For the first time in four seasons, the Pac-10 will open its men’s basketball season with UCLA neither defending its league title nor expected to win another.
A poll of media members who cover the conference picked the Bruins to place third in the division which has been theirs to lose for an entire generation of student-athletes.
“You’re correct based on the teams that return the most and had good successful seasons last year,” coach Ben Howland told reporters at Thursday’s annual Pac-10 Media Day in Los Angeles.
The return of All-Conference seniors Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle prompted the prediction of California as the champion, the first time the Bears have held the honor since Jason Kidd ran the point during the 1993-94 season.
Defending Pac-10 champion Washington, who brings back conference Freshman of the Year Isaiah Thomas, received the second-most top votes. The 2009 Coach of the Year, Washington’s Lorenzo Romar, called the team the quickest he’s had since New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson played for him.
The historical comparisons end there for the rest of the conference, as most of the 10 head coaches discussed the challenges of rebuilding and filling the gaps of key players who graduated or left early for the NBA. UCLA was no exception to that rule, as the Bruins return only one starter, senior forward Nikola Dragovic.
In just the last four years, six UCLA players have been drafted with college eligibility still on the table. Four UCLA point guards have been drafted in that time span as well. Circumstances like these can be devastating to a team, leaving it suddenly short-handed at a certain position. “It’s always hard now,” Howland said. “There’s no way of really being able to project for sure what’s going to happen.”
The already-depleted Bruins have been given the additional challenge of dealing with injuries to six scholarship players since practice started. “Number one, we’re just trying to get healthy,” Howland said.
The team’s starting point guard Jerime Anderson has yet to play with the team, and the team headlines a long list of Bruins that have seen more of the training room than the basketball court in the last two weeks. In addition to Anderson, freshman Brendan Lane and senior Michael Roll are still injured. However, Howland hopes they will all be ready by Monday’s practice, though he expects Anderson to see just limited action on that day.
“We’re a really young team, so we need the practice time,” he said.
Howland and Cal coach Mike Montgomerey both denounced the NCAA regulations that allow them such little time to prepare before the season’s games begin.
“I’d like to propose we start practice Oct. 1,” Howland said, which would move the current first practice up by two weeks. “We keep moving the season up, but the practice time stays the same. I think our players would like it.”
UCLA begins its schedule next Wednesday with an exhibition game against Concordia.
New faces on Pac-10 sidelines
The conference welcomed three new head coaches this year. Sean Miller moved to Arizona after taking Xavier to two straight Sweet Sixteens, former Arizona assistant Kevin O’Neill was given the reins to USC’s program and former Portland State coach Ken Bone will take over at Washington State.