Feb 22, 2008

Showdown approaches

By Gordon Kass / Daily News Correspondent

The game of the Pac-10 week is clearly the Bay Area women's battle between Stanford and Cal. Everyone has seen this one coming for a while and it arrives on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Berkeley. Local bragging rights and the conference title are at stake as 40 minutes, barring overtime, will decide the champion. Watch it on Fox Sports Net.

The Cardinal women dropped a pair in Los Angeles early in the season and both powerhouse teams plowed forward with that two-game margin in the standings on their minds. Other Pac-10 teams don't match up, and thus UC and SU have beaten every other opponent. Except when they met on Jan. 26. Stanford routed Cal 72-52 that day and everyone knew that it would probably all come down to this Saturday. Neither Bear nor Cardinal has slipped up otherwise and therefore the one-game difference remains.

Can Cal establish parity with Stanford on the court (i.e. split the two games) and capture the Pac-10 title? Or will Stanford show dominance by sweeping the Bears and winning the showdown with everything on the line? The latter would result in an official tie for the league championship, but everyone would know Stanford is the better team based on those head-to-head results.

Can Candice Wiggins lead the Cardinal to its eighth straight league title? Will Joanne Boyle's Bears, sparked by the inside attack of Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker, claim the crown for the East Bay? Watch Hampton and Walker battle Stanford's Jayne Appel and Kayla Pedersen under the glass. Can anyone slow down Wiggins? Read my game pic below.

And there is some entertainment on the men's side of the league. On the court, Arizona, USC, Arizona State, Cal and Oregon have key weekend games to try to further their NCAA tournament hopes ('Zona looks good and 'SC looks likely, but the other trio is struggling).

Off the court, there is a different sort of Pac-10 men's hoop entertainment. The Oregon State Beavers are leading the conference in something other than worst record at 0-13: worst behavior. The Beaver Boys walked onto the court during a Washington practice last Friday at the Gill Coliseum in Corvallis and there was some trash talking. But what happened after that is bizarre! OSU's Marcel Jones sent a voice mail to UW's Joel Smith inviting the Huskies to come out of their team hotel and fight that night. No combat took place, however, and in the subsequent day's game, OSU showed no fight either as the Huskies crushed them 97-59.



Men's Power Rankings:

1. UCLA (22-3 overall, 10-2 Pac-10): Russell Westbrook forced USC's O.J. Mayo into an unwanted single-double: four points, 10 turnovers.

2. Stanford (21-4, 10-3): In critical 67-66 win at Arizona, Brook Lopez made two winning free throws and Robin Lopez made game-saving block on Chase Budinger.

3. Washington State (20-5, 8-5): Taylor Rochestie scored 24 to lead 70-57 win at OSU and 21 in 62-53 victory at Oregon.

4. Arizona (16-9, 6-6): Jerryd Bayless scored 64 points and Budinger added 41 last weekend. Rest of team totaled just 44.

5. USC (15-9, 6-6): Taj Gibson was one Trojan who stood tall, tallying 16 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in 56-46 loss to Bruins.



Women's Power Rankings:

1. Stanford (24-3 overall, 13-2 Pac-10): Wiggins needs just 50 points to pass Lisa Leslie and become Pac-10's all-time top scorer.

2. Cal (23-3, 14-1): Ashley Walker had five points and four rebounds during 11-0 run that broke open 42-41 game versus ASU as Bears rolled 70-60.

3. Arizona State (16-9, 10-2): Stanford pasted Devils 79-57 for largest margin of defeat between these two since 2001.

4. USC (16-9, 9-5): Trojans racked up seventh straight win over Bruins 49-36, holding Uclans to lowest total in school history.

5. UCLA (13-12, 8-6): Fourth-largest crowd in home history (8,103) watched Bruins shoot 4-for-31 in first half and 13-for-57 overall.



Pac-10 Men's Basketball Pics:

Saturday: Arizona at Washington State. Pic: WSU by 4. 'Cats flattened Cougs 76-64 in Tucson, but won't come close to that total in Pullman against stifling Wazzu defense.

Sunday: Cal at Stanford. Pic: Stanford by 9. Sixth Man Club will scream out, "Just like football."



Pac-10 Women's Basketball Pics:

Saturday: Cal at Stanford. Pic: Stanford by 3. This Bear team won't look like the one that stunk up Maples in earlier blowout loss. But Stanford just a bit too strong and a bit too experienced.