CougZone.com - The Pres' Palouse Park Bench

November 6, 2009

Michael Preston
CougZone.com Staff Writer

Last week in this space, we featured the women's basketball team at Washington State University. While a preview of the entire conference could've been done, the fact that cannot be hidden is that we literally know next to nothing about the rest of the teams. Except that Arizona and Oregon State will be really bad and Stanford, as always, will be a national championship contender.

But we do have a better grasp on the men's side of the game. As is tradition, we run our Pac-10 Men's Basketball Preview (alright, so we've only done it once before but we figure the second time makes it a tradition). Once again, the conference already has the top and bottom teams figured out but the middle will be an all-out battle for a Big Dance berth. This is the most accurate and comprehensive preview you will find anywhere. In other outrageous statement news, Lindsay Lohan is a great actress and the Pontiac Aztec is a great looking car.

1. California Golden Bears

This one is an easy call to make. Many people would say Washington is the odds on favorite but Cal retained a number of key seniors such as Patrick Christopher, Jerome Randle and Theo Robertson - all of whom averaged in double figures last season. Add in a great coach in Mike Montgomery, who will keep this team motivated and disciplined with their eyes on the prize of a Pac-10 crown.

How They Could Finish Higher?: Well, they can't. Unless there's a brand new place higher than first.

How They Could Finish Lower?: Losing games on the road they shouldn't. Cal had big problems on the road in the conference last year, needing three overtimes to get past Washington and lost a bad game in Corvallis against Oregon State. They went 2-7 on the road in the Pac-10 and if they continue to lose on the road, they'll find themselves out of the top spot.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 22nd, at pre-season #1 Kansas

2. Washington Huskies

The Huskies have the talent to win their second consecutive Pac-10 title but they lack what got them their last season: a dominating big man up front. With the graduation of Jon Brockman, the Huskies will look to Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Darnell Gant in the front court but neither has shown a strong propensity to dominate. But expect Isaiah Thomas, Qunicy Pondexter and sensational freshman Abdul Gaddy to dominate as the Huskies play a bit smaller line-up.

How They Could Finish Higher?: If someone in the front court can find some hidden talent and supplement their dominant guard play and learn to play much better defense so the offense doesn't have to score 75 points every night to get the win.

How They Could Finish Lower?: If Gaddy can't live up to all the hype and the Huskies bank too much on his ability to run the floor and if Pondexter gets found out for the kind of player he might truly be: mediocre without someone like Brockman to draw double teams away from him.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 12th, vs. #21 Georgetown

3. Oregon State Beavers

The Beaver Kool-Aid is absolutely ready to be drunk right now and we've had pitchers full. After showing he can be successful with players he is handed, head coach Craig Robinson gets his own recruiting class to supplement a roster that had very little turnover from last season. The common sentiment being that the Pac-10 is down this year, it is the perfect opportunity for the Beavers to jump up in the rankings.

How They Could Finish Higher?: If they get a couple of lucky breaks, meaning Washington and California lose some unexpected conference games and those same teams take them too lightly.

How They Could Finish Lower?: If it turns out last season was just a fluke. If the Beavers were truly just that and other teams have figured out the Princeton system, they could be in for a long season.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 12th at Nebraska

4. UCLA Bruins

Hard to believe the Bruins have fallen this far, but after Darren Collison and Alfred Aboya finally departed, they will have to suffer through a season not in the top three of the conference. Like a couple other teams in conference, the Bruin roster is very young but with an excellent head coach in Ben Howland, they should still be able to have a good season.

How They Could Finish Higher?: Howland really comes through in coaching the excellent freshman and the Bruins sneak out a couple of unexpected victories.

How They Could Finish Lower?: They miss Collison and Aboya a little too much and struggle to move the ball offensively and struggle to keep the ball out of the basket on the defensive end.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 6th vs. pre-season #1 Kansas

5. Arizona Wildcats

Arizona has enough experience in the backcourt with the excellent Nic Wise and Kyle Fogg to propel them to this place. The main concern under former Xavier and first-year Wildcat head coach Sean Miller is the turnover from last year's draft and the very big lack of any dependable big man.

How They Could Finish Higher?: The Wildcats get some incredible production out of their new freshman and find a dependable big man to lean on when you need to crash the boards.

How They Could Finish Lower?: Easily, if no one shows up to support Wise and Fogg, this could be a long season in Tucson.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 6th at #16 Oklahoma

6. Washington State Cougars

For the second straight year, the Cougars graduated a lot of seniors. That turnover was normal, but they weren't expecting to bring in a new head coach. The Cougs will have to lean on sensational sophomore Klay Thompson and get more scoring out of DeAngelo Casto then last year.

