This conference is officially a cluster. I'll just leave it at that. Here are the standings:
Seriously, we all keep waiting for a couple of teams to separate themselves, and it looked like Cal and Arizona might be those teams. Then they go 1-3 combined last weekend. Whatever. Because of this, our SBNation bracketologist still has only one Pac-10 team in the field. Same with Bracketology 101 (which is way better than Lunardi, whom we are choosing to ignore). We keep thinking the conference might look better in the end, but it's running out of time.
Not a tremendous amount of change in the rankings. Just a reminder that these are power rankings, meaning that I would expect any team ranked above another to beat that team right now on a neutral floor.
1. California
Rank last week: 1
Record last week: 1-1
Overall Record: 15-8
Congrats, Bears -- you're the best of the not very good! At least you reversed the trend of being not very good on the second game of the weekend by dominating UCLA at Pauley. Of course, that came after losing to USC on Thursday. Sigh. C'mon guys! We need to you be good! (After Saturday, of course.)
2. Arizona
Rank last week: 2
Record last week: 0-2
Overall Record: 12-11
Might seem a little surprising that I'm leaving the Wildcats at No. 2, but if you listened to 18 And Life last week, you'd know that I fully expected a letdown by Arizona. I still think they're pretty good, as both losses on the road were closer than the final scores would indicate.
3. Washington
Rank last week: 5
Record last week: 2-0
Overall Record: 16-7
Written last week: "Good news for the Huskies: Two more home games before heading out on the road. They'll have all of us drinking the Kool Aid again in a week." Slurp, slurp! If they can beat Cal on the road on Thursday, they'll have themselves back in the bubble conversation.
4. Arizona State
Rank last week: 3
Record last week: 1-1
Overall Record: 16-8
It's probably about time we recognize something: That Ty Abbott is pretty dang good. We've made a lot this year out of ASU playing well despite the loss of James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, and it's becoming increasingly clear that Abbott is a large reason why. He's very good.
5. USC
Rank last week: 8
Record last week: 2-0
Overall Record: 14-9
These Trojans are nothing if not resilient. After two awful losses last week on the road, they come back and take down Cal and then suffocate Stanford.
6. UCLA
Rank last week: 4
Record last week: 1-1
Overall Record: 11-12
The Bruins gave up efficiencies of 119.2 and 116.8 to Stanford and Cal, respectively. So ... about that miracle 2-3 zone everyone has talked about ... perhaps not so miraculous?
7. Washington State
Rank last week: 6
Record last week: 1-1
Overall Record: 15-8
Which team is it? The one that didn't play a lick of defense in the second half of the UW game and throughout the ASU game? Or the one that controlled Arizona from nearly start to finish? Was the sweep of the Wildcats more a function of matchups? Lots of questions, still not enough answers. I'm cautiously optimistic the Cougs turned a corner on Saturday, but hardly a full-on believer. I'll be on that train with a road sweep this weekend.
8. Oregon State
Rank last week: 9
Record last week: 1-0
Overall Record: 10-12
Gotta feel good to sweep your rivals. Wait, I know what that feels like! Yup, it feels good. However, turning the ball over on 27 percent of your possessions in beating the Ducks doesn't exactly inspire confidence that this team is more than what it's shown.
9. Oregon
Rank last week: 7
Record last week: 0-1
Overall Record: 12-10
"Hello, Mark? This is Mike again. As you might have noticed, we were just swept by the Beavers ..."
10. Stanford
Rank last week: 10
Record last week: 0-2
Record: 10-13
Last week, I asked someone to explain to me how the Cardinal have the same record as some other teams. The conclusion that I think is becoming clear? They've just kind of been on the receiving end of some fortuitous circumstances in matchups. Granted, it's on them to win those games, but after four losses in a row, I think their true talent is showing through.
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