How the Entire State of Ohio Got Metaphorically Decapitated by a Sousaphone

It all started with the guy dotting the "i" almost decapitating a camera man, and it got more demoralizing from there.

Imagine this. You're a band nerd growing up in Ohio. When you're a freshman in high school you switch from playing the trumpet to playing the sousaphone so that you can have the opportunity to take center stage in one of the best traditions in college football. And, eight years later, you're a senior in college, your team is playing the biggest game of the season, your family is watching oh so proudly from the stands, you follow the bandleader through Script Ohio, get your big moment with the high kicks, and prepare to take your big bow, with the camera and every college football fan in America watching you, and as you take a nice semi-violent bow, your sousaphone drills the cameraman in the head.

Yes. That actually happened.

Somehow, the Ohio State Buckeyes decided to replicate that moment in a football game.

Imagine this. You have been repeatedly beat down at the hands of highly ranked foes for three straight years, to the point where most college football fans across the country are actively rooting for you to lose, just so they don't have to watch you ruin another national championship game. You're playing your biggest game of the season, against the eminently hateable U$C Trojans, who seem exceptionally hateable this season due to their freshman quarterback who seems to have exactly one clue in the world, a clue that was likely planted by Mark Fuhrman. After watching your all-world athlete of a QB (you know, the one that decided to break out a tribute to Mike Vick in the form of eye-black in the season opener), get your team behind the cue ball just a couple of minutes into the game, you spend the next, I dunno, let's say 50 minutes more or less whooping up on the Trojans, gritting your way out to a five point lead behind some phenomenal defense and some workmanlike offense. And then, just as you're about to take your metaphorical bow in front of your family, your friends and the rest of the college football world, some cameraman gets in the way.

How bad did Ohio State need this game tonight? How bad did the entire Big Ten need it? Coming into the game, there were a lot of Buckeye fans who would have been just fine with a loss so long as they weren't publicly humiliated again. I think in the end, this one hurt a lot worse than the debacle in the Coliseum last year.

There were definitely bright spots for the Buckeyes: they played hard, they had some younger guys step up and take their first steps toward proving their worth. But in the end, all anyone will remember is the Ohio State Buckeyes (and perhaps the entire Big Ten) losing another big game.

Oh. That, and the sousaphone player clocking a cameraman.


Elsewhere around the Big Ten:

My succinct notes on Tate Forcier so far: small, excellent runner, decent arm, intangibles out the wazoo.

I'll make no secret of my strong dislike for all things Michigan, which makes it all the more horrible that I really like this guy. I hope he starts a dog fighting ring, or at the very least decks some loudmouth from the WAC so I can build up a nice little bit of hatred for him somehow.

Probably wouldn't have mattered, but did you notice how the clock at Michigan Stadium went from 11 seconds to 9 seconds between the time the kickoff ended and the time the next play started? Gotta love the homefield timekeeper.

Wisconsin got into some trouble early against Fresno State, but came back in the second half to play a brand of football that actually looked like Wisconsin football again, and, in the process, actually pulled out a game they should have lost. John Clay showed a nice little burst of speed that I had never seen from him before, and he seems to get progressively harder to bring down as the game goes on. Throw in a nice set of receiver, the typical massive Wisconsin offensive line, and a quarterback who is a significant upgrade from the last couple of years and this Badger squad could make some noise again and get Bret Bielema back in the good graces of Wisconsin fans.

Sparty being Sparty, and even earlier this year than usual. Excellent.

Rocky Mountain Low

I've now watched perhaps 15 or so football games this season: some real good ones, some total snoozers. And, amazingly, perhaps the most thorough beatdown I've watched so far in this young season was the Toledo Rockets of the MAC taking apart the Colorado Buffaloes of the vaunted Big Twelve. Now, I did watch Cincinnati demolish Rutgers last weekend, and that definitely deserves to be in the conversation, but this was far more of a surprise and more damning to the losing squad. About 40 minutes into this game, Toledo was up 30-3 and Colorado had shown few signs of life. Now, the final was 54-38, but that's including two meaningless backdoor TDs by Colorado and a 4yd TD drive following a UT fumbled kickoff, and even somehow subtracting those 3 TDs doesn't really do justice to how one-sided this game really was.

