Summer Session: Pac-10 Slogan, 'It Has to Be Better'

It Has to Be Better. That probably isn't the slogan that Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott would want to attach to the men's basketball season, but it's the prevailing sentiment as the conference's 10 teams begin organized workouts on Sept. 15.

A conference with history and pride and tradition barely got two teams in to the NCAA field last spring, and the prospects for drastic improvement just aren't that good.

Washington, which reached the Sweet 16 last March, is the only team in the conference that has been ranked by the preseason magazines and that qualifies the Huskies as overwhelming favorites.

UCLA, which finished below .500 for the first time since 2004, and Arizona are expected to be better, expected to return to their rightful places in the field of 68 come March.

But beyond that, there's only a lot question marks.

---

---

The 2010 champion Cal, has been decimated by graduation losses, Arizona State looks to hold on to the progress it made with last year's second-place finish. Washington State, USC and Oregon State want to make a move to the top tier with experienced players. Stanford and Oregon will battle to defy low expectations.

In the meantime, the Pac-10 is looking into plans to take the men's coaches on the same kind of East Coast tour that garnered the football coaches so much attention in the summer. Selling the Pac-10 is one thing. Producing a product worth selling in this final season as a 10-team conference is a different matter.

Comings and Goings

The only new coach in the conference this season is Oregon's Dana Altman, who was brought on after a protracted search and is left to round out a roster after the departure of five players during the offseason. One of those players is center Michael Dunigan, who averaged 9.0 points and 4.9 rebounds a game. Dunigan announced in August that he is leaving Oregon to sign a three-year professional contract with an Israeli team.

David and Travis Wear are headed back to Southern California. The McDonald's All-American twins, who had distinguished prep careers at Mater Dei, have been granted their releases from North Carolina. They are headed to UCLA and will spend the year biding their transfer time in Westwood. When they are ready to play in 2011-2012, they will be sophomores.

Taylor King is gone before he arrived, announcing in late-August that he would not be coming to USC after all. He committed to UCLA after eighth grade, played at Duke and Villanova before announcing his transfer back to USC. But the Trojans apparently didn't have a scholarship to offer him and he would have been considered a walk-on. So King is gone.

Short-handed Stanford has to be happy to get 6-8 power forward Josh Owens back. Owens, a starter for the Cardinal two years ago, sat out 2009-10 with an undisclosed medical condition, but has been cleared to play.

Lazeric Jones begins what is surely a brief career at UCLA this fall. The juco transfer from Chicago, who will have two years of eligibility, should provide some of the backcourt help the Bruins need.

Last month, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said that standout freshman guard Roberto Nelson is "good to go." But when Nelson will be cleared by the NCAA to play is still a bit of a mystery. Nelson is expected to be working out with his Beaver teammates when team workouts begin on Sept. 15.

Cal will get some experience back in junior center Harper Kamp, who is back on the floor after missing last season with a knee injury. Might help to mitigate the loss of 83 percent of the Bears' scoring.

Upcoming Storylines

UCLA and Arizona missed the NCAA tournament last year -- along with eight other Pac-10 teams, to be fair -- but March without the Bruins or the WIldcats just seems weird. Is this the year they can both get back?

There are only 17 returning seniors on rosters in the entire conference. Three teams, Stanford, Washington State and UCLA, have no seniors. Arizona State and Oregon State have four seniors each.

Arizona State forward Rihards Kuksiks, who has 210 career 3-pointers, almost departed the desert, strongly considering leaving school to play pro ball in Europe. But the Sun Devils' leading scorer is returning to the floor.

Oregon's Matthew Knight Arena is scheduled to open in January, in time for the start of the Pac-10 season, ending the long, long era of McArthur Court. Will it be the shiny new home of the worst basketball team in the Pac-10? Or will it be the place where a huge surprise takes place? Don't bet on the latter.

Cal won its first Pac-10 title in 50 years. And then everybody left. Can Mike Montgomery and lone returning starter Jorge Gutierrez lead a team full of youngsters into the top half of the standings? Can 7-foot-3 Max Zhang break out of the mold of fan favorite and become a true factor?

The NCAA wrapped up investigations at both USC and Arizona, and the two programs avoided further major sanction. The NCAA accepted the schools' self-sanctions in the O.J. Mayo investigation at USC and Lute Olson's involvement with a high school basketball event at Arizona. No further major penalties are coming, which is positive news for second-year coaches Kevin O'Neill and Sean Miller.

Pre-Fall Power Rankings

1. Washington -- The Huskies qualify as overwhelming favorites.

2. UCLA -- Looking good for an NCAA return.

3. Arizona -- Thanks to the return of four starters and nearly 80 percent of Wildcats' scoring, Sean Miller's second season as head coach is looking better than the first.

4. Arizona State -- Can the Sun Devils' make it four consecutive 20-win seasons?

5. Washington State -- Second year under Ken Bone should be better.

6. Cal -- The Bears start over with a young team that could be starting two freshmen.

7. USC -- The Trojans have talent inside with Pac-10's leading rebounder in Nikola Vucevic.

8. Oregon State -- This team could be a spoiler. The Beavers have won more games in any two-year span since 1990-91.

9. Stanford -- Jeremy Green will lead an inexperienced Cardinal team.

10. Oregon -- Dana Altman has to fill out a roster and worry about winning later.

Watch list

Not necessarily the preseason All-Big 12 but five players who bear watching in 2010-11

G Isaiah Thomas, Washington

G Klay Thompson, Washington State

C Nikola Vucevic, USC

F Tyler Honeycutt, UCLA

F Derrick Williams, Arizona