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Pac 10 Teams

With the Pac-10 regular season and tournament over and done, but the NCAA selection show still a few long days away, we face a strange in-between time of thumb twiddling and amateur bracket building.

For several teams, struggle was the name of the game, as many key performers were sidelined. Even those at the top were not immune. What follows is a team-by-team analysis, starting from the bottom. Like mountain climbers or a lazy sloth eyeing a tasty leaf, we methodically work our way up.

Washington State was last, or as we might more optimistically call it, 10th. Those who are aware that the Big 10 has 11 teams might fall for this and give WSU a little extra credit (Insert Spinal Tap-inspired “It goes to eleven” joke here.)

Arizona finished 4-14 in the regular season, a mark that must have been a disappointment given that they had fought admirably during a very difficult season in 2005-06 and added several players (frosh, JUCOs and injury returnees) who were expected to help. UA played a fairly tough out-of-conference schedule, and while they did not win many, they did appear to lay the groundwork for a better Pac-10 result than they got. They did better in the second half of the conference schedule and did win their 8/9 Pac-10 Tournament opener, but I'd have to call this one a miss.

Oregon State also finished the regular season at 4-14, but there was a youthful spring in their step, which made it a cheerier 4-14 than Arizona's, even though they lost to UA in the Pac-10 Tournament. They played hard and kept many of their losses close. They executed well. Even though the Beavers were seriously vertically challenged, they hung well against much bigger teams.

UCLA faced only moderate expectations after losing Nikki Blue and Lisa Willis to the WNBA. They failed to meet even those. Seventh in the conference for a team that featured almost certain future WNBA firstround pick Noelle Quinn, Honorable Mention All Pac-10 selection Lindsey Pluimer, and some decent young talent was not where most expected the Bruins to be.

Oregon did not win more than they lost, going 8-10, but they did improve from a 2-7 first half to a 6-3 second half, so this veteran squad can feel pretty good about how they closed out their careers. They avoided the dreaded Friday game at the Pac-10 Tournament and did slightly better than most predicted.

USC struggled to a 10-8 conference record and a 16-12 overall mark before going 1-1 in the Pac-10 Tournament. Now they must sweat out the NCAA selections with a 17-13 overall record. If we call what they faced an injury bug, it would have to be a swarm of killer bees. The Women of Troy lost numerous players for long stretches. Three potentially important contributors had to sit out the year (super recruit Jacki Gemelos, point guard Camille LeNoir and sharpshooter Brynn Cameron).

Washington had big plans coming into the 2006-07 season. Coach June Daugherty was predicting a challenge for the conference title and a deep NCAA run for a UW team led by seven seniors, including All Pac-10 pick Cameo Hicks. At season's end, seven out of their top eight scorers were upperclassmen, mostly seniors.

California was the team who did the most with the least, if you consider only the number of players who made contributions. They overcame an early-season injury to star guard Alexis Gray-Lawson and managed to finish third in the Pac-10 at 12-6 despite generally only playing six players significant minutes in any given game. It was do or die for the starters.

Arizona State continued to be a cut above almost every team in the conference. They set a school record with 28 wins and counting. They were a strong second in both the regular season and the tournament. They lost only four games all year and only thrice in conference. The only problem was that the three losses were all to regular season and tourney champ Stanford.

Stanford continued with their stranglehold on the regular season conference crown and added a well-fought tournament title, but it was not such a simple feat. Seemingly continuous injury worries over Candice Wiggins (college student by day, super hero by night) and a point guard merry-go-round made the season a challenge. Tough to be wonderful when Wonder Woman is on the bench, but Stanford was up to the challenge.