Early entries leave Pac-10 depleted

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard The Pac-10 just can't be this bad, can it? Then again, maybe the numbers don't lie. The league enters this week with a cumulative record of 42-30 in nonleague games. That's a .583 winning percentage while the Big East is at .852, the Big 12 at .815, the ACC at .779, the SEC at .744 and the Big Ten at .699, all entering Monday's games. Yes, there can be discrepancies in the scheduling, but the Pac-10 is 5-16 against those other five leagues. In the polls, Washington is the Pac-10's lone ranked team, at No. 17 in The Associated Press poll. OK, what does the media know? The computer used for the RPI has the Huskies sixth nationally and Cal 28th. That's it for Pac-10 teams in the RPI's top 100, and half of the league's teams are ranked below 150th. Yikes is right. This league is going to be in a scramble to get three teams into the NCAA Tournament, which would match the low number of the previous 15 years. What happened? "So many great players have left," Arizona coach Sean Miller told the Arizona Daily Star. Yes, there is that factor. This could have been the junior season for Kevin Love at UCLA, O.J. Mayo at USC and James Harden at ASU. If players didn't leave for the NBA draft early, Chase Budinger would bea senior at Arizona and Jerryd Bayless could be a junior instead of earning millions sitting on the bench of the Trail Blazers. Stanford could still have the Lopez twins for their senior season,and Ryan Anderson would have a year left at California if not for the lure of the NBA. Even league favorite Washington could have Spencer Hawes for his senior season, had he not left after his freshman year. In fact, of the six players on the Pac-10's all-freshman team of 2007, only Oregon's Tajuan Porter isn't already in the NBA. The entireall-freshman team of 2008 is gone, too. But isn't that life in college basketball? "It's very difficult, but it is what it is," UCLA coach Ben Howland told the Los Angeles Daily News. "It's the playing field that we'redealt with. ... It makes things difficult, especially when you don'tknow for sure a guy is going to leave." Howland expected to lose Love after a season, but his team this year could have Russell Westbrook as a senior, and the Bruins didn't expect him to leave after two seasons. And neither did Howland expect to be replacing Jrue Holiday after his freshman season, but there he is in his rookie season of the NBA. Adding to all of this has been coaching turmoil at Arizona, where Miller made some immediate inroads in recruiting but is playing five freshmen, and at USC, where Tim Floyd beat the NCAA posse out of Los Angeles. "We have some terrific young players in our conference," Miller said. "You know as they grow and get older, things will continue to move in our conference's favor." Well, unless another batch of them leave early for the NBA. RATING THE Pac-10 1. Washington: Thomas 17-of-54 on FGs in last four games. 2. ASU: First true road game tonight at BYU for 6-2 Devils. 3. WSU: Gave up 13-point lead on Gonzaga or would be No. 1. 4. Cal: Hit hard by flu bug before loss at New Mexico. 5. Arizona: At 6-7, Horne leads the league in blocked shots. 6. Stanford: Best turnover margin in league at plus 5.3. 7. OSU: League's longest current win streak reaches 3. 8. USC: Who is Nik Vucevic? He averages double-double. 9. UCLA: Howland desperate enough he's playing zone? 10. Oregon: Loss by 37 worst by margin since 2001. BY THE NUMBERS 2 Pac-10 wins in first 10 games of the Hardwood Series with Big 12, by California over Iowa State and Oregon State over Colorado, both athome. The league does have two more home games, Stanford vs. Oklahoma State and Washington vs. Texas A&M. 14 Turnovers for ASU's Derek Glasser, in 254 minutes. That's a turnover every 18.1 minutes for the senior point guard, who also has the league's best assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.0 (42 to 14). UPCOMING DOUBLE TROUBLE? Washington plays Georgetown followed by UCLA against Mississippi State in the Wooden Classic on Saturday, with the telecast on FSN beginning at 11 a.m., offering a national view of the Pac-10 against two likely NCAA Tournament teams. "This is the time of the year to put upor shut up," Washington's Quincy Pondexter said. Well ... Quotable "That's the most helpless feeling you have as a coach. It's not something you're going to heal anytime soon. It's confidence, togetherness and toughness." UA COACH SEAN MILLER ON WILDCATS LOSING TO Oklahoma FREE THROWS Tough weekend for UCLA. The football team was told its EagleBank Bowl bid hinges on Army losing to Navy to create a spot, and the men'swater polo team lost 7-6 to USC in the national title game. Oh, and in men's basketball, the Bruins fell to 2-5, their worst start since Steve Lavin's final season of 2002-03. Wasn't Stanford widely regarded as the league's weakest team? The Cardinal are 4-3, and one loss was in overtime to Kentucky. Stanford also beat Portland State, which beat Portland, which beat both UCLA and Oregon. So there ... so far.