Pac Ten Alley

Todd Turner was last spotted in Cleveland, Ohio wearing a trench coat, fake nose, and dark sunglasses. He is expected to surface by the end of the week with his choice for the next women's Husky basketball head coach. I guess you could say that this is week three of "Subterranean Todd".

We aren't sure who the next coach will be, but we are pretty sure who it isn't going to be. I still think Semrau, and Marciniak are the leading contenders.

It remains unclear who the next coach will be for the University of Washington women's basketball team. But one person it won't be is MaChelle Joseph of Georgia Tech, who had been regarded as one of the leading candidates by some. Joseph's agent, John Meadows, said today that Joseph has withdrawn her name from consideration.

In other top secret Husky news Ty Willingham is going to open up Spring practice a bit for the media, but not the fans. The school also announced that five practices will be open to the media (but not the general public), plus the Spring Game (which is open to everybody). So six of 15 practices will be open. That's up from two, or three in past years. Oh well, at least it is progress, but how about a little love for the common fan? You know the guy who buys tickets on Saturday?

Ted Miller of the PI celebrated the news by predicting a 9th place finish for the men in purple in gold next fall. Ted needs to lighten up, I personally think the Huskies will finish in the top five and go bowling.

All the newspapers, blogs, and websites have been coming out with their Spring football previews. In the interest of lack of originality I am doing the same this week. Everyone else is trying to stretch it out by position so they don't run out of things to write about till practice starts on April 9th, I on the other hand have decided to let it all hang out at once.

Bob Condotta is doing a great job interviewing position coaches for his preview in his blog. I have to hand it to Bob, he has done a great job this year with his blog, and he is very nice to all his readers.

I previewed the offense on Monday, and on Thursday we are going to tackle, no pun intended the defense. the defense looks good to me if they can find some guys ready to play in the defensive backfield this Fall in the Freshmen class.

I was reading Nathan Ware's Fan Blog in the PI, and noticed that he had links to such distinguished sites such as Dawgman, Malamute, and even Realdawg. I sent him a friendly email requesting a link, but he has not responded. Nathan, if you are out there, I am still waiting, check your spam file. I have chosen this to be a continuing saga until we get the well deserved link.

On the mens's basketball side it looks like Spencer is going to continue exploring his options by declaring for the NBA draft without hiring an agent which alows him to return next year if he pulls out of the draft. I think this has been a foregone conclusion all along, and it makes sense since Hawes will have the opportunity to work against the nations best during the process. My gut still says he will play at UW a couple more years.

And the increasing conventional wisdom is that Hawes will likely say he will declare for the NBA draft but without hiring an agent so that he will retain the option of returning to college.
The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NBA draft is April 29. If Hawes declares without hiring an agent, he would have until June 18 to pull out of the draft and return to UW.

Bob Condotta, and Bud Withers of the Times came out with their Pre Season Top Twenty Five for basketball in 2008.

The preseason basketball rankings for 2008 are aready out and Washington State will start out the year ranked #12, while Washington has been named a team to watch outside the top 25. Talk about your complete reversals of fortune. Five Pac Ten teams are on the list, and UCLA is the consensus #1.

Bud adds a companion artice about how the Pac Ten will get a lot more national respect in 2008.

In Atlanta the other day, CBS sat Washington State's Tony Bennett on a chair for national TV, selected him its national coach of the year and splashed on the screen his name and school logo — a nice purple "W".


Pac Ten Alley

Let's take our weekly walk down Pac Ten Alley to see what the neighbors are up to.

USC is likely to start the season ranked #1 which isn't that big a surprise with all the players they have returning from last years squad.

There is no getting around it. Barring some stunning developments, USC will begin the 2007 ranked No. 1 -- and it's just the kind of prediction that coach Pete Carroll always takes in stride.

The California Golden Bears kicking game looks solid for 2007.

Growing up in Walnut Creek, Calif., Tom Schneider may never have wanted to think of himself as a special teams expert. Often associated with the most fragile members of pop-warner squads, special teams used to be where coaches sent kids to get their minimum four plays a game. But Schneider hasn’t played pee-wee football in a long time. Now recognized as one of the top place-kickers in the Pac-10, the senior will play an integral role in what looks to be one of the Cal football team’s most veteran and most impressive special teams units in recent memory.

Baseball is still the focal point at Oregon State this Spring.

Once, after being whipped by Arizona State in a 2000 game in Corvallis, Beavers coach Pat Casey went to dinner with Sun Devils coach Pat Murphy and confided that "I'm not sure I can get it done here." By 2005, Oregon State won the Pac-10 and played in the College World Series.

The Duck's start Spring practice with at least seven players who are going to have to sit out because of injury.

