who was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the third overall pick in last year’s NBA draft, Arizona State has been able to find success with point guard Derek Glasser.
Kent had nothing but good things to say about the senior from Marina Del Rey, Calif., who is averaging 10.7 points per game and 4.7 assists.
“Glasser is a great floor general and he does a great job of keeping the positive energy moving in the right direction,” he said.
Getting the positive energy moving in the right direction has also been a focus for the Ducks, who are trying to erase the memory of their loss to the Beavers in Eugene on Sunday. It’s the first time since 1993 that’s happened. Porter said everyone was anxious to get back to playing and that the short rest between games is better than playing once a week.
“We’ve been lackadaisical in practice, and that’s my fault for being the senior leader,” Porter said. “But I think that a lot of good will come from this loss.”
Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. Charlie Warren, who played at Oregon from 1959-1962 and ranks No. 16 in school history with 1,301 career points, will be an honorary captain along with former Arizona State head coach Bill Frieder.
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