Will Cardinal Rule be Broken?

For the first time since Lisa Leslie’s senior season at USC, suspense returns to the women’s Pacific 10 Conference basketball race, which begins today.

Stanford has won 45 consecutive conference games (64 of its last 66) and measures success not by Pac-10 championships--it has won eight of the last 10--but by Final Four appearances. The Cardinal is aiming for their fourth consecutive this season.

Stanford’s last miss at the Pac-10 crown was 1994, when the Leslie-led Trojans went 16-2 to Stanford’s 15-3.

Now, more than in any recent season, three conference rivals may have at least approached Stanford’s talent well.

* Washington is 9-0, its best start in 21 years, as it begins its conference season.

* UCLA is 5-4 in the early going, but beat 17th-ranked Duke, 93-83, on the road two weekends ago.

* Arizona, 6-2 and ranked 11th, has an attacking defense that’s forcing 28 turnovers per game. The Wildcats also have one of the Pacific 10’s best players, 5-11 Adia Barnes.

Then there’s Stanford, dragging around a record that looks like a typo: 3-4.

What to make of a Cardinal team that started 0-2?

Trouble in the backcourt, primarily.

Coach Tara VanDerveer has tried sophomores Melody Peterson and Milena Flores at the point, but both have been unable to finish drives and are committing too many turnovers.

And no one seems to know when 6-foot-4 all-conference forward Naomi Mulitauaopele will play this season, if at all. She still hasn’t recovered from knee surgery a year ago.

Last year’s premier recruit, Carolyn Moos, hasn’t been a factor yet.

But there is some good news: All-American volleyball player Kristin Folkl is back and had 16 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes in a Sunday victory.

UCLA has been led by Melanie Pearson, a sophomore who scored 22 points in the victory at Duke. The guard leads the Pac-10 in three-point accuracy at 54%.

Trojan first-year Coach Chris Gobrecht is starting identical twins, Kim and Kristin Clark, in her backcourt. And mainstay forward Jodi Parriott made her season debut last weekend after missing the first nine games because of knee surgery.