Pac-Tending 04-09-08

"We needed them to miss some shots and they didn't."

- Connecticut head women's hoop coach, Geno Auriemma, after Stanford defeated UConn to advance to the national championship game.

The Big Dance had one more step left for the Creek last week as the two remaining conference teams in the national title hunt – UCLA for the men and Stanford for the women – played, with UCLA losing in the Final Four and Stanford advancing to the title game where they lost to Tennessee.

Meanwhile, at NCAA HQ, football rule changes were approved and scheduled to go into effect next season. Among those changes were new rule changes regarding helmet contact, horse-collar tackling and chop blocks. Additionally, a 40/25-second play clock will be used [wherein a team will get the usual 25 seconds to begin a play or 40 seconds if there is an administrative game stoppage such as change of possession or injury], if a runner runs out of bounds, the game clock will now restart on the signal of the referee rather than the snap of the ball, if a fumble leads to an immediate recovery, it may now be eligible for instant replay review, a coach who successfully challenges a play using instant replay will retain the right to one more challenge for a maximum of two, if a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team may accept the ball at the 40-yard line instead of the previous 35, all facemask penalties will be 15-yards and, instead of a warning, a yardage penalty will be assessed for sideline control.

Oregon

In men's track and field, redshirt freshmen distance runners Daniel and Diego Mercados both reached the NCAA Provisional qualifying standard int eh 10,00-meters with a 29:04.24 for Daniel and a 29:14.58 for Diego.

UCLA

In men's hoop, the Bruins lost to Memphis in the Final Four at the NCAA Tournament.

Stanford

In women's hoop, the Cardinal defeated Connecticut in the Final Four and then lost to Tennessee in the national championship game at the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona

In men's hoop, freshman guard Jerryd Bayless and sophomore guard Chase Budinger have both declared themselves eligible for the NBA Draft.

In women's hoop, Kentucky associate coach Niya Butts as named as the new Wildcat head coach.

Oregon State

In men's hoop, the Beavers hired Brown head men's hoop coach Craig Robinson as their new head coach.

USC

In men's tennis, sophomore Robert Farah was named as the conference's player of the week.

WSU

In men's hoop, Wazzu received a verbal commitment from forward DeAngelo Casto, who selected the Cougars over the Huskies.

In football, former California running back James Montgomery has verbally committed to Wazzu.

In rowing, the 15th-ranked Cougars finished third in both the varsity eight and second varsity eight races at the San Diego Crew Classic.

In baseball, the Cougars split a non-conference series with UC-Davis and lost to Gonzaga to move to 18-13 overall and 2-4 in conference play with a 21 RPI.

In tennis, 40th-ranked Wazzu defeated Arizona and Santa Clara to improve to 13-9 overall and 1-6 in the Pac-10. In the victory over the Broncos, senior Ekaterina Burduli picked up her 88th career singles victory – making her Wazzu's all-time career singles win leader.

Arizona State

In men's tennis, the 22nd-ranked Sun Devils defeated Washington to move to 14-2 overall on the year and 2-2 in Pac-10 play.

Washington

In women's rowing, Washington won both the varsity eight and second varsity eight races at the San Diego Crew Classic.

California

In men's hoop, former Stanford head men's hoop coach Mike Montgomery was named as the new head coach and sophomore forward Ryan Anderson has elected to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft.

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