There are a number of interesting angles to look at regarding this game, but let's start with this head-scratcher: how the hell did Colorado agree to play a Friday night game at Toledo five days after their opener against in-state rival Colorado State? I know Miami of Ohio backed out of a scheduled game sort of late in the process leaving the Buffs in need of a game, but how exactly did Toledo convince Dan Hawkins to come to the Glass Bowl? Now, I'm glad they did agree to it, because this type of thing is not only good for the Rockets, and the MAC, but college football in general. A big conference school deigning to visit somewhere like Toledo, Ohio? Definitely far more compelling that a game against Charleston Southern or Southeast Missouri State that is little more than a paycheck for each school involved.

Now, not only did Colorado agree to visit Toledo, they also let Toledo supply the refs. And while I don't think the refs had any real effect on the outcome of the game, I thought I did catch the umpire smirk a few times when calling a crushing penalty against the Buffs bringing back a first down or more.

Aside from that, how is it that Toledo actually looks to be stocked with more talent at more positions than Colorado? The Buffs just landed Darrell Scott last offseason, the top high school running back recruit in the nation. And you know what? I think I'd rather have Toledo's back DaJuane Collins. Just a few months ago, Colorado seemed set at WR with Scotty McKnight and Josh Smith, not to mention Andre Simmons and tight end Riar Geer. Smith has since transferred but while the others remain, I think Toledo probably has more pass-catching weapons than Colorado, even with their best receiver Stephen Williams nursing an injured shoulder and watching from the sidelines. Sophomore Kenny Stafford, fresman Eric Page and sophomore Danny Noble (now converted to tight end) all sport excellent hands and athleticism to boot. Further, I think Toledo's strong safety Barry Church is probably better than anybody on Colorado's defense. And, gimme Toledo's Aaron Opelt over Colorado's Cody Hawkins any day of the week. Opelt is not only a better passer than Hawkins, but he is more than capable of making plays with his legs, a feature Hawkins does not have.

And, while we're on the topic of Hawkins, I'm assuming that Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins will be spending Saturday working on his resume. I thought he was terrible last week when Colorado State manhandled them, but tonight was atrocious. I can't imagine that he will be back next year, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if he was watching Colorado's November games on television.

Now, I don't want to end on that type of negative note, especially after watching that surprising game. We can spend the next week talking about all the things Colorado did wrong, but Toledo did quite a few things right. First-year head coach Tim Beckman has some talent on the team, and his team has definitely shown improvement from last year, and improvement even from week one. It looks like Beckman is on his way toward reviving the Rocket's fortunes following the recent scandals in Toledo and bringing the Rockets back to relevance in the MAC.

College Football Week One (or most of it, at least)

There are still a couple of games on the schedule on Labor Day, but it has already been an eventful week one, and thankfully there was a good story on Saturday to knock the LaGarrette Blount story off the headline for week one. However, an unfortunate part of that story is the injury to reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford that aided BYU in their upset of Oklahoma. Now, that's not to say that BYU would not have won even had Bradford played in the second half, because they were likely the better team even in the first half with Bradford in there, but it certainly made the Cougar's job easier. Regardless, you've got to hand it to the Cougars as they beat the Sooners in just about every aspect of the game.

The Mountain West scored more points today when Colorado State whooped their in-state rival Colorado up and down the field in the first half, then held on in the second half to complete a nice first weekend for the MWC. Meanwhile, Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins is squarely on the hot seat already. The strength of his offense is his stable of running backs, but time and time again, on first downs he would unleash his undertalented son Cody Hawkins to throw. The younger Hawkins can certainly be an effective quarterback, but he is not capable of carrying a team. Instead, if he was running play action after successful runs by Darrell Scott and Rodney Stewart, he would have much better chances of success.

