Pac 10 tournament games

You may call me biased, but I see Oregon taking this one. Sure, the first two games point to a Sun Devil victory, but as any basketball player knows, beating someone three times in a row is tougher than any other game in the regular season. The Trojans have won five out of their last six games, including wins against Arizona, at California and at Washington.

They are arguably the second-hottest team in the tournament besides UCLA, and if they move past Cal, they will most-likely face Arizona, whom they recently just beat. If they pull out solid victories over Cal and Arizona and then play a close game in the championship, that just might be enough for selection Sunday.

Cal is on the bubble as well, but I don't see them making the tourney unless they win the conference championship. There is no way around it; they have to win it. They have been up and down all year, with streaks of losses and streaks of wins, including a four-game winning streak they are currently holding.

This should turn out to be a great game. Both of these teams split the series this season, Cal winning by two points and USC winning by three. If that doesn't spell out a close game for you, I don't know what will.

The Bruins are the hottest team going into the tournament. That suits them well when selection Sunday comes around, but a slip up here could possibly spell disaster for the postseason. They have the ability, and they are the most complete team in the conference, which is deadly in the postseason. This tourney does not mean a whole lot to the Bruins, except for seeding in the big dance. Oregon has never seemed to find an answer for Josh Smith of UCLA, and I don't see them finding one anytime soon considering their tallest player is a pound seven-footer from Germany—and he doesn't even see the court.

All in all, whoever matches up with UCLA will not have the ability to match hand-in-hand with Josh Smith 6'10'', pounds. It would take a miracle to come back the next day after a win and beat one of the hottest teams in the country. I just don't see it happening. There has to be a point in time where the wheels start turning and Arizona plays to the potential that everyone knows they have.

Their biggest Pac win this year was a point victory over Oregon. After that, their biggest victory was only 11 points. Are the Wildcats as good as we think? Or are they just riding on the back of Derrick Williams? The Cardinal lost both matchups in this series, both by about 10 points. If they can keep the game close until the end, they just might have a shot. But again, after playing the night before, their legs will not be as fresh as they are used to. Arizona is just better than Stanford.

But, as we see every week, there are always surprises. I think this is where the surprise will lurk. The Huskies have lost both of the games this year against WSU.

Because they cannot seem to find the answer against Klay Thompson. He had 25 points in their first meeting and exploded in the second half of their second meeting to score 26 points.

Washington's weakness is their lack of focus on defense; they get content with the leads that they build and then take a rest. The Pac announced it would be joining the other power conferences by adding a conference tournament in place of a regular season series to end the year, now opening the door for a regular season and tournament Pac champion. UCLA will be sporting a new look this season in more ways than one — not only will the Bruins be donning Nike jerseys for the first time, but they'll also be without the 10 players selected in last summer's MLB Draft.

Savage has reeled in another crew of highly-rated recruits to take their place, though, and they'll be making their debuts this spring at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The full schedule can be found HERE.

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