Pac-10 Power(outage) Rankings

1 (1). Washington 6-1

Last week: L @Texas Tech (OT), W vs Cal State Northridge

Quincy Pondexter may well be the conference's best player. Lost an emotional one at Tech which had the feel of a rivalry or tournament game, complete with poor officiating and all.

2 (3). California 5-3

Last week: L @ New Mexico, W vs Iowa State

Still missing Theo Robertson and Harper Kamp. New Mexico's a tournament team and very good. so there's not much shame in losing to them on the road.

3 (4). Arizona State 6-2

Last week: W vs Arkansas Pine Bluff, L vs Baylor

Needed to beat Baylor to give themselves a nonconference win over a BCS opponent, as that was their last shot. They do play BYU next, which would be a bigger win, but has yet to show that they can beat anyone but a clearly inferior opponent.

4 (2). Washington State 6-2

Last week: L @ Gonzaga, L @ Kansas State

WSU has established that their play this year is going to be up and down. Looked very good in the first 30 minutes when they outplayed Gonzaga, but couldn't hold on. Then got run off the court in Manhattan. With the team's youth, the inconsistent play shouldn't be too surprising. Seems like two losses should drop them lower, but I bring myself to put any of the following teams (all with MUCH worse losses on their resumes) above them.

5 (9). Oregon State 4-3

Last week: W vs Colorado, W Cal State Bakersfield

Last year Oregon State started slowly as well, but by the end of the season they were playing decent basketball. This year the slow start is still there, but the team seems to be rounding into shape more quickly this year, and has a higher ceiling. Not sure what's going on with Roeland Schaftenaar though, as his production is down across the board, as are his minutes.

6 (5). Stanford 4-3

Last week: No games

Curios bit of scheduling for Stanford as they go 14 days between games here.

7 (6). Oregon 4-3

Last week: L @ Missouri

Missouri embarrassed the Ducks. Missouri plays fast, presses, traps and is a really intense team to play. Needless to say, the Ducks don't have the kind of coach who can combat a team like that.

8 (7). Arizona 3-4

Last week: L vs UNLV, L @ Oklahoma

Sean Miller's squad looked promising to begin the year, but as the schedule has toughened the Cats (like the rest of the Pac-10) have struggled. A good showing this coming week (La Tech at home, at San Diego State) could swing their season around.

9 (8). USC 2-4

Last week: L @ Texas, L @ Georgia Tech

Still not any good. They just don't have players who can consistently put the ball in the basket, as they have yet to reach 70 points in a single game.

10 (10). UCLA 2-5

Last week: L vs Kansas

Losing games is one thing, but now players are jumping off of the sinking ship. Drew Gordon has announced that he's going to transfer, stopping just short of saying that Ben Howland lied to him while recruiting him. Gordon expected to be playing a more up and down style, though I don't know why he'd believe Howland would suddenly change his entire philosophy. Rumor is that Malcolm Lee may be unhappy as well.