It wasn't all bad for the Big 12 this weekend, however. Oklahoma State got their season off to a strong start, answering some of the questions about their potential defensive liabilities with a strong showing against SEC powerhouse Georgia. If the Cowboys' defense can maintain that type of success throughout the season, they will be able to challenge for a Big 12 title, given their strong offense.

And, I suppose the Blount situation deserves a bit of a comment, not that it hasn't already been said by others before me. Credit is due to Chip Kelly (not for his game preparation, which to put it bluntly, was horrible for the Boise State game) for his decision in regards to Blount. Kelly let it be known that destructive behavior like Blount's will not be tolerated, but at the same time, in his decision to allow Blount to remain in school and to continue to practice with the team, shows Blount and his fellow teammates that the coaching staff will not turn their backs on a player when that player is most in need of guidance. It would have been easy enough for Oregon to kick Blount out of school (and, for that matter, I'll give a bit of credit to Blount for choosing to stay in school, when it would have been easy for him to just quit and maybe explore options in the CFL or USFL), but instead they have thrown their support behind Blount despite delivering a significant punishment to him for his actions. I've heard people throw around the names Lawrence Phillips and Maurice Clarett in reference to Blount, but I would think that if Tom Osborne had shown the type of discipline towards Phillips that Kelly has shown, and if the Ohio State program had shown the type of support towards Clarett when he was being roundly embarassed in the national media as Oregon has shown, either of those stories could have had different, perhaps happier, endings. While Blount's actions Thursday night are completely unexcusable, I for one will be rooting for him to grow up and make the most of the talent he has.

Other quick thoughts from around the college football world:

• I hope the Big Ten enjoyed what opportunity they had to beat up on Michigan. This Wolverine team won't contend for a Big Ten title this year, but RichRod is well on his way to rebuilding the program.
• Just a couple of days ago, the upcoming Notre Dame/Michigan matchup would have elicited blank stares from most college football fans. Now, it is one of the highlights of week two action.
• Regardless of what happened in the game, it was pretty darn stupid of Ohio State to schedule Navy the week before USC. Not only did the Buckeyes probably not spend enough time preparing for the Navy offense, if they did spend any time prepping for that instead of USC, they wasted valuable time. It would have been much better to try to schedule someone somewhere with similar offense to the Trojans.
  
• I really hate it when coaches take a phenomenal athletic talent who also happens to play quarterback and try to box that guy up inside the role of a pocket passer. It's too early to tell whether that is what is happening with Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Tech, but if so, it is not worth the effort. For the Hokie's offense to take off this season, they'll need the full complement of Taylor's skills at QB.
• UCLA is on the upswing. This edition of the Bruins is not going to challenge for the Pac-10 title (or even battle with Cal and Oregon and Oregon State for the 2nd place spot), but somewhere around the time that this group of kids become upperclassmen, they will be a tough out. Their offensive line looks better than last year (although week two's matchup against Tennessee will give a better test), freshman quarterback Kevin Prince is a signigicant upgrade over Kevin Craft (although Prince still has a ways to go), the offense has far more playmakers, and the defense is as stout as it has been in recent years (despite it relative lack of depth). While anything beyond six, maybe seven, wins is a pipe dream, the program is starting to regain its footing under Rick Neuheisel.
  

Hitting in football

One of my bigger beefs with the NFL over the last few years (one among many, at least) has been the steady elimination through penalization of hitting. You can't hit a man high, you can't hit him low, and you certainly can't hit a QB anywhere. I understand that you want to eliminate dangerous hitting, but so far as I know, spearing has been a penalty since I was playing Pop Warner 25 years ago.

Well, the NFL's elimination of certain football plays is one thing, but to watch it trickle down to college football is disgusting. Apparently, one of the points of emphasis in college football this year will be to penalize any hits above the shoulder pads. Well, that's all fine and well, but on the first Saturday of the season, a tight game was more or less decided when what should have been a completely legal hit was ruled a personal foul.