How They Could Finish Higher?: Thompson and Casto both average in double figures in scoring and freshman Reggie Moore answers the Cougars point guard problems while Brock Motum answers their post presence problem.

How They Could Finish Lower?: Thompson is the only one that can score and the freshman just aren't as good as they are advertised. Worse yet, Casto's performance, especially on the scoring end, stays about the same from last season and he is not able to produce any offense.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 2nd at Gonzaga

7. Arizona State Sun Devils

Here's a team that will suffer the most from losing a lot of players who contributed greatly to their tournament birth last season. Without James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, experienced players like Ty Abbott and Derek Glasser will have to be relied on heavily but we'll have to wait and see if they can do so without Harden and Pendergraph to draw defenders.

How They Could Finish Higher?: Abbott and Glasser show no drop off in their performance and they actually improve greatly, dominating other teams in the backcourt.

How They Could Finish Lower?: Abbott and Glasser get worse and they aren't able to get contributions in any other areas from underclassman who aren't ready for the spotlight yet.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 8th at Brigham Young

8. Oregon Ducks

We don't know why everyone thinks Oregon will be so much better this year after last. There has been no positive coaching change and their upperclassman aren't performing to the level they were a few years ago when they were an Elite Eight team. Relying heavily on freshman on a team coached by Ernie Kent hasn't exactly gone well before (see last year).

How They Could Finish Higher?: The underclassman, especially Michael Dunigan, come through and the upperclassman lead them much better than they did last year.

How They Could Finish Lower?: Kent has one of his typical break downs every game and Porter continues to regress as he has after Aaron Brooks left him exposed to double teams.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 12th vs. Saint Mary's

9. USC Trojans

A terrible off-season marred with a suspicious coaching change won't do the Trojans any favors. On top of that, many of their upperclassman have barely seen the floor because of Floyd's policy of playing his guys for what seemed like an eternity in each game. Leonard Washington is the highest scoring returner, putting away just 6.1 points a game last season.

How They Could Finish Higher?: Head coach Kevin O'Neill gets a lot out of his freshman and Washington and Marcus Johnson perform at a much higher level than last season.

How They Could Finish Lower?: If Washington and Leonard are unable to lead the team and the freshman fall flat on their face playing in the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles.

Key Non-Conference Match-up: December 3rd, at #3 Texas

10. Stanford Cardinal

Two of the team's leading scorers on an already underachieving and very mediocre team were lost to graduation and even more inexperience in the backcourt could lead to big trouble for the Cardinal, especially starting out their conference schedule with 5 tough teams (aside from USC)

How They Could Finish Higher: Fields and Owens really come through and begin to put up well into the double digits every game and lead the freshman to a much better season than anyone expects.

How They Could Finish Lower: Same for Cal, only in the opposite and less desirable fashion.
Key Non-Conference Match-up: November 24th at Virginia

PICKS:

Stanford can prove an awful lot by winning this game but they have no home field advantage at a terribly under attended stadium in Palo Alto.

The New Champions 37, Wait Until Next Year Harbaugh 20

If USC wants to stay anywhere near the top of the conference they are going to have to rebound from a tough loss at Autzen and look for them to do just that against a reeling ASU.

The Matt Barkley Experience 31, The Vontaze Burfict Personal Fouls 7

This is the game where we really test the mettle of California after running off a couple of victories. Not to worry Golden Bear fans, you're in luck.

Where Have You Gone Jahvid Best? 24, No Usual Late Season Run For Us 14

Jake Locker is feeling better - and he gets to throw all over a Bruin team that is struggling mightily.

Yips For Sark 21, We Continue To Prove Neuheisel Has Lost It 6

And now, your Cougar picks:

Arizona 35, Washington State 14 says Jenny Guild who had the best Halloween costume I had ever seen: Carmen Sandiego.

Arizona 28, Washington State 13 says current giddy Yankee fan Gavin Harris.

Arizona 42, Washington State 14 says the sharpest dresser I have seen in a long time Nero Threet.

Although running back Nic Grigsby will be sitting out this one, freshman quarterback Nick Foles will be sure to take care of the Cougar pass defense. Arizona is only moving upwards while the Cougars are on the way down and with their third straight road game, the Cougars will suffer one more crushing loss before they come back for a game they can win over Dad's Weekend.

Arizona 49, Washington State 10

Obscure Pick of the Week: A chilly school against a school that sounds like it should be running a newspaper. Let's give some love to the school that might be going into an industry that's dying.

Newport News Apprentice 31, Frostburg State 10

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