Pac 10 Basketball Power Rankings
by thecassino on Nov 23, 2009 10:00 AM PST
19 comments
1. Washington
Can't argue with 4-0, and they've looked the best of any team in the conference. Few players in the nation are playing as well as Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas, and they're making a case for the best 1-2 in all the land.
2. Arizona State
Squeaked by TCU, but a win is a win and they're 4-0. Still lack a go-to scorer, but they've been doing a good job of distrubuting the ball thus far.
3. Washington State
Klay Thompson looks like a monster thus far. Shame he's only the third best player in the state, or he'd get a lot more recognition.
4. Arizona
A couple tune up games down, now this team gets a real test against Wisconsin. How they perform may be very telling of how they'll perform down the stretch.
5. Oregon
Looked very good in their first three, then dropped one @Portland. The Pilots are a quality squad this year, but they don't have the talent that Oregon does.
6. California
With Harper Kamp and Theo Robertson injured, the Golden Bears were embarrassed by Syracuse and the 6 points Ohio State beat them by was much larger than the scoreboard shows. Tough opponents on the opposite coast, sure, but Cal was unimpressive.
7. Stanford
Opened the season on the road against San Diego and got worked. A 2-2 start is decent for this team, which relies almost entirely on the play of Landry Fields and Jeremy Green.
8. UCLA
Looked awful in their 2OT loss to Cal State Fullerton, but rebounded to beat Cal State Bakersfield. The loss of senior Nikola Dragovic to felony assault charges is a huge blow.
9. USC
A 1-1 start might be this team's high point. After a game against Coppin State, they get Nebraska, @Texas and @Georgia Tech. Ouch. Alex Stepheson needs to get back on the court in a hurry if they want to have a shot of being competitive in those games.
10. Oregon State
The 24 point loss to Texas A&M Corpus Christi was embarrassing. The loss to Texas Tech was understandable. The loss to Sacramento State was baffling. For the second straight year under Craig Robinson the Beavers have stumbled out of the starting blocks.
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Josh Smith WHO!?
Husky’s pick up HUGE recruit Enes Kanter from Turkey. 6’9 240 and dominated at the under 18 European Championships…http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/889671.html
Great pick up by Romar. Lets go DAWGS!
A lot of NC talk on dawgman...
for next year. Can’t say I know enough about him to know whether they’re right, but if so, how do you think that plays with the guys who have the potential to go to the NBA? Will it keep them here to try and win one or cause them to say “the team’s in good hands” and bolt anyway?
I'd bet everyone sticks...
IT doesn’t quite have the size to get drafted, at least until he scores so many points teams can’t ignore him anymore.
Nobody else, unless MBA or Breshers completely breaks out this year is on scouts draft radars (at least for this year) from what I’ve heard, and Gaddy is only 17 so he’s stuck until 2011.
If this Kanter kid can come in and contribute down low with TB/MBA and with the deepest guard rotation in the nation (IT, VO, Gaddy, CJ, Turner…honestly there is no team deeper at G than UW next year) a NC is a realistic possiblilty. We have the personnel to fill all the holes left by QP (Holiday, Trent, Simmons even Suggs).
I seriously just got goosebumps writing that. If Breshers comes along like he has so far and Gaddy settles in to the magician role he’s capable of, we’ll have every role filled two deep with all pac-10 talent.
2006 was good, but before the season there was Pac-10 title talk, not National title talk. Sorry for the rambling, but damnit it feels good to be excited about UW sports again.
"Attending WAZZU is great preparation for real life. It teaches you not to expect too much."
- Don James.
That's for sure, but I was excited
about football too, early in the season. All the talk just kind of caught me off guard and I wondered. I guess minutes might be a problem, but the draft combines can take care of that if players develop all-around games. That’s one of the values I think Romar(and staff) are pretty good at instilling.
by hairofthedawg on Nov 23, 2009 12:40 PM PST up reply actions
The NC
The NC is always about first qualifying for the tournament then having enough juice to get into the Sweet Sixteen. Once you are at that point it boils down to who has the hot hand and momentum along with the best matchups. I think UW has the talent to make some noise over the next two years if they can get some solid play up front.
by John Berkowitz on Nov 23, 2009 12:37 PM PST reply actions
Is this the mellinium version of Arizona?
Can coach Romar bring championship level basketball to Washington the way Lute Olsen took it to Arizona? We may be seeing the very first great teams under Romar at Washington. Look at it this way…
This is the perfect place to build an Arizona-like basketball platform. The greater Seattle/Tacoma area has become known nationwide as a national hotbed for basketball talent. We are right in the middle of all this talent. Can Romar build this program up enough to close off the gates of Seattle/Tacoma areas to other nationally known programs?
Under Romar we received a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament, had 2 Sweet 16 apearances, and have one both the Pac 10 regular season championship and the Pac 10 tournament championship. That’s a good start, but where does it go from here? I think we need to keep dominating Pac 10 play and ultimately reach a final four. Everybody is talking national championships now and I’m not buying in just yet. In order to win a national championship, you first have to get to the final four. Lute got Arizona to the final four a few times before he put all the pieces together for that national championship run.