To set the scene, Oklahoma State leads Georgia 17-10 about halfway through the 4th quarter. OSU has just taken over at the outer reaches of long FG range and on 3rd and long, OSU QB Zac Robinson delivers a deep ball a little high over the middle to freshman WR Justin Blackmon. Blackmon reaches high to make a play on the ball, and if no Georgia defender lays a hat on him, it is going to be any easy first down in easy FG range. So, smartly, junior strong safety Reshad Jones drills Blackmon, leading with his shoulder pad and right arm into Blackmon's upper chest/shoulder pads. The ball falls harmlessly to the ground, and immediately four (really?!?!? four) yellow hankies litter the ground, resulting in the OSU first down that would have occurred anyway had Jones not made the correct play on the receiver. A couple plays later, OSU punches it in and the game is effectively over.

Now, if that's not bad enough, on the next Georgia drive, Oklahoma State senior linebacker Andre Sexton makes a far more blatantly headhunting hit (which, to me, shouldn't have been a penalty either) and not a single flag is thrown.

It's football. In order to play the game effectively, players need to be able to hit, sometimes violently, in certain situations. Now, I understand if it's a dirty hit. Go ahead. Throw the flag. But a completely necessary legitimate hit that serves a key football goal needs to remain legal.

Open letter to the West Coast Conference

Just wanted to drop a note regarding the WCC basketball scheduling this season.

I've noticed that quite a few of the big games that hold interest for college basketball fans both regionally and nationally are scheduled on Thursday nights (St. Mary's/San Diego 1/22, SMC/Gonzaga 1/29, GU/SMC 2/12, and USD/SMC 2/19).

I'm sure part of the scheduling of these games has to do with requests from ESPN, but given that your main regional competition in college basketball is the Pac-10, and given that the Pac-10 has historically had Thursday/Saturday games, I'm thinking it is fairly unwise to try to directly compete with the big boys.

While someone like me will go out of his way to be able to take a look at those four games I mentioned (among others), the vast majority of west coast basketball fans are going to be tuned in to watch things like the SoCal schools against the Washington schools on 1/22, the Arizona schools against the Washington schools on 1/29, SoCals vs. Zona on 2/12 and again the SoCals vs the Washingtons on 2/19.

You are really limiting your potential audience by trying to go head-to-head against the Pac-10 schools on their traditional game nights. Much better for you to carve out your own identity. In years past, you had the 9pm PST game on Big Monday, and while I can understand how that may limit your exposure outside of the west, at least you had your own stage. Perhaps even Friday night games (a relatively untapped night in college basketball scheduling) would be preferable than trying to have San Diego compete for viewers against UCLA and St. Mary's to compete for viewers against Stanford.

Either way, best of luck to your teams and your conference, but you've really got to make it easier for your fans to be able to watch your games.

76 Classic Review

Year two of the 76 Classic (known as the Anaheim Classic in its first incarnation) showcased eight NCAA teams who all have hopes (of varying legitimacy) of playing in the NCAA tournament in March. The tournament, played in front of a sparse “crowd” at the Anaheim Convention Center over Thanksgiving weekend, was won by Wake Forest who defeated Baylor in an entertaining final Sunday night. While there are more than three months remaining until we find out who will advance to the Big Dance, we did get some answers and some clues as to what to expect from these teams over those months.

