| Position | Player | Bench |
| PG | Justin Dentmon | Venoy Overton |
| SG | Joel Smith | Scott Suggs |
| PF | Quincy Pondexter | Tyreese Breshers |
| PF | Jon Brockman | Artem Wallace |
| C | John Wolfinger | Matthew Bryan-Amaning |
Next season could really be the season that Washington finally puts it all together. Getting quality minutes from Venoy Overton was a pleasant surprise, and although the loss of sharpshooter Ryan Appleby is a big blow the team will bring a fair amount of experience and talent to the table. The Huskies are headed by bruising forward Jon Brockman. Its clear that Washington is falling just short of being a good team. They did beat UCLA at home last season. If they can get some quality production from their highly rated class last year (along with some solid playing time from another quality class this year) then Lorenzo Romar may be able to put the past two seasons behind him. Washington may be facing a lot of uncertainty going into the offseason. At the very least its not a certainty that they will be bad.
WSU
Who Declared Early?: Nobody
Who do I think is Coming Back?: N/A
Projected Lineup:
| Position | Player | Bench |
| PG | Taylor Rochestie | - |
| SG | Klay Thompson | - |
| SF | Daven Harmeling | Nikola Koprivica |
| PF | Caleb Forrest | - |
| C | Aron Baynes | - |
The more I look closely at Washington St., the more I like what I see. Although they lose Cowgill, Weaver, and Low, the core returnees of Rochestie, Harmeling, and Baynes are all good (and in some aspects great) players already. Forrest has seen time throughout the year and played well on the court. Incoming recruit Klay Thompson should help to shore up some of the offensive output lost with the graduation of Low. The key issue facing the Cougars is a potential lack of depth. Bennett will be hard pressed to get at least one or two recruits ready for game time out of the incoming class. This will be no small feat. It took 3 years to put together the WSU team of the last two years. However, if they can establish an eight man rotation the Cougars should field another solid team.
Summary**
As of right now it seems like UCLA, ASU, and USC will be the class of the Pac-10, but I wouldn't be so certain. Arizona, Cal, Washington, and Washington St. are all poised to make a run at the top should the right pieces fall into place. In fact, just a couple of seasons ago two teams picked to finish near the bottom of the Pac-10 ended up finishing #2 and #3 so anything can happen. But in all fairness it would be a near miracle if Oregon, Oregon St., or Stanford finished in the top 4 as each of those programs face major obstacles.
| Revised Pac-10 Preseason Rankings | |||
| 1.) | Arizona St. | 6.) | California |
| 2.) | UCLA | 7.) | Washington |
| 3.) | USC | 8.) | Oregon |
| 4.) | Washington St. | 9.) | Stanford |
| 5.) | Arizona | 10.) | Oregon St. |
Notes
- As of right now the Pac-10 is probably only sending four teams to the NCAA tournament, and it will be a battle between Washington St. and Arizona for that last spot.
- Like I said before, no team will go winless and no team will go undefeated in conference. There is no one team that will survive ASU/UCLA/USC/WSU, and there is no one team that will lose to Oregon/Stanford/OSU.
- Perhaps purely by team strength the LA road trip is the toughest, but Washington St. and a resurgent UW will make the Washington road trip the true test for a teams ability to win on the road.
-I doubt anyone will argue that the Pac-10 is the best or second best conference in the nation next year.
* Projected rosters were assembled based on a number of dimensions; quality of the player, need to fill certain positions, playing time last year, among others. Once again my thanks to kenpom.com and si.cnn.com.
** You can read my original thoughts here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/16879-UCLA-vs-USC-for-Best-in-the-West-Pac-10-2008-09-Basketball-Preview-080408
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