Romar is sitting pretty good at Washington. He knows the rich basketball soil in Seattle/Tacoma area is a nice nesting ground. Are we seriously going to start talking about national championships here? I’m not buying in on that just yet. This is the very beginning of something that can be great for decades. But nothing is set in stone right now. Romar could become a hot name, where a Kentucky or a Geogetown could come get him, and their is always the threat of coach leaving for the NBA. But if he stays, this program is only going to get better. Like USC’s dominance in football- they reside in football hotbed SoCal. Romar resides in basketball hotbed Seattle/Tacoma.
I Bark for Romar! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
Nice writeup
Power Rankings are more biased towards “how they’re playing” than “resume ranking” right? I could agree with this list based on that description, though I would put Cal ahead of Oregon.
Klay only the 3rd best? I’m assuming you’re placing him behind IT and Pondexter? I’ll admit that IT deserved the Freshman of the Year award last year, but this is going to be Klay’s breakout season. We’ll see how it all shakes out, but early signs are veeeeerrrrrry good that Klay is more aggressive and well-rounded a player than last year. I won’t argue that Klay is going to be better than Pondexter though, at least not this year!
Yep how they are playing...
It is all about last week in the power ratings.
by John Berkowitz on Nov 23, 2009 6:14 PM PST up reply actions
Klay
You’re assuming that he will become a Pac 10 leader of the WSU basketball team. It’s pretty easy to assume the hype of what Klay can offer, when he wasn’t the focus of the 2008 team. Rather he was part of the supporting cast and no one in league really gave him another look until he finally broke out 2/3 thru the Pac 10 meat grinder.
Also will he have the durability, strength, and emotional spark that can be the go-to guy for the Cougs? He looks awfully frail to me and now that everybody knows who he is, how much thumping is he going to receive?
There are questions surrounding Klay’s game, leadership, and so forth to become one of the elite players in the league that can push his team into the upper tier of the league. Klay was a sleeper coming out and from what I’ve seen from him and his game- a lot of folks missed out on him. But we’ll see what he is made up once Pac 10 action heats up. No question as to where QPon and IT are- they both played big roles in 08.
All I saw was purple
Klay
He’s going to get his looks, and has the green light to shoot whenever he wants. Bone has made that pretty clear. They’re going to need him to be consistent to win a lot of games, and they’ll go as he goes. I see them winning a couple games they probably shouldn’t when he gets hot, and losing a couple they shouldn’t if he has an off night.
That's true
The leadership question is a real one. We are fortunate that our freshman PG Reggie Moore has already stepped up into that sort of role, and you are right to point out that Klay hasn’t shown that aspect of his game yet.
I’m just saying that early signs point to Klay having a really good year. I can count the number of times he drove to the hoop and flushed it last year on one hand, and he’s already topped that this year. I think he’s tougher than you give him credit for, but he will have to prove that while being the total focus of every opponent. I’m confident but I can see the question marks from less biased observers.
by johnnycougar on Nov 24, 2009 9:47 AM PST up reply actions
Klay is a fantastic scoring threat
But we all know the game is won on defense, we finally figure that out last season. Prior to last season we’ve had some very talented ball clubs here at Washington. But we struggled at applying much ball pressure. Early into last season we finally figured it out.
Bone is bringing in an uptempo style- how will that effect WSU’s awesome ball pressure defense? There’s more to it then securing rebounds, block shots, and steals. Ball pressure is forcing a bad pass or forcing ill-adivse shots or not-so-open shots at the basket, which ultimately leads to another possession.
Klay has the green light- okay I can go along with that. But what happens when Klay is doubled up on, what happens when opposing defenses change tactics, what happens when opposing defense put different personnel on him? To beat Klay and WSU it is key to keep Klay from getting too comfortable. Is Klay WSU’s only real scoring threat? It makes playing defense on WSU only that much easier. Don’t get me wrong- Klay is a great player and would probably be a starter just about anywhere on the West Coast. I think it comes down to Klay becoming the ultimate player- a Brandon Roy type player. A distributor of the ball, and unselfish player that doesn’t mind sharing the rock, especially if his shot is not falling or he is being put in check by opposing defense by stiffling him with double teams, change tactics, or rotate multiple defenders in his path. For Klay to become one fo the greats in league- he’s going to need to become an unselfish distributor and a floor general.
All I saw was purple
Sure
We already know he’s a good passer but I’m not sure he totally needs to be a floor general. Reggie Moore is doing a pretty good job of that for us. I think Klay will still develop that aspect of his game over the next couple years.
He’s already a pretty solid defender too. Not elite by any means but he cares about defense, he works hard. He can block shots and defend the post a bit, is a good rebounder, and occasionally picks someone’s pocket.
We showed against San Diego that Klay is an outstanding player but not our only scoring threat. We’ve put up 75+ in every game but one (67pts) so he’s not the whole key to our offense. This is surprising to most Cougar fans so it’s understandable how most other people didn’t see it coming! I’m sure the best teams we face will come up with some strategy to contain Klay but so far it hasn’t happened.
by johnnycougar on Nov 29, 2009 1:19 PM PST up reply actions
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