1. Wake Forest came away with the championship, after looking fairly underwhelming in the first two rounds. They were outrebounded in the first game by an undersized Cal State Fullerton team and then outrebounded by a significant amount in the semifinal by UTEP. However, the Demon Deacons enjoyed a talent gap over both teams and came away with wins despite uninspiring performances. However, in the final against Baylor, Wake looked every bit the team that had its fans excited in the offseason. They attacked the boards with abandon, getting double-digit rebound games from James Johnson, L.D. Williams and heralded freshman Al-Farouq Aminu, and dominated the game in the paint, coming away with a 13-point victory despite hitting only one three-pointer on the evening. Wake Forest does have some questions that need to be answered before they can be considered a threat to ACC rivals North Carolina and Duke. They don’t seem to have a consistent three-point threat, point guard Jeff Teague turns the ball over a bit too much and has some trouble getting the offense started, and their depth is somewhat suspect. However, they have a ton of talent. Johnson is a highly skilled athlete with a variety of talents all over the floor, Aminu is bound to improve by leaps and bounds as the season progresses and Teague can certainly put the ball in the hoop. There will be ups and downs for this team throughout the year, but they are capable of playing with almost anyone in the country on a given good night.

2. Baylor in many ways was the opposite of Wake Forest in this tournament. The Bears looked mighty impressive in the first two rounds, but then had their weaknesses exposed in the championship by Wake Forest. However, given that the Bears only shot 8-31 from three-point range in the final, missing multiple open looks throughout the game, an occurrence that will not be repeated often, Baylor has to be pretty enthusiastic about their chances in the Big Twelve. While Baylor will have to deal with questions about their interior game and rebounding ability, there is no doubt that they have very skilled players in the backcourt. Curtis Jerrels, Henry Dugat, LaceDarius Dunn and Tweeny Carter can definitely present matchup problems for most teams they will face. However, the more three and four guard lineups the Bears field, the more they will have to rely on players like Kevin Rogers and impressive freshman Quincy Acy to carry the load on the glass, something they were unable to do in the final.

3. While Arizona State came away with what had to be a disappointing third place finish, the Sun Devils look poised to compete for a Pac-Ten championship. The Devils wrapped blowouts of Charlotte and UTEP around a loss to Baylor in the semifinal round, a game in which the Bears pulled away with a 14-0 run near the start of the second half with the ASU starters on the bench, and withstood a barrage of ASU threes at the end to hold on. James Harden was perhaps the best player of the tournament, as was likely expected, after games of 15, 32 and then 40 points in the third-place match. Arizona State still remains a team based around Harden and senior big man Jeff Pendergraph, but the Devils did get some good production out of guard Ty Abbot, wing Rihards Kuksiks and point guard Derek Glasser, who has turned into a very effective operator of Herb Sendek’s offense. They still don’t get the ball to Pendergraph nearly enough, but if they ever do get him a sufficient number of touches, this could be a tough Devil team.

4. St. Mary’s got the tournament off to a poor start, laying a major stinker on Thanksgiving morning against UTEP, turning the ball over 19 times and going a meager 3 of 24 from 3-point range (“led” by a startling 0-9 from 3-point land and a 1-4 assist to turnover ration from Patty Mills). The Gaels did gain some measure of redemption in their next two games, defeating Cal State Fullerton the next day, then withstanding a late charge by Providence to take the consolation bracket. However, despite some good things in those final two games, St. Mary’s fans have to be a little nervous about their backcourt should Mills run into an injury, some foul trouble or just a bad night. While there are some very good shooters in the backcourt, their ballhandling skills are not great and the Gaels can struggle a bit against defensive pressure. Their frontcourt tandem of Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson remains imposing (and improved), but in order to compete for a WCC title against the ever tough Gonzaga Bulldogs, Randy Bennett’s squad will need to get stronger play from its guards.

5. UTEP leaves Anaheim with a 1-2 record over the course of the weekend, but it has to be considered a good 1-2 despite a bad loss to Arizona State on Sunday. The Miners really took it to St. Mary’s in the first game of the tournament, then came back 24 hours later to outwork Wake Forest (outrebounding the Deacons by 17, including a 24-1 advantage on the offensive glass) only to lose a tough one at the end. UTEP is definitely not lacking for talent (Stefon Jackson and Randy Culpepper are two guards who can play with just about anyone in the country) or size (three players who get regular time are 6-11 or taller), but they have been a little short on experience. If for no other reason, the experience of getting to play St. Mary’s, Wake Forest and Arizona State over the course of three days should be a major boon to a rising program.

