College Basketball: What's Wrong with the PAC-12?

The shot went up from the smaller opposing shooting guard; there was no close-out, no contest, and no communication on defense. As the shot went down, the Los Angeles Sports Arena was in shock and head coach Ben Howland was forced to call a timeout.

No, UCLA wasn’t playing the likes of Duke, Kentucky, or North Carolina; they were playing Middle Tennessee State, and playing awfully.

The Blue Raiders shot an amazing 71 percent from the field and almost broke an NCAA record with 11 straight made three-point shots.

"Never seen that before," UCLA big man Joshua Smith said. "It was kind of crazy when coach read the stats off."

Kind of crazy? This isn’t supposed to happen to a storied program such as UCLA, one of the Meccas of all sports, not just college basketball.

We are almost one month into the 2011 college basketball season and there is not one PAC-12 team in the top 25 polls. It’s scary to believe just four years ago, when the conference was the PAC-10, there were seven ranked teams in the top 25. Those days are all but over for the new-look PAC-12.

The joke around the country right now is that the favorite to win the PAC-12 is San Diego State, who have beaten the likes of Arizona and Cal.

Players are transferring from programs left and right for what looks to be internal issues with programs like Oregon, Arizona, and Cal.

Players are also getting suspended, like UCLA’s top scorer, Reeves Nelson, who just got suspended for the second time in under a month for conduct detrimental to the team.

USC is 4-5, but Kevin O’Neil lost starting point guard Jio Fontain for the year with a knee injury and has lost to teams like Nebraska and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

What’s worse? In the game they lost to Cal Poly, they failed to put up more points than their football team, who went on to beat Oregon that night 38-35 in Eugene.

Time will tell what this team is made of; in a watered-down PAC-12, it will be very interesting to see how they respond to a coach who does nothing but scream, yell, and break media monitors.

And speaking of Eugene, how about those Oregon Ducks? They hired Dana Altman back in 2010 to change the culture, and apparently he’s changed the culture so much that two of his star-studded freshmen have decided to leave the program for no apparent reason.

Freshman guard Jabari Brown just decided to pack up his things and said he wants out, although reports made it clear that Altman said he wanted him to stay. Make no mistake, this is an internal problem that happened between coach and player.

Bruce Barron also quit the team after the Ducks beat UTEP 64-59 the other night. They looked like a WAC team in their 79-65 loss to BYU this past weekend, but they have signed three newcomers for the fall of 2012, so there is still some hope.

Cal was projected to win the PAC-12, but they were blown out by Missouri, who looks like they are capable of making a deep tournament run in March, and lost to the likes of San Diego State by one at the hands of suspended Richard Soloman.

Cal has looked decent, but those two losses show they are not ready to keep up with the rest of the country.

Arizona was one of the favorites coming into the season but after losing All-American forward Derrick Williams to the NBA draft, the Wildcats have shown how much they miss his presence.

Replacing him by committee has been difficult, as freshman forward Sidiki Johnson was suspended for violating team rules and has now decided to transfer.

Star freshman point guard Josaiah Turner, who hasn’t come close to meeting his expectations, has been suspended and will not play against Florida tonight. He didn’t even make the trip with the team to Gainesville.

Sean Miller emphasizes team first over everything and he doesn’t care who the players are; he will prove his point by suspending a top player like Turner.

Arizona State is still waiting for their star freshman point guard Jahii Carson to get eligible. Right now the Sun Devils are 3-4, and it doesn’t get easier as they play Nevada, who shocked Washington in double overtime last weekend. ASU opens PAC-12 play against in-state rival Arizona.

James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph aren’t walking through the door anytime soon and it could be a long three months in Tempe for Herb Sendek and his team.

Utah and Colorado have been nothing short of disappointing. The Utes are 1-5 and just suspended their best player, Josh Watkins.

“I was put in a predicament that I really didn’t have any other choice,” head coach Larry Krystkowiak said Monday night on his weekly radio show.

Colorado is 4-3 and while the talent is there, they have underachieved. Alec Burks is gone to the NBA, but with a watered-down schedule, they should have a better record.

Both of these teams were question marks heading into the PAC-12 season and now people are going to wonder why they even came to the PAC-12.

Washington State is a mystery; you don’t know what you’re going to get from them. They’re sitting at 4-4 right now, but losing Klay Thompson hurts badly. They have to establish Faisel Aiden as their primary scorer or it could be another long year for head coach Ken Bone.

Oregon State, Washington and Stanford actually look like the top teams in the conference as of now. Oregon State is 6-1 and they play that 1-3-1 zone to perfection.

Washington almost beat Marquette at the Jimmy V Classic last night to show they are for real and can contend in the conference.

Stanford looks like a legitimate contender at 8-1, with their one loss being to Syracuse in the Preseason NIT. Forward Josh Owens is healthy and runs the floor like a deer. It will be interesting to see where this team is in the next few weeks.

As a super six conference, the PAC12 needs to get some help quick because teams from the Mountain West, West Coast Conference and the Western Athletic Conference are creeping from behind, but just like the season goes for everyone, it goes for the PAC-12. Time will tell for this league.