The West Coast's Basketball Meltdown
Forget All the NCAA Titles and Tournament Bids; Pac-10 Teams Can't Even Beat Oral Roberts
By DARREN EVERSON
The Wall Street Journal
JANUARY 20, 2010
In sports, and especially in college basketball, down years are a fact of life. Sooner or later, everyone takes their lumps.
But no major conference has gone through what the Pac-10 is enduring right now.
What on earth has become of West Coast college basketball? With the NCAA men's tournament now two months away, the Pac-10 is in the midst of a season of mediocrity that could result in something almost unthinkable when John Wooden roamed the sidelines at UCLA: there is a strong chance only one team from the Pac-10 will reach the NCAA men's tournament.
Stanford, which has made 15 tournament appearances since 1989, has lost more than half its games, including a home loss to Oral Roberts. Arizona, which has played in 25 straight NCAA tournaments (although one appearance was later vacated) lost at home to Brigham Young by 30. Oregon State dropped a game to Seattle by 51, Southern California banned itself from postseason play because of rules violations, and even UCLA—with its record 11 tournament championships—has a dismal 7-10 record with losses to the likes of Long Beach State. Average attendance at the Bruins' home arena, Pauley Pavilion, has dropped by 2,000 per game from last season.
Since 1985, none of the current major conferences—the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC being the others—has failed to have at least two teams participate in the NCAA men's tournament. In each of the past three seasons, the Pac-10 has landed six tournament spots. But as of now, the Pac-10 is in such poor shape that there's a chance only the conference champion will go—a fate that ordinarily befalls conferences like the Southland and Ohio Valley. To add to the mystery, the women's teams are doing fine—Stanford is ranked No. 2.
"I've always prided myself on being an advocate for West Coast basketball, so it pains me to be honest about the awful state of the conference this year," says former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, now an ESPN announcer. "You'd like to build an argument, but I don't think a legal team with F. Lee Bailey, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran could build a case for them."
Most explanations center on one thing: a talent drain to the NBA that far exceeds that of other conferences. Over the past two years, the Pac-10 has had 14 nonseniors taken in the NBA Draft, the most of any conference—more than the ACC, SEC and Big Ten combined. "If we had all those guys, there'd be four or five Pac-10 teams in the top 20," says California coach Mike Montgomery.
To make matters worse, several of last year's top high-school graduates from Southern California—the nerve center of West Coast recruiting—left the region, including forward Jordan Hamilton, who went to Texas, guard Michael Snaer, who went to Florida State and twins David and Travis Wear, who packed off to North Carolina.
"The Wear twins really liked [UCLA coach] Ben Howland, and they live in Southern California, where UCLA is like the basketball king," says Gary McKnight, the coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei High School, their high-school coach.
Mr. McKnight and others say another problem is the intensity of the local basketball Web sites and forums, which are tougher on local kids. "They love the kids from outside, but they're too critical of the kids who grew up here," he says.
The ghastly play of the Bruins, who reached three straight Final Fours in 2006, 2007 and 2008, has fans in Los Angeles up in arms. Besides being young, the team appears to lack the basic ability necessary to win even in a watered-down Pac-10. "We Bruin fans have never seen such a precipitous crash," says Al Utter, who covers UCLA basketball and recruiting for Bruin Blitz. "Everyone is scratching their head wondering why this is happening." Mr. Howland, the UCLA coach, has a simple explanation. "I've made mistakes," he says. "Ultimately I'm responsible for where we are right now.
UCLA has been slowed by injuries and by the departure of sophomore Drew Gordon this season and last season, freshman Jrue Holiday's exit to the NBA. The Bruins do have another top recruit coming in next season—center Josh Smith from Covington, Wash.
It's not all bad news for left coasters, of course. At least Gonzaga is 14-3.
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