6. It is a good thing that Providence rallied to score the final 10 points of their consolation semifinal against Charlotte on Friday night, or that would have been an awful long flight for an 0-3 weekend. As it is, Friar fanatics have some reason to have some optimism as their team has shown some improvement under new head coach Keno Davis. Providence struggled in its opening round game against Baylor, then got a spark from sophomore reserve swingman Marshon Brooks down the stretch of its game against Charlotte to salvage its only win of the tournament. On Sunday, the Friars got outscored by 20 points in their first half against St. Mary’s, but put on a furious second half rally to get within 6, which was the final margin. The Friars definitely have some strong talent on the team, but given the beasts they’ll have to fight in the Big East, this seems like more of a season to grow on for Davis and his squad.

7. Cal State Fullerton got to sleep in their own beds on the night before Thanksgiving, and that may have had something to do with their ability to put a scare into favorite Wake Forest on the opening day of the tournament. Led by senior guard Josh Akognon, the Titans cut a 14-point second half Demon Deacon lead to 3, but were not able to finish the deal. After a big loss to St. Mary’s on Friday, Fullerton rebounded to knock off Charlotte in overtime to salvage one win over the weekend. While Fullerton took a few lumps from some of the bigger boys, they look to be a strong contender in the Big West. Athletic frontcourt players like Gerard Anderson, Aaron Thompson, Pap Guisse and Ray Miller provide a strong compliment to Akognon’s excellent scoring ability, and could provide the Titans a springboard to the big dance.

8. Charlotte came away from Anaheim with an 0-3 record, a losing streak of six games, and some wounds to lick, but there is some hope for an underachieving squad. Down the stretch of regulation in their game against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, An’Juan Wilderness was not only the best player on the floor, he was one of the better players of the tournament. He followed Josh Akognon all over the floor, he grabbed rebounds, he made timely assists, he scrapped on the floor for loose balls and generally willed his 49ers back into the game. And, frankly, the 49ers at this point have nowhere to go but up. However, Wilderness, together with athletic frontline players like Charlie Coley and Lamont Mack, three-point threats like Rashad Coleman and Ian Anderson, and quick little point guard DiJuan Harris do form a solid nucleus for a Charlotte team that should see more success over the course of the season than they have had so far.

All in all, quite a fun tournament, with several very good games and eight compelling teams. Given the strong field announced for the 2009 tournament (UCLA, Clemson, Minnesota, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Butler Portland, and Long Beach State), this looks like a strong tournament to look forward to in the future.

Pac-10 2008-09 College Basketball Preview

Predicted Order of Finish

After last’s season’s epic battle between perhaps the strongest field of teams in the conference’s history (oh, and Oregon State also), the Pac-10 looks to be down a bit from last year. However, the conference still has potential national championship contenders, a bevy of tournament teams, and a couple of teams who would seem to be down, but who you don’t want to get caught sleeping against. Oh. And Oregon State also.

1. UCLA – champion until someone beats them, and the way they keep reloading talent, beating the champ continues to be tough.

2. USC – the trip down south is going to be a tough one for the rest of the Pac-10 this year. A superstar freshman, some incoming transfers and newly eligble players and returning veterans makes this a deep Trojan squad.

3. Washington – despite this team having shown no reason to be picked this high, there is plenty of talent on this Husky squad, and if they can get contributions from just a couple of their guards, they have the talent to be an upper-division finisher and maybe even come within a stones throw of the conference championship.

4. Arizona State – Herb Sendek has this program going in the right direction, has an all-league performer or two and plenty of players to surround them

5. Washington State – despite losing three of the most successful players in this program’s history, Tony Bennett has enough veteran leadership returning and an impressive collection of newcomers to keep the Cougs in the upper division of the Pac-10

6. Arizona – Brandon Jennings will be this team’s savior. Or not. But at least Lute Olson is back. Not so fast. There is (barely) enough talent here to make a run at an NCAA tournament bid, but the story of the season for the ‘Cats is what could have been. And missing out on a couple of Jrue Holliday/Brandon Jennings matchups is no fun for basketball fans to think about either.

