A different kind of surprise for this season

Pac-10 basketball always offers surprises. The conference’s scheduling system is one of the best things about college sports; each weekend provides its share of unpredictable matchups and crazy finishes.

But this season, the surprises are of a different sort ““ the biggest surprise is how badly the league is struggling.

UCLA’s first road trip of the Pac-10 season showcased the strange state of this basketball conference, a conference that only two years ago, was the king of college basketball. Coach Ben Howland’s team sneaked away with an overtime victory over Cal on Wednesday. Three days later, they fell flat at Stanford, committing 23 turnovers.

That type of inconsistency seems to be the norm.

Not one of the Pac-10 teams have managed to string together wins. None are truly superior teams.

These teams won’t factor into the national title picture. It would be a shock if any Pac-10 team reached the Final Four this year. I would be surprised if any could advance to the Sweet Sixteen. It’s unfortunate for the fans because Pac-10 basketball is significantly less meaningful this year.

The league will give an automatic bid to the winner of the conference tournament. One or two other teams may secure an at-large berth to the 65-team NCAA Tournament.

Cal, No. 29 in the latest RPI, is the top-ranked team in the league, and Washington stands at No. 51. USC comes next at No. 54, but the Trojans have banned themselves from postseason play.

Washington State (No. 76), Oregon (No. 93) or Arizona State (No. 99) could possibly earn an at-large bid, but they have a lot of work left to do.

Watching UCLA-Cal, and then UCLA-Stanford, I couldn’t help thinking of these dire details and wondering about the downslide of Pac-10 basketball. None of the offenses have the comfort and confidence that great teams possess. None of the defenses on the teams are as intimidating as they need to be. Howland is still trying that zone, clearly unhappy with his team’s man-to-man defense.

Two years ago, these conferences presented fans with the top talent in all of college basketball. UCLA featured four soon-to-be NBA players, Cal’s Ryan Anderson was one of the most dominant scorers in the country, and playing Stanford meant contesting with the twin towers, Brook and Robin Lopez.

In the final weekend of the 2007-2008 Pac-10 season, Cal and Stanford came to Pauley. The games were wild back-and-forth affairs. UCLA pulled miraculous wins against these worthy adversaries not just once, but twice.

That season should go down as one of the greatest conference seasons in college basketball history. Twelve of the 60 players who were drafted to the NBA that spring came from the Pac-10. UCLA reached the Final Four, and Stanford had a very good chance of doing the same.

In comparison, the games this season have a junior varsity feel to them. The uniforms may be the same, but the games aren’t absorbing enough for fans. Only three players made it to the list of the top 75 draft prospects compiled by draftexpress.com.

Stanford, Arizona, USC, Washington State, Cal and Oregon State have switched coaches since the 2008 season concluded, which are possible explanations for this year’s lull. Veteran coaches Howland and Lorenzo Romar (Washington) are struggling to restock and retool.

I’ve always defended the Pac-10 to fans and friends back East, and I still believe this will be an entertaining year for the conference. There will be fun finishes and unexpected outcomes. The league is truly wide open, and anyone, even UCLA, could win the conference tournament and capture the automatic NCAA bid that comes with it.

But there will also be plenty of games like Saturday’s UCLA-Stanford turnover festival, when I think most fans will wish they could turn back the clock to 2008, or to any year when Pac-10 teams were playing excellent basketball.

E-mail Allen at sallen@media.ucla.edu.

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