I figured I would make a thread to talk about games or just the league in general for this season. So what are some thoughts thus far of teams you have seen?
So after a handful of games, I'm utterly surprised of what I've seen out of the Pac-10 thus far. The only good dominant team that I've seen is Washington, who could run the table if they can get into conference play undefeated. After Washington, California is probably the clear cut 2nd place team but after that...wow. I can project Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, and Wazzou as the main group after UW & Cal. For everyone else, this is going to be a long year at this point, w/ UCLA being an exception. Here's my projections after seeing teams: 1. Washington 2. California 3. Arizona State 4. Arizona 5. Washington State 6. Stanford 7. USC 8. Oregon 9. UCLA 10. Oregon State
UCLA is RREEEAAALLLLYYY young right now and they are missing some key guys like Honeycutt. But the losses to Fullerton and Long Beach State look really bad right now. Even that blowout loss to Portland really hurts UCLA, and its not looking good at all. If you look at them, this team is really similar to Arizona in terms of youth and talent, but you can tell how big of a difference an experienced PG makes for a team as Arizona can depend on Nic Wise to handle the ball and run the team efficiently, while UCLA have 2 sophomores that they are heavily depending on.
1. Washington 2. UCLA 3. Arizona State 4. California 5. USC 6. Arizona 7. Wazzou 8. Oregon State 9. Stanford 10. Oregon UW was the only good team that didn't lose a majority of its core, and it has shown as how they're way above the other teams. Cal looks pretty solid, but I just don't think they have the greatest talent, just will benefit from a weak conference.
Cal is legit but their frontline is a question mark. It doesn't get any better than Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, and Jorge Guttierez on the perimiter. The problem is that Harper Kamp and Jamaal Boykin are your top inside players. They've got some unknown talent at PF/C but they're struggling with good teams right now without Robertson and Kamp.
Do you know anything about this Max Zhang guy? He's suppose to be a 7'2" giant that was suppose to be some "legit" shotblocker, but he doesn't even play lol
All I know is he puts up decent numbers in blow outs when Monty will play him. Hes not ready yet and probably will never be a really great player or NBA prospect but any decent 7'2 guy can make an impact in the NCAA.
haha Considering he's be a good 5 inches taller than most post players, he can't be that bad of an option at this point. Gonzaga is playing this 7'5" guy that has averaged 1 point & 1 rebound in very limited minutes all 3 years he has been there, and he's getting like 5-10 minutes this year. These giants are pretty horrible on the college level even though they really suck, but you'll find the occasional Kenny George that can be somewhat good.
UCLA did lose quite a bit with their senior class and Jrue Holiday going pro, not to mention the current transfers going out for them. They lost possibly their top player, definitely best big, and rumors are flying around that Malcom Lee, their PG, is thinking about transferring now too.
Arizona barely loss to UNLV while Wazzou blew a 12 pt halftime lead to the Zags. Things are looking really bleak for the Pac-10 right now
[video=youtube;8utmGlMMbAQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8utmGlMMbAQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Arizona beat Cal yesterday to pull into 1st in the Pac-10 @ 5-3, while Cal is also 5-3 but lose the tiebreaker as of right now.
I can't remember the Pac-10 being this collectively bad. How many bids do you think they'll get for the Tourney?
I asked the same thing on the DX forum, and we agreed that 2, 3 if they're extremely lucky. Right now, barring a meltdown I see Cal as being in. Then whoever finishes 1st or 2nd, whichever Cal doesn't get, will probably be in. This is sad how bad the Pac-10 has been this year, it's amazing that a team like Arizona that is so young (5 Frosh & 7 Soph) is in 1st at this point of the season.
