FanHouse Oregon Basketball

Kay Yow is still very much a presence in the North Carolina State women's basketball program.

Her name is on the athletic department's Wall of Fame, and on the basketball court at Reynolds Coliseum. Her photo still hangs in the women's basketball locker room.

"She was North Carolina State basketball, and you don't and you can't wipe that away with a new staff," said new N.C. State head coach Kellie Jolly Harper.

Paul Westhead spent 18 years coaching college basketball, making stops at La Salle, Loyola Marymount and George Mason. But for the first time in his long basketball life, he said he feels like he's coaching in a true college town.

Westhead is embracing life in Eugene, Oregon, the single-mindedness of its residents when it comes to green and yellow, football Saturdays at Autzen Stadium, and the fact that he's got a ready-made base of rabid fans just waiting for him to turn the Oregon women's basketball program into a winner again.

"I'm doing morning coffee talks with fans, radio shows, they are itching," Westhead said. "This is a whole new world for me. Especially with football. In all of my jobs, I've never been in a program with a football program. It really changes the feeling around campus. Everybody in this town is all about the U of O."

The upheaval at USC and constant defections at UCLA may have sent conference supremacy north.

The NBA draft's early entries have one month to return to school (June 15), but it doesn't appear any of the Pac-10 entries are coming back. Six underclassmen -- USC's DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson, UCLA's Jrue Holiday, the Arizona duo of Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and Arizona State's James Harden -- will participate in the draft combine beginning May 28 in Chicago, and none are likely to return to their schools. Even Holiday, a projected late first-rounder, is reportedly close to hiring an agent and remaining in the draft.

Stanford has ruled the Pac-10 Women's basketball landscape for the past 20 years, and California and Arizona State have recently emerged to make the conference a three-team scramble for supremacy. But two recent hires by Oregon and USC have made it apparent that women's basketball is indeed becoming a higher priority on the West Coast.

On a night when the University of Arizona honored famed coach Lute Olson during halftime, something became very clear as the ceremonial speeches ended and the basketball began. If the Wildcats want to continue their NCAA streak of 25 consecutive tournament appearances, they would need more than an uplifting video (it got dusty in my apartment) and the memory of a coach that has been through a lot the last two years. The Wildcats need a W.

It wasn't happening, as Jerome Randle absolutely murdered the 'Cats in the second half, helping California (22-8, 11-6) improve to third in the Pac-10 with the 83-77 win and put the Wildcats in another uncomfortable position similar to last season -- leaving their March Madness dreams up to chance.

It takes a lot of work, effort and luck to go winless for the year in a conference. It means dropping heated rivalry games. It means not being able to win at home. It means the team is beyond bad, but also unlucky. Oregon has been all of that this year. Finally, though, the Ducks broke through by beating Stanford 68-60.

This game was an immovable object meeting an irresistible force -- only not. Oregon had been winless in the Pac-10, while Stanford was winless on the road in the conference. Something had to give and in the end it was the Cardinal.

This is never why you listen to the stat heads. They will let you down. Just when you start to doubt UCLA, the Bruins go on a huge winning streak with impressive wins. And just when you completely buy in and believe that UCLA has turned the corner, the Bruins lose on the road at Arizona State, 74-67.

Are we ever going to get an accurate read on this team or are we doomed to be on the back end of a trend?

Probably the latter.

Arizona State was swept by the Washington schools over the weekend, and now fans in Tempe might be growing concerned that Herb Sendek's bunch is close to being on the bubble. But let's not push the panic button just yet.

In the latest Bracketology, Arizona State is a No. 8 seed, the lowest seeded team of any of the Pac-10 schools. And that's kind of a surprise. Cal is a No. 7 seed despite losing four of its last five games. In fact, the Golden Bears lone win during that stretch is over Oregon (more on them in a second).

Joe Lunardi has Baylor, St. Mary's, BYU and Penn State as his last four teams in the tournament. So that should show that the Sun Devils are safe. For now.

Ernie Kent is an Oregon alumnus and has had a fairly successful tenure in Oregon, but the Kent era seems to be drawing to a close. The Ducks went 6-6 before conference play and have slumped to an 0-9 mark in the Pac-10 after falling to Oregon State 57-54.

The Ducks lack inside scoring and their defense has been horrible. Only guards Tajuan Porter and LeKendric Longmire have shown much fire for Oregon in conference play. That really seems about it. Part of it is youth, but that also goes to the coaching.

Derrick Favors and John Wall are the top two recruits in the nation -- Favors, as we mentioned yesterday, was rated number one by Scouts and Wall has been listed as Rivals number one overall prospect.

Favors is now off the board, having committed to be a Yellow Jacket for one year his college career. Wall, meanwhile, remains on the market, so to speak, but there's good news for the teams (Baylor, Duke, N.C. State, Memphis mainly; Kansas, Oregon and Miami are also in consideration) currently pursuing the point guard.

He won't be swayed by Favors decision to attend Georgia Tech when making his decision.