Big Dance Set

The Pacific Ten conference has 4 teams in the big dance this year. The seedings pretty much worked out as I predicted on March 3. UCLA finished the season strong running the table in the Pac Ten tourney and defeating CAL handily in the conf championship game. UCLA ends up with a much coveted #2 seed (I predicted a 3/4 seed) and perhaps the easiest region (if such a thing exists) If Gonzaga or Memphis struggle the Bruins could be in the elite 8 or dare I say the final four. UW went out a bit early in the conf tourney and has struggled defensively at times, UW is a finesse team with very good quickness and scoring capability, they may be in for a tough time as they will most likely face Illinois in round 2. UW recieved a 5 seed, I predicted a 5/6 seed. CAL made a good run in the tourney and came back from a double digit deficit late in the first half vs the Bruins, but got run in the second half. CAL also has an extremely tough first round game vs a potential bracket buster in NC State. CAL is a 7 seed I predicted they would be an 8/9 seed. Arizona rounds out the conf teams and is an 8 seed, yours truly predicted they would be a 7 or 8 seed. The Cats face a dangerous Wisconsin squad and without suspended forward Hasaan Adams, the Cats may be heading for one of their infamous early round exits. Then again, it was an unheralded #5 seed led by Freshman Mike Bibby and Richard Jefferson that ran the table to win it all in 1997.

Heres how I predict the Pac Ten finishing in the tourney.

UCLA- Loses to Duke in Final Four (Ben Howland and a relatively healthy squad step up bigtime)

CAL-Loses to NC State in round 1 (CAL guards inconsistent, not enough help for Leon Powe)

Washington-Loses in second round to Illinois (Defense inconsistent , not physical enough for Illini)

Arizona-Loses to Wisconsin in round 1 (Cats chemistry not there, missing Adams and lackluster play from Mustafa Shakur)