Dennis Dixon will begin spring drills atop the depth chart at quarterback for the Oregon football team, UO coach Mike Bellotti announced Wednesday in a statement released by the athletic department.

UCLA came close, but lost to eventual National Champion Florida in the Final Four. Pretty impressive to put together two final Four appearances on a row.

My other purpose for this diary is to thank Coach Howland, the team, and all of you for everything the past season. During the tournament, I celebrated my one year anniversary on Bruins Nation. My first posting took place against Gonzaga, and I still remember Ajax's live thread with the Austin Powers picture. It cracked me up, and I've been here ever since. Not only do I view this as a one-stop shop for all news UCLA, but I love sharing stories. We have such a diverse base here, from our elder spokesmen 66,Fox 71, and Arty, to our current students, including Ty. Each one of us has a unique UCLA experience, and I love how we use this site to share our stories, experiences, and mutual love for our alma mater.

The boys over at the Cougar blog provide us with some tidbits concerning Spring practice.

One other unrelated note, FYI. Though it's not definite, I would not expect Derrell Hutsona to be in a Cougar uniform this fall. The academic hurdles are significant, and from what I hear there are some possible disciplinary issues as well. Bottom line is that I doubt he'll be eligible to play at WSU in 2007.

In Arizona they are talking about Mike Stoops inability to make friends, and impress officials. How many guys get thrown out of their own Spring game?

Arizona coach Mike Stoops has made a reputation for himself for getting on an official or two.
His intensity is often seen on the sidelines. The Wildcats’ fourth-year coach showed that same passion again during Saturday’s scrimmage at Arizona Stadium.

At Stanford Jim Harbaugh made an ass out of himself last week by predicting that Pete Carroll was on his way out this season at USC. Is Harbaugh the next Joe Kapp?

It's been widely publicized that he has interviewed for other jobs, and that is what I've heard," Harbaugh said Monday. "I definitely said that. But we bow to no man. We bow to no program here at Stanford University." Harbaugh was talking about the importance of having a stable coaching staff when he made his initial comments about Carroll. He pointed out that Carroll has had a lengthy stay at USC, but added, "He's only got one more year, though. He'll be there one more year. That's what I've heard. I heard it (from) inside the staff."

Over at ASU they have some interesting Sun Devil body painting featuring the body of Sun Devil Alum Victoria Thornton. Isn't that what every Sun Devil coed looks like by the way? The House of Heat by the way is doing an excellent job keeping us entertained, and thanks for the link, we appreciate it guys! Keep up the good work!

With my man crush on Sam Keller in full force after Rudy Carpenter opened his big mouth, it's good to see Sam the Man in the news. If you're desperate enough for football content to come to my typo-ridden corner of the blogosphere, you probably already know that my boy SK was cited for disturbing the peace yesterday in Lincoln.

Out of Conference Opponent Blogs

It has been awhile since we looked over here, so lets see what is going on.

Spring Practice just started for June Jones and the Hawaii Warriors.

"We want to put Davone and Ryan in some different positions with some different routes. I want them to learn the outside, they know the inside," Jones said after yesterday's first of 15 spring practices. "And it'll give us an opportunity to give the younger guys a lot of reps inside."

At Boise State they are still relishing the Fiesta Bowl victory, and they are also trying to squeeze every possible marketing dollar out of it.

I got an email earlier this week and I couldn’t help but laugh. It seems in the spirit of squeezing every last bit of Fiesta Bowl fever out of the local community the university is now selling “a limited edition commemorative coin celebrating Boise State’s person season and dramatic Fiesta Bowl victory.”Seriously, a coin? That’s where we’re at with this thing now. The DVD’s I can understand, the parade was fun and the over-priced apparel at least keeps me warm, but we’ve officially taken it too far. I think the coin even tops the “official” NCCA series football local groups were hawking all over the Internet.

The Syracuse Football blog actually is getting some awards. I think the fact that we were left out is because of the East Coast Bias, more on that later.

It is not often that we get to toot our proverbial horn here at Orange::44. Other then being the runner up for The Job Award at the College Football Blogger Awards, we do not really get too much fanfare here. And frankly, that is the way we like it. We would much rather just be silently respected by our peers and readers than be put up on some orange pedestal. That being said however, turning two is no small feat to glance over. Now that the Otto Awards are all handed out, I thought I’d point out some of my favorite moments I have seen here at this humble blog.

Finally we finish with Ohio State which is reeling from being knocked out of the national championship in two sports by the Florida Gators. I don't see Oden, Cook, and Coly returning, but they can dream in Columbus.

We came up short but no shame to be found. Big Ten Champions, Big Ten Tournament Champions, Final Four and national finalist. It was a great year where we rode 22 straight and captured the nation with phenom for freshmen and seniors with heart. 35-4. Ridiculous to think about this team next year if Oden/Conley/Cook return.