Filed under: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington State, Pac-10, Oregon State
Halfway through the Pac-10 season and it's fair and accurate to say that this is a better conference than last year's dismal downer of a campaign. Arizona and UCLA have done considerable work improving on last year's uncharacteristic win-loss records. There are players in this league -- such as Washington's Isaiah Thomas, Washington State's Klay Thompson and Arizona's Derrick Williams -- who are standouts of national caliber.
Two teams, Washington and Arizona, are ranked.
Still, strides are relative. The Pac-10 is No. 7 in the Sagarin Power Rankings, two spots behind the suddenly mighty Mountain West. And some of the most exciting hoops on the West Coast is being played in the West Coast Conference.
But for the Pac-10, better is better than the alternative.
The barometer: Arizona is better. When one of the stalwart programs in the Pac-10 went astray last year it impacted the perception of the entire conference. Now that the Wildcats are on the way back to the NCAA Tournament -- at 18-4 and tied for first with Washington at 7-2 -- people can begin to think better of the conference. It's much better to have two ranked teams than merely one. When the Wildcats joined the ranks of the ranked a few weeks back, that was a big deal for conference watchers.
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