Two weeks ago, Pat Summitt surveyed the national scene and said this:
"A lot of people don't have Mississippi State on their radar screen and they should."
Never argue with Pat.
Mississippi State is climbing the rankings -- moving from No. 25 to No. 19 in this week's poll -- and the ladder of national recognition, particularly after Sunday's 84-55 win over No. 20 Maryland.
Granted, Maryland is remodeling after the graduation of Kristi Tolliver and Marisa Coleman and the transfer of Marah Strickland, and Brenda Frese's program will likely struggle with change most of the year, but the Bulldogs took it to the Terrapins on their home floor.
For example, when everyone says that Baylor freshman Brittney Griner will change women's basketball. Well, sure, she will.
But did we all expect it to happen in the first couple of weeks?
In the first three games of her college career, she has tried to dunk twice and missed both. Sunday at No. 17 Cal in Berkeley, Calif., Griner had an opportunity in the closing moments of a 69-49 victory. Baylor had the ball in transition and guard Melissa Jones passed the ball to Griner behind her back at the baseline. Griner went up with her right hand to dunk and the ball bounced off the rim. She pulled down the rebound and was fouled.
Joanne Boyle came to Cal four years ago as the head coach, inheriting a team built on freshmen talent.
And here she is again, in a gym full of young, inexperienced players, not entirely sure what she has or how they will perform when games begin in two weeks.
"It's going to be an interesting season," Boyle said. "I think we're going to be good. I'm just not sure when."
Boyle has taken the Bears from a struggling program to one that has cemented itself among the national elite -- a regular member of the rankings, an NCAA participant, a player in the Pac-10.
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.
Digger Phelps is one of ESPN's most colorful characters. I mean that literally, too. The guy matches his highlighters to his ties. Which, all ridiculousness aside, seems like it would be really difficult to manage in terms of a long-term dress code. Well, Digger only added to his colorful notoriety Saturday night, when he got down with some Cal cheerleaders during a timeout. On the bright side, at least he wasn't talking about Notre Dame. Via Bruins Nation.
Arizona State was swept by the Washington schools over the weekend, and now fans in Tempe might be growing concerned that Herb Sendek's bunch is close to being on the bubble. But let's not push the panic button just yet.
In the latest Bracketology, Arizona State is a No. 8 seed, the lowest seeded team of any of the Pac-10 schools. And that's kind of a surprise. Cal is a No. 7 seed despite losing four of its last five games. In fact, the Golden Bears lone win during that stretch is over Oregon (more on them in a second).
Joe Lunardi has Baylor, St. Mary's, BYU and Penn State as his last four teams in the tournament. So that should show that the Sun Devils are safe. For now.
UCLA doesn't care much about second place. That was evident on Thursday night as the UCLA put away Cal, 81-66. If Cal thought it smelled blood in the water, Thursday's game was nothing but a clever ambush by the Bruins.
UCLA played like a desperate team trying to send a message. The passive, eight-pass and settle for a horrible shot offense was flushed. Darren Collison was driving to the basket, drawing fouls and converting free throws to finish with 18 points. In fact, UCLA shot 91 percent from the line. The Bruins played defense like a Ben Howland team, forcing 16 turnovers. In short, it was the kind of dominating performance that fans in Westwood have come accustomed to.
UCLA not only crushed its NorCal rival, but also sent a message to the rest of the conference that they were still a the alpha male of the conference. The Bruins also moved into their rightful place -- that being first -- after Washington lost at Arizona. (Somebody must have been looking ahead, right?) Seems silly that a team like UCLA would need a conference win in January, but the freshman really did. Guys like Jrue Holliday, who had 13 points, needed to step up.
The leading question now is if UCLA can match the intensity against Stanford on Saturday.
This wasn't the way the season was supposed to go for the Bruins. Despite losing a bevy of talent, UCLA was still expected to stand tall. The Bruins don't rebuild, they reload. The freshman class led by Jrue Holiday was supposed to be Ben Howland's best yet and the team was supposed to look forward to a fourth consecutive Final Four.
But it hasn't worked out that way.
The Bruins are 15-4, 5-2 in the Pac-10 and ranked No. 17 in the country. That's a good year. If you are Oregon State, or one of the other teams in the Pac-10. But this is UCLA. A place where only championship banners hang from the rafters. Something, however, is way worse for UCLA. Something nobody in Westwood is comfortable talking about.
NCAA Basketball 
Two weeks ago, Pat Summitt surveyed the national scene and said this:
Change doesn't always come quickly.
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 
Arizona State was swept by the Washington schools over the weekend, and now fans in Tempe might be growing concerned that Herb Sendek's bunch is close to being on the bubble. But let's not push the panic button just yet.
UCLA doesn't care much about second place. That was evident on Thursday night as the UCLA put away Cal, 
This wasn't the way the season was supposed to go for the Bruins. Despite losing a bevy of talent, UCLA was still expected to stand tall. The Bruins don't rebuild, they reload. The freshman class led by Jrue Holiday was supposed to be Ben Howland's best yet and the team was supposed to look forward to a fourth consecutive Final Four.
