OPEN GAME(S) THREAD: Pac-10 Tournament, Day 3

Just because we're out of the Pac-10 Tournament doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it, right? Here's your thread for talking about the semifinal matchups, which ought to be fun to watch, if nothing else.

As in last night, I'll also encourage you to visit our other SBN partners for their game threads, too, where you can talk about the game with fans really knowledgeable about each team. It can be a lot of fun surfing between both. (Just click on the team name to visit.)

Tonight's schedule (all games PDT):

• 6 p.m.: No. 1 Washington vs. No. 4 Arizona State 
• 8:30 p.m.: No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 6 USC

And let me also take this moment to take the Pac-10 to task once again for playing these games at inexplicable times. Yesterday, it was hiding its No. 1 seed at 2:30 p.m. PDT and the No. 2 seed at 8:30 p.m. PDT. Tonight, it's playing both games at times when no one outside of the Pacific time zone will be watching -- and its debatable how many people inside the time zone (except for those team's fans) will be watching, given that it's a Friday night.

I'm sure the conference does it in an effort to kowtow to FSN so that it will be on during prime time in the conference's home time zone, and to encourage attendance, but it once again shows how inept the Pac-10 is at understanding what's really important. The Pac-10 does not exist in a vacuum; it needs to recognize that raising its national profile is important, and that scheduling its games the way it does isn't helping that cause.

Please, dear God, let the next Pac-10 commissioner be smarter than this.