7. Oregon – Ernie Kent loses a bunch of underachievers and replaces them with a strong recruiting class, but this team is probably a year away from being a threat again.

8. Cal – Mike Montgomery in Berkeley. Good heavens. That alone ought to be enough to give the Bears an extra win or two (perhaps one of those even in Maples), but he doesn’t really have the horses to contend this year.

9. Stanford – Trent Johnson gets out just in time, right after the Lopez twins. And while this is still a pretty strong 9^th place team, the lack of a front court will do them in.

10. Oregon State – Obligatory reference to Barack Obama’s brother-in-law complete, I expect this team to win a game this year. Two wins? Don’t push your luck.

Preseason All-Conference

First Team
PG Darren Collison Sr UCLA
SG James Harden So Arizona State
SG Jrue Holliday Fr UCLA
SF Chase Budinger Jr Arizona
PF Jon Brockman Sr Washington

Second Team
PG Taylor Rochestie Sr Washington State
SG Demar DeRozan Fr USC
G Patrick Christopher Jr Cal
PF Taj Gibson Jr USC
PF Jeff Pendergraph Sr Arizona State

Third Team
PG Daniel Hackett Jr USC
SG Josh Shipp Sr UCLA
SF Lawrence Hill Sr Stanford
PF Jordan Hill Jr Arizona
C Aron Baynes Sr Washington State

All Freshman Team
G Jrue Holliday UCLA
SG Demar DeRozan USC
SG Klay Thompson Washington State
C J’Mison Morgan UCLA
C Michael Dunigan Oregon

Preseason Tournament Tie-Ins

Arizona – NIT Season Tip-Off
Potential Opponents: UAB/Santa Clara, Oklahoma/Davidson, Purdue/Boston College

Arizona State – 76 Classic
Potential Opponents: Charlotte, Providence/Baylor, St. Mary’s/Wake Forest

Oregon – Maui Invitational
Potential Opponents: Alabama, North Carolina, Texas/Notre Dame

UCLA – Coaches vs. Cancer
Potential Opponents: Michigan, Duke/Southern Illinois

USC – Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Potential Opponents: Seton Hall, Memphis, Xavier/Virginia Tech

Washington – CBE Classic
Potential Opponents: Kansas, Syracuse/Florida

Washington State – Legend’s Classic
Potential Opponents: Mississippi State, Pitt/Texas Tech

Top 10 Non- Conference Games

11/18 Arizona State @ San Diego State
Not a particularly strong non-conference schedule for ASU, so this is a must win

12/4 UCLA @ Texas
The Longhorns perhaps not as strong as last year, but this is still a tough roadie for the Bruins.

12/4 USC @ Oklahoma
Major battle between two teams who figure to be major players in March.

12/6 Baylor @ Washington State
This was a fun game last year, but we’ll get a chance to see what kind of team the Cougs are early this season.

12/10 Gonzaga @ Washington State
Another big test for the Cougs against a team with big expectations this season

12/14 Gonzaga @ Arizona
Never let it be said that Lute Olson has ever dodged tough opponents.

12/17 St. Mary’s @ Oregon
Oregon gets a chance at revenge, except St. Mary’s might be better than last year and Oregon is not as good.

12/23 Kansas @ Arizona

Nothing different here, just the Wildcats playing another outrageously difficult schedule.

12/27 Washington State @ LSU
LSU isn’t all that good, but this may well be a big game on the Wazzu resume come March.

2/7 Notre Dame @ UCLA
The only Pac-10 midseason non-conference game of any importance.

Predicted NCAA Tournament Invites (6)
UCLA, USC, Washington, Arizona State, Washington State, Arizona