When I came home to my apartment Sunday night, I had a voicemail
on my phone.
When I first heard it, I didn’t think too much of it, as
my friend from UC Davis called me telling me they had beaten
Stanford.
In response, I started laughing, telling my friend that
Stanford’s loss to Davis was over four months ago.
But as I turned on SportsCenter, I was shocked to find out that
Stanford really did lose to Davis, a Division I-AA team, in
basketball and football in the same year.
And that’s not even the start.
This year, Stanford has lost to UC Irvine at home, and Montana
and UC Davis on the road. This is a team that has three returning
senior starters and was picked to finish second in the Pac-10
preseason poll.
But as much as I like picking on my tree-dancing friends from
the north, the reality is that these losses are hurting the Pac-10,
and UCLA as a result.
When writers from the national media look at Stanford’s
losses, they not only look down on the Cardinal, but the quality of
competition in the Pac-10 in general.
“We want everyone in our league to win their
non-conference games,” coach Ben Howland said. “The
better our conference does, the more exposure we get.”
When Stanford comes to Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 29, a victory by
the Bruins would be considered an afterthought, whereas earlier in
the season, it would have been thought a major win for the
program.
But Stanford is not the only culprit.
Arizona, which played tough in losses to No. 3 University of
Connecticut and No. 12 Michigan State in Hawaii, came back to the
mainland only to be embarrassed on the road by unranked
Houston.
The Wildcats’ start has been paltry. Through the first
five games, Arizona is under .500 for the first time in over 21
years.
Oregon, meanwhile, was expected to be one of the most improved
teams this season, but was blown out at home by Georgetown and fell
to perennial conference-dweller Vanderbilt on the road.
These teams were playing both on national television and against
teams from other major conferences. When it comes down to Selection
Sunday in March, those conferences will likely get the extra bid
rather than the Pac-10.
That means, to get an at-large bid, either the Bruins or another
Pac-10 team will probably have to win an additional game or two
more than they would normally have to.
“If our top conference teams have a lot of losses to
unranked teams,” freshman guard Mike Roll said, “it
doesn’t bode well for the Pac-10 as a whole.”
On Saturday, UCLA faces No. 17 Nevada, a team not from a major
conference, but with major conference credentials.
This season, the Bruins (6-1) have often played down to the
level of their non-conference opponents, but have so far avoided
the conference bug of losing to an unranked team.
If the Bruins can take anything from their Pac-10 opponents,
it’s that any team is susceptible to losing. UCLA will
certainly need that motivation as it faces Wagner and Sacramento
State at home in very losable games before it starts the conference
season.
“We don’t want that to happen to us,” freshman
forward Ryan Wright said. “We want to keep our home streak
alive, and we want to represent our conference.”
But before looking at those final two non-conference home games,
the Bruins must focus on beating the Wolf Pack on Saturday.
In the Bruins’ first test against a ranked team, on Nov.
26 against Memphis, UCLA came out rusty and played timidly in New
York.
It will be interesting to see if the Bruins can come out much
stronger against an impressive Nevada team. If the Bruins win, it
would be a major win for the conference, as Washington is the only
Pac-10 team to beat a ranked opponent this season.
Already this season, Stanford has dropped out of The Associated
Press Top 25 poll after starting at No. 13, and Arizona has dropped
to No. 24 after starting the season at No. 10.
Needless to say, it would be really nice if the Bruins gave some
credibility back to the conference.
E-mail Parikh at sparikh@media.ucla.edu if you also think
Oregon should’ve received a BCS bid.