Welcome to the Pac-10 Weekend Wrap. Dvieira over at Addicted To Quack coordinates a conference basketball power poll with the Pac-10 bloggers at SBN, and I'm a voter. Here's my ballot with my thoughts on each team's weekend; I'll post a link to the full power rankings when they're up at ATQ here's the link at ATQ for the full results.
My thoughts are a bit abbreviated, as we're just starting a new semester at school -- always a busy time with new students and starting new units.
Last week's rank listed after team name.
1. Washington (2)
No shame in losing on the road to Arizona right now, and every team is due for a stinker -- especially on the road. Controlling and completely handling Arizona State, which had to be fighting mad after losing to the Cougs, speaks volumes.
2. UCLA (3)
Flattening both Cal and Stanford at home impressed this writer. Not that either team is proving itself to be all that good at this point, but it also marked a return to the kind of defense the Bruins want to play.
3. USC (4)
Don't look now, but the Trojans have now won five of six. They just keep figuring out ways to get it done.
4. ASU (1)
Well, I guess I'm looking like a fool right about now for believing in the Sun Devils as long as I did. They rely too much on Harden, and while this is a good team, this is not an elite team until they get some consistency from their other players. You have to wonder at this point if it's going to come.
5. WSU (6)
Beating Arizona State was huge, but again it felt like a weekend with an opportunity missed -- the second consecutive Saturday collapse will do that to you. Nonetheless, this team has proved it can play with anyone in the conference, and just needs to start finishing more games. The Cougs have a huge, massive opportunity to separate themselves this weekend.
6. Cal (5)
That hot start to the season seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? The Bears have lost four of five, and while there's nothing all that wrong with getting swept on the road in L.A., they weren't really competitive against UCLA and faded badly against USC. Not what you expect from a team that thinks it can compete for the conference title.
7. Arizona (9)
Finally, the Wildcats come alive. The turnaround has been swift, and beating the Huskies at their own game was impressive. The fact remains, though, that their recent three-game run came at home, and the Wildcats are still 0-6 on the road. We'll reserve full judgment until next week. (Although there's nothing quite like traveling to Oregon to try and get your road mojo back.)
8. Oregon State (7)
Nice comeback win against Oregon. Who would have expected that we expected the Beavers to win that one? Shows you how far that team has come in Robinson's first year. I've spent a lot of time disparaging OSU's athletes, but they're smart players -- Roland Schaftenaar has to be the most underrated player in the Pac-10 at this point.
9. Stanford (8)
The Cardinal are hard to figure. Everytime I think they're decent, they lay an egg. No shame in losing by one at USC, but getting run by 34 at UCLA? I don't know. I guess the Cardinal could easily be a lot higher than this, but the inconsistency frustrates me.
10. Oregon (10)
Getting run over in the second half by OSU? Yeah, they still stink.