Oregon St

 

As part of our 5-Year Ranking series, here's how the Pac-12 teams stack up according to conference wins. With the exception of Oregon St, every team in the league has had at least two .500 seasons or better in the last five years. The league adds Utah, who was a mid-level MWC team, and Colorado, who was in the bottom rung of the Big 12.

The crazy nature of the Pac-10 is highlighted by this simple fact: Oregon State, a team who has lost to the likes of Seattle, Texas Southern and Utah Valley this season, is the lone conference team to own wins over both Arizona and Washington. The second of those Pac-10 victories came on Thursday night as the Beavers outscored Washington 36-24 in the second half of the 68-56 victory. Jared Cunningham scored a team-high 19 points and Calvin Haynes added 11 off the bench, but it was the foul and three-point lines that made the difference in Corvallis.

Two of the best teams in the Southern Conference meet on Thursday night as defending champion Wofford (12-10, 9-2) hits the road to take on College of Charleston (15-7, 8-2). With neither team having the greatest of computer numbers (RPI: Wofford 147, Charleston 100; SOS: Wofford 166, Charleston 221) both fit the profile of teams who could scare an opponent despite the seed they could get in the NCAA Tournament (can't forget Chattanooga, who leads the North Division with a 9-2 record).

A familiar argument early in the season is which conference is tops. The preseason hype tended to go in the direction of the Big Ten, but with strong starts by the Big East and Big 12 there has been room for discussion. But what about the opposite end of the spectrum: which BCS conference member is the worst team to this point in the year? Unlike the best conference question, that answer has been rather straightforward as the Auburn Tigers have put forth quite the display of ineptitude through the first ten games of the Tony Barbee era.

Expected to be the best game on Wednesday's schedule the in-state battle between Utah State and BYU did not disappoint. BYU held the visiting Aggies to no field goals in the last 4:22, outscoring Utah State 10-3 down the stretch in a 78-72 win. Jimmer Fredette led all scorers with 26 points (to go along with five assists) and three other starters scored in double figures while Tai Wesley led Utah State with 19 points before fouling out late in the second half.

Arizona

Arizona St

California

Washington

Other (UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, Washington St)

The Pac-10’s Disastrous Week

After what can only be described as a truly awful start to the new year, the Pacific 10 Conference is now staring at the possibility, albeit right now still a remote possibility, of fielding only a single team to the represent them in the NCAA Tournament.  

While there's a lot of respect for the two-time defending Ivy League champion Cornell Big Red few people expected Steve Donahue's team to pull off the upset at top-ranked Kansas. But while the Big Red didn't complete the task they did have the nation on tilt for most of the game before falling 71-66. Sherron Collins led the way with 33 points as the Jayhawks enjoyed a free throw margin of +20 in the second half (23-3) and a +14 in points scored from the charity stripe.

Auburn (Lost to Missouri St, NC St, UCF)

Iowa (Duquesne, UTSA, Wichita St)

Oregon (Montana, Portland)

Oregon St (Sacramento St, TAMU-CC, Texas Tech)

Penn St (UNCW, Tulane)

With usual Pac-10 powers Arizona and UCLA in re-loading mode, the door is open for California & Washington to put their stamp on the 2009-10 season.