No Bows to Stanford Yet

It can be hard to play basketball with a chip on your shoulder. Especially if that chip has grown to boulder size.

But as conference play begins in the Pacific 10, its membership continues to fight a lingering image of underachievement.

No Pac-10 team has won a women’s NCAA Division I national championship since Stanford in 1992. Only two teams -- USC and Stanford -- have won it all since the NCAA took control of the women’s game in 1982. Stanford, in 1997, was the last conference team to reach the Final Four.

Still, the Pac-10 -- or at least those teams that survive its 18-game schedule and subsequent conference tournament -- feels ready to elbow its way back into the national spotlight.

What has the Pac-10 feeling so feisty? Last season, five teams went to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998. All five won at least once. Arizona State made the Sweet 16. Stanford knocked out three-time defending champion Connecticut to reach the final eight.

That momentum has carried over to this season. Before Monday’s play, the Pac-10 was the only conference with 10 teams sporting winning records. Arizona State and Stanford are fixtures in the top 25, and both UCLA and USC have been in the rankings.

“[The winning records] show the improvement of the Pac-10 and how the conference has scheduled,” Oregon Coach Bev Smith said. “We have shown across the board we’re as competitive as any conference. It’s a real motivating factor to see the Pac-10 doing so well. It’s a great start to what was a great finish last year.”

So the stage appears set for one of the most competitive conference races in recent memory. Even though Stanford has dominated, having won or shared the last five regular-season titles, no one is expecting the Cardinal to go 17-1 again, as was the case last season.

“Everyone that was in the tourney last year has that taste and experience,” Smith said. “There is not a game you can look at and say, ‘We’ll get a win.’ There are a couple of teams that could go [17-1]. But I feel the race is wide open. ASU is a veteran team. USC is there. UCLA is there. It’s exciting to see. We could have a change of the guard, but Stanford is very solid.”

And where do the Bruins and Trojans fit into the mix?

USC, which made the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight years last season, has the same record, 6-3, it had last season at the start of conference play.

But Coach Mark Trakh isn’t sure there has been progress.

His team has a better understanding of his motion offense, but USC still doesn’t shoot the ball well (38.6%), and is prone to scoring lapses.

“I think our [nonconference] schedule was weaker this year than last year,” said Trakh, whose roster hasn’t been as deep because of injuries to Jamie Funn and Brynn Cameron, both of whom spent the early season recovering from hip problems. “If we’d had everybody healthy, progress would have been made. So I don’t think it’s the same 6-3 as last year. Jamie and Brynn are integrating themselves back into the rotation. I don’t know how much healthier they can get right now. But they’re as good as we can expect.

“This is a tougher Pac-10 this year. There are no ‘gimmes’ on the schedule.... Right now, the way we are, I don’t think we’re one of the better teams in the Pac-10. But we could be.”

The players say they are feeling pressure to equal last season’s level of performance.

“But right now, we’re not as confident,” admits junior forward Eshaya Murphy. “We know our potential, and among ourselves we have higher standards from last year that we’re not meeting, at least immediately. There is frustration. We know there were some games we should have pulled off, but we had some mental slippages.”

Scoring isn’t UCLA’s problem; keeping other teams from scoring is. The Bruins (5-4) showed in their 20-point dismantling of then-11th-ranked Georgia in November that they can beat anybody.

And as they showed in Saturday’s flameout to a then-1-6 UC Santa Barbara, the Bruins can lose to anybody.

Senior guard Nikki Blue, who has the Bruins flowing in the triangle offense, is not discouraged. “I think we’re better than last year at this point,” Blue said. “Last year, we were still putting in offenses and defenses.... I’m surprised we have adapted to it this quickly. It’s a difficult offense to learn. But if you look at our personnel, we have so many people who are able to score. That makes the offense that much more of a threat.”

Coach Kathy Olivier would like to see more defense -- and an end to UCLA’s tendency to play to the level of the competition.

“With that in mind, I feel we’re at a good place,” she said. “The team feels we can be better, which is good because you don’t want them thinking they’re playing their best basketball now. They have confidence and they’re enjoying themselves. So we’re at a good place.”