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Pac-10 Basketball update & Power Rankings 01/15

Think it will be easy getting a ticket at the Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif. Saturday when California comes to Stanford?

Well, the Cal-Stanford rivalry speaks for itself. But with former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery bringing the Golden Bears across the Bay Area, the game takes on a completely different tone.

You can bet there are plenty of Stanford fans who feel betrayed by Montgomery. After all, Montgomery turned the Cardinal into one of the conference’s powers that included a trip to the 1998 Final Four.

But the fans’ frustration is probably due in part because Montgomery has Cal off to its best start (15-2, 3-0) since the 1959-60 season when it went to the NCAA championship game and lost to Ohio State. That team went 28-2.

Stanford just came off a painful trip to Washington where the Cardinal lost at Washington and Washington St. First-year coach Johnny Dawkins is trying to make his mark. The atmosphere will be complete madness.

Big Bad Bruins

There still are some scoring questions surrounding UCLA this season. However, the Bruins already have jumped off to the perfect 4-0 start as they try to capture their fourth consecutive PAC 10 championship. In the previous three, the Bruins went to the Final Four.

They dispatched of Arizona 83-60 with 60 percent shooting and now get ready for Arizona State. Senior guard Darren Collison is now 7 th all-time on the school’s steal list 498. And he will be the team’s go-to player and point scorer.

But if the Bruins are really going to be Final Four contenders, they are going to need a little more consistency from the post and deep range shooter Josh Shipp. He has been around 30-33 percent in his career at the school. That’s acceptable but just not what Ben Howland had in mind.

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Snakebit Trojans

It didn’t help the Trojans when O.J. Mayo decided one year was enough for him following the 2007-08 season. But it was thought USC would be better. After all, with a great duo of forward Taj Gibson and guard Daniel Hackett returning, coach Tim Floyd knew he had a team that would be in the conference championship conversation.

But this has been an incredibly frustrating season for the Trojans. Four of the first five losses have been by four points or less including consecutive four-point losses to Oregon State and UCLA to start conference play. But the Trojans are hoping that the Jan. 15 61-49 win over Arizona State will offer a little more resurgence. Their defense was probably the best it has been all season as Sun Devils only had 15 field goals.

Briefly…

Arizona State’s continued commitment to its basketball program is revealed by the 49,000-foot practice facility that is currently being constructed. The $19.1 million project is scheduled to be completed by May 1 of this year.

Power Rankings

1. UCLA
2. California
3. Arizona State
4. Washington
5. USC
6. Arizona
7. Washington State
8. Stanford
9. Oregon State
10. Oregon

By Kevin Lonnquist
Pac-10 Correspondent