Arizona State coach Herb Sendek knew the James Harden era in Tempe would last a maximum of two years. Harden returned to school after a sparkling freshman season and exceeded that first year, leading the Sun Devils to their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years and earning first-team All America honors. Now Harden is gone along with gifted senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, leaving Sendek with a major challenge heading into next season.
A five-man recruiting class along with the return of improving point guard Derek Glasser should keep ASU competitive but remaining in the Pac-10's first division won't be easy.
The upheaval at USC and constant defections at UCLA may have sent conference supremacy north.
The NBA draft's early entries have one month to return to school (June 15), but it doesn't appear any of the Pac-10 entries are coming back. Six underclassmen -- USC's DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson, UCLA's Jrue Holiday, the Arizona duo of Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and Arizona State's James Harden -- will participate in the draft combine beginning May 28 in Chicago, and none are likely to return to their schools. Even Holiday, a projected late first-rounder, is reportedly close to hiring an agent and remaining in the draft.
Stanford has ruled the Pac-10 Women's basketball landscape for the past 20 years, and California and Arizona State have recently emerged to make the conference a three-team scramble for supremacy. But two recent hires by Oregon and USC have made it apparent that women's basketball is indeed becoming a higher priority on the West Coast.
On a night when the University of Arizona honored famed coach Lute Olson during halftime, something became very clear as the ceremonial speeches ended and the basketball began. If the Wildcats want to continue their NCAA streak of 25 consecutive tournament appearances, they would need more than an uplifting video (it got dusty in my apartment) and the memory of a coach that has been through a lot the last two years. The Wildcats need a W.
It wasn't happening, as Jerome Randle absolutely murdered the 'Cats in the second half, helping California (22-8, 11-6) improve to third in the Pac-10 with the 83-77 win and put the Wildcats in another uncomfortable position similar to last season -- leaving their March Madness dreams up to chance.
Headlining: The beauty of a Tuesday column, at least this season, is that whoever ends up No. 1 can do so with an asterisk based on Monday's games. (*In case you didn't know already, Pittsburgh beat Connecticut.) And it appears that next week, we'll likely have a new No. 1 team in the nation. That will likely be Blake Griffin and the Oklahoma Sooners. Which is fitting, considering Griffin dropped a rediculous 40-point, 23-rebound Valentine's Day stat line on Texas Tech Saturday night.
Tim Floyd obviously wasn't very happy with a particular call in USC's loss to Arizona State the other night. He was so angry, in fact, that he stormed on the court leading ASU's Jeff Pendergraph to say he thought Floyd "... was going to punch the ref." After the fact, Floyd bemoaned the officiating and his inability to discuss said officiating, stating at the end of the following video that, "We don't have freedom of speech as coaches ... I can't discuss it ... Maybe [Barack] Obama will change that rule ... and we can talk." Well played, Coach Floyd. Well played.
Tim Floyd didn't have a good Valentine's Day weekend: it was sandwiched by losses at Arizona and Arizona State and he had to watch as his Trojans started slipping to the ever-so-dangerous bubble territory. Oh yeah, and he wigged out on the referees in the ASU game. Enjoy.
Duke and North Carolina were separated by a single game in the ACC standings heading into Sunday; little did Duke know it, but they nearly had a chance to tie the Tar Heels again. However, games against Boston College and Miami, respectively, ended the wrong way for the Devils.
Boston College 80, Duke 74: The same problems that have plagued the Blue Devils all season -- point guard play as well as lack of an inside presence -- came into play again Sunday afternoon.
One one hand, you can't blame Southern California coach Tim Floyd for losing his mind in the closing minutes of his team's loss at No. 18 Arizona State, 65-53. The Pac-10 has had some trouble with officiating recently, so Floyd's frustration is somewhat understandable.
But come on coach, you have to show a little bit of composure. The Trojans have lost three consecutive games and are clearly on the bubble for the tournament. Your team has look unorganized and undisciplined at times. This certainly isn't going to help your team's reputation. One technical to fire up your team is one thing, but getting tossed from the game? That illustrates that you are slowly losing control of your team and the season.
This is never why you listen to the stat heads. They will let you down. Just when you start to doubt UCLA, the Bruins go on a huge winning streak with impressive wins. And just when you completely buy in and believe that UCLA has turned the corner, the Bruins lose on the road at Arizona State, 74-67.
Are we ever going to get an accurate read on this team or are we doomed to be on the back end of a trend?
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Arizona State coach Herb Sendek knew the James Harden era in Tempe would last a maximum of two years. Harden returned to school after a sparkling freshman season and exceeded that first year, leading the Sun Devils to their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years and earning first-team All America honors. Now Harden is gone along with gifted senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, leaving Sendek with a major challenge heading into next season.
The upheaval at USC and constant defections at UCLA may have sent conference supremacy north.
On a night when the University of Arizona honored famed coach 
Ranking the rankings
One one hand, you can't blame Southern California coach Tim Floyd for losing his mind in the closing minutes of his team's loss at No. 18 Arizona State, 
This is never why you listen to the stat heads. They will let you down. Just when 
