Pac-10 Weekend Recap

As I have been for the last few weeks, I am going to recap what's happened in the Pac-10 this past weekend and how it has shaped the conference for the near future. Once again, there is tons and tons of parity and unpredictability. It should be no surprise really that only one game separates the team at the top (Cal) and five other teams who are at 4-3 in conference play. There are two teams sitting at 2-5 in conference that actually were not too bad going into the conference season, and both happen to be from the same state.
Now as usual, it is time to delineate a list of the significant things and changes that occurred on Thursday and Saturday in the West Coast best (historically) conference:

1. Cal is not as bad as I thought. They are sitting at the top of the conference, and have recovered quite well after their choke job against UCLA and destruction at the hands of Washington. Sure it was against the cellar-dwellers of the conference, but a win is a win, and two wins is even better. Hopefully next week I won't have to write a paragraph about how Cal is really bad again, but we'll see.

2. Washington sucks. The literally cannot play well on the road. They first lose a heart breaker against the Bruins on a buzzer beater and then just get straight up destroyed against U$C. They have now lost five games on the road and will probably end up in the NIT unless they win the conference tournament. But then again, the conference is in Los Angeles, not in the friendly confines of Bank of America Arena in Seattle.

3. The Los Angeles schools are for real. UCLA came back from an embarrassing loss of historic proportions last week against the crosstown cheaters and swept the Washington schools. U$C did lose at home to Wazzu, but came back and completely destroyed Washington. With nothing to play for except pride, look for U$C to make noise in the conference and effect the seeding of the teams for the tournament.

4. Arizona is back on top in its own state. The last couple of years there was a clear shift of powers towards the team from Tempe, but this year the shift is back towards Tucson. Arizona beat it's in-state rival in impressive fashion and have the same conference record.

5. Oregon schools in basketball seem like the opposite of their football counterparts. The Civil War this year was to determine who wins the conference and goes on to the Rose Bowl. In basketball? Well, they both sit at the bottom of the conference and things are not looking rosy at all. Things could change when they get the bi-polar acting LA schools at home this week, but chances are not too high for that.