Bulking Up Could Help the Pac-10

With conference play starting this week there are questions, questions ...

Is the Pac-10 more competitive this season?

Yes. Well, maybe. Eight of the 10 teams have winning or .500 nonconference records, Oregon and Washington State being the exceptions. Thanks to beefed-up scheduling, the Pac-10 sits no worse than sixth in the various power rankings.

But the conference collectively is 5-12 against top-25 teams. USC, playing the hardest schedule of any Pac-10 school, has four of those losses.

Whether or not the teams have been toughened by these early confrontations remains to be seen.

Can Stanford run the table again without Nicole Powell?

Definitely not. And it would be difficult even if Powell were playing, instead of trying to recover from a bulging disk in her lower back.

But a third consecutive regular-season championship -- and 12th in 17 years -- is well within the range of the fifth-ranked Cardinal (6-1), whose only loss is to Tennessee.

The starting sophomore quartet of Sebnem Kimyacioglu, Azella Perryman, Kelley Suminski and T’Nae Thiel is averaging 45.2 points and 24.6 rebounds, which makes up 66.9% of Stanford’s scoring output and 60.1% of the rebounding. Former Brea High standout Chelsa Trotter is back after missing last season with knee problems, and gives Coach Tara VanDerveer a solid post player off the bench.

Can Stanford win the postseason conference tournament this time?

Yes. But so can Washington, Arizona, last year’s winner Arizona State, Oregon State and perhaps USC.

Does that mean the Arizona schools are for real?

Yes -- a guarded yes.

Arizona (6-2) has a burgeoning force in 6-5 center Shawntinice Polk. The redshirt freshman is averaging 19.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 2.62 blocks and is shooting 59.6%. Polk’s abilities are making Dee-Dee Wheeler (14.1 points) and Krista Warren (13.3) that much more dangerous.

The Sun Devils were afterthoughts following season-ending injuries to Betsy Boardman, their top returning scorer, and Alexis Tate. But a not-that-taxing schedule has Arizona State a surprising 8-1. The only defeat was by 12th-ranked Notre Dame.

Coach Charli Turner Thorne is getting better than expected production from freshmen Jill Noe (14.9), Kristen Kovesdy (11.6) and Amy Denson (11.6).

But there will be a better read on both Arizona schools after their weekend visit to Stanford.

Where do USC and UCLA fit into the mix?

Good question. If her first two games are an indication, Duke transfer Rometra Craig could be the consistent scoring threat alongside Ebony Hoffman the Trojans thought Aisha Hollans or Rachel Woodward might be. If not, USC will struggle from game to game, as it did in nonconference games.

UCLA will be severely affected by Julia Pitts’ season-ending knee injury. The freshman was the team’s best rebounder. The more teams can keep the run-and-gun Bruins from turning games into helter-skelter affairs, the easier it will be to control the talented Michelle Greco (19.1).

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Sherri Murrell and Tammy Holder both knew they weren’t stepping into the best situations when they took the coaching jobs at Washington State and Cal State Northridge.

But that isn’t making their first seasons any easier to take.

Murrell had a 68-46 record in four seasons at Pacific. But the Cougars are 0-8, and only one of the losses has been by fewer than 14 points.

“It’s a challenge, but [my staff and I] knew that coming in,” Murrell said. “Sure, we wish some things were different; we’ve struggled with some injuries. But we’re not playing pushover teams, and I do feel there has been progress, if not wins.

“I knew the program would not be built in a day. Winning is a habit and so is losing.”

Holder, who has been an assistant at Richmond and South Carolina and a head coach in the defunct ABL and Division II South Carolina-Spartanburg, has watched the Matadors limp out of the gate 0-9. And, like Washington State, Northridge is losing by lopsided margins.

Holder remains upbeat.

“There is a great opportunity at Northridge,” she said. “A good opportunity because of the conference that it is in [the Big West], but also because I like the fact that everyone I talked to on this campus was positive and believed in this program and the potential that it has.”