Pac 10 Power Poll 12/27/05

Kind of a quiet basketball week as we are right in the middle of Bowl Week and ofcourse Christmas time. Congrats to the Cal Bears for beating BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. Well on to basketball and the biggest story in my opinion is the implosion of the Oregon Ducks since the miracle shot loss to Vanderbilt. Since then the Ducks have managed to only beat Santa Clara and Howard. From the viewing of just about anyone who has seen this team play last year compared to this year outside of Brandon Lincoln and Adam Zahn this team has not improved and in many cases may have regressed. I point to this as a coaching issue, Kent has recruited well but he has been exposed with the losses of Greg Graham after the 2001/2002 season to Boise State and the loss of Fred Litzenberger as assistant coaches (defensive guru who ran practice for Jody Runge and Ernie Kent over the years and spent about 20 hours a day waching tape). The pressure on Kent is immense right now and I think as a game coach he is at the bottom of the Pac 10. With the talent of the recruits he has signed the Ducks should be at worst 4th or 5th in the Pac 10 this year but I would doubt to see them favored in any more than 4 games this entire season and would be suprised to see a finish higher than 8th in league play. I don't think he will be fired after this year but after Jordan Kent's eligibility is complete after next season Ernie will be gone from Eugene and I hope Bill Moos follows him.

Power Poll

1. UW - Outside of an injury plauged Gonzaga haven't been tested yet . . . Brockman shoul;d be freshman of the year in the Pac 10, just think what they would be like with Martell Webster as well.
2. UCLA - RPI loves these guys as they have played a much tougher schedule than UW, I would not be surprised to see UCLA end the season as league champs.
3. Arizona - I still think they need another shooter to step up for them
4. USC - Weak schedule but the win over UNC was impressive not that the student body noticed or anything.
5. Cal- Nice to see Leon Powe back at it after missing last year with a knee injury
6. Stanford - based on personell alone . . . they should be able to win a decent amount of games in the Pac 10
7. WSU - No one likes to play WSU, they'll win a few games they shouldn't and I don't think a NIT appearance is out of the question
8. Oregon State - Haven't played since 12/14/05 and that was a win against a team in Northern Colorado who sports an RPI of plus 300
9. Arizona State - Expect to see Rob Evans fired at year end
10a. University of Portland - 3-0 versus in state competetion first time since the 50's they have swept PSU, UO and OSU.
10b. UO - Is there a fireenriekent.com website up yet? There is no excuse for how poorly this team has played . . . can it get any lower than the UP loss?