T1B

With UCLA's loss yesterday at Washington Stanford (9-2, 20-3) is now tied with the Bruins for the conference lead, 3 games ahead of third place Washington State. At 20-3 they're assured their best season record since Mike Montgomery went on to greater glory with the Golden State Warriors.

Frankly, at the beginning of the season I didn't think the team was this good. They were not particularly impressive pre-season against a weak SOS, and they lost to Siena. I'm still not sure how good they are, but they went through the first round of conference play with just two losses. One of those, a 71-66 road loss at Oregon, was avenged last week with a 29 point (72-43) home-court blowout. The only other conference loss was to UCLA at home. They also have a road win against 3rd place and, at the time, top 10 Washington State. Working on a 7 game win streak now.

Brook Lopez sat out the pre-season on academic suspension and took a few weeks to get his game back, but since then the defense, which features the twin 7 foot Lopez brothers and was good before Brook came back, has been absolutely stifling. They're ranked 7th this week, but I'm not really sure they're that good. The record says they are, but we'll see.

Uh, no they're not.

They were when I posted it, dipshit.

Mikey wrote:They were when I posted it, dipshit.

Fame is fleeting, eh?

Yeah.

To tell you the truth (you did actually read my post, right?) I don't see them as being that good. But they've been winning games.

The Baby Bears haven't exactly been invincible in conference play either, though, have they?

I don't really see what the knock against Stanford is. They're 2nd in a conference that many feel is one of the best this year. Only red flag for me is the OOC schedule. They didn't play anybody, so I'm not sure how they will fare against quality opponents outside the Pac.

I am NOT optimistic about this season. Suspect outside shooting, defensive intensity reductions, limited bench.....

I'd take just making it to the Final Four and run....

The PAC is sick this year.

Hell, while way streaky (the mark of an Ernie Kent team, it seems), the Ducks usually look like a pretty darn good team. I think they'd probably be leading any mid-major conference. But in the PAC, them being a "good team" is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Only Oregon State looks really bad... which they are. The rest are all good teams. Should be a fun conference tourney wrought with upsets, at least.