Pac-10 - Top 10 Players



Perhaps no major conference was as deep and as competitive as the Pac-10 last year. UCLA was expected to dominate and while they did win the conference by two games, they lost to a plucky California team in the first round of the conference tournament. Washington State and coach Tony Bennett were the big surprises of the conference. Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Stanford were all above .500 in conference play. Amazingly, the Pac-10 may be even better in 2007-08 with an influx of big time talent (including USC G O.J. Mayo) and a bevy of excellent sophomores (such as Arizona F Chase Buddinger) and upperclassmen. For people on the eastern seaboard, it is often difficult to stay up and watch the late night action taking place along the Pacific. Do yourself a favor and stay awake a few times to watch Pac-10 games and you won?t be sorry. The conference may be the class of the nation.

10. G James Harden*, Arizona State Sun Devils

The Sun Devils were the doormat of the Pac-10 last year, but even the meekest team in the league has grown in intestinal fortitude. ASU lost their first 14 conference games before stunning USC on Feb. 18. F Jeff Pendergraph (12.1 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and G Christian Polk (12.0 ppg) return, but it is the arrival of Harden than has fans in Tempe excited. The 6-5 guard is a scorer extraordinaire who plays with intensity. He can also handle the ball and has been praised for his decision-making. Scout.com rated him as the fifth best SG prospect in the nation and gave him their golden five star rating. The one knock on him is that he sometimes takes too long to take over, but I don?t think that will be a problem with Herb Sendek calling the shots. If your league requires freshmen, you could do worse than Harden.

9. G Malik Hairston, Oregon Ducks

It was an excellent season for Oregon, who reached the Elite Eight before being defeated by eventual champion Florida. They can claim to be the second best team in the nation? It was a rough season, however, for Hairston, who missed two five game stints in the first half of the season due to injuries of the worst kind (the groin kind). Hairston did not feel like himself until the end of the season, but he did score 15.0 ppg in the Ducks final three tournament games. He also managed to shoot well during the year (52.3% from the field for a disappointing 11.3 ppg and 42.6% from three point range for 0.9 3pg). With the injuries behind him and Aaron Brooks on the Houston Rocket bench, Hairston should be able to resume his scoring from his sophomore season that saw him net 15.0 ppg.

8. F Jon Brockman, Washington Huskies

Brockman is one of my favorite players in the Pac 10. He doesn?t play pretty, but his slogging style is effective (and annoying to opponents). While C Spencer Hawes had his ups and downs as a freshman with the Huskies, Brockman mucked away ? collecting points (14.2 ppg on 55.0% shooting) and rebounds (9.6 ppg). Apart from his lack of aesthetics and his two areas of excellence, Brockman won?t provide many more stats. He is vertically challenged and only blocked four shots last year (an increase of one from his freshman year, so you can probably expect five in 2007-08) and he is not on the court to pass (1.1 apg). Neverthless, without Hawes plodding along side him and a healthy Quincy Poindexter to loosen opposing defenses, Brockman should be a helpful fantasy prospect.

7. G Kyle Weaver, Washington State Cougars

The Cougars featured one of the best backcourts in the nation with the 6-5 Weaver running the point and 6-1 G Derrick Lowe (13.7 ppg) manning the off guard spot. Weaver gets the nod here because along with his scoring (second on the team at 11.2 ppg on 48.7% from the field), the Beloit, WI native managed to rebound (5.6 rpg), pass (4.6 apg), and ballhawk (2.2 spg) excellently. About the only aspect of Weaver?s game that fails to impress is his long range shooting (just 0.3 3pg on 23.7% from downtown). Should Weaver develop a more consistent long-range jumper, he?d be the perfect fantasy player. Well, coach Bennett?s deliberate style is also holding him back, but you can expect the general progression of Weaver?s career to continue in 2007-08.

6. C Kevin Love*, UCLA Bruins

Love comes to LA with the reputation of being a player who does the little things (i.e. the things not reflected in the box score and, hence, not useful for the fantasy owner). Still, he does many good things. No, you won?t get rewarded for Love?s pick setting, his boxing out, or his outlet passes (although if they result in an assist, you may be happy), but he is a skilled low post scorer and a passionate rebounder. He needs to work on his medium range jumper, but the Bruins have a number of players who can fill that role. That low post scoring skill seemed to be about the only aspect of the game that coach Ben Howland?s squad lacked last year. With Love on board, the Bruins will be one of the favorites to make a return trip to the Final Four.

5. G O.J. Mayo*, USC Trojans

It?s a terrible thing when people start buying their own hype. For example, scads of people keep coming up to me and telling me that I am the greatest fantasy college basketball analyst in the nation. (Huh? What? I am the only one? Well, point taken.) Yet, I don?t let it go to my head ? I just keep striving to get better. Obviously, O.J. Mayo is not me. He earned criticism for trying to showcase his talent in high school games rather playing to win. That kind of play won?t cut it in the Pac 10 and coach Tim Floyd will have to make Mayo aware that he is not the be all, end all of basketball. Should Floyd prove successful, he will have a multi-talented guard on his squad, who is a streaky shooter and has the ability to dominate. He?s not all hype.

4. G Darren Collison, UCLA Bruins

There may be more productive players in the Pac 10 (at least three, according to me), but there may not be a player who is more valuable to his team compared to Collison. On both sides of the ball, he sets the tone for UCLA. Collison made the jump into the upper echelon of point guards last year by improving his shooting, decision-making, and thievery. Yes, it helped that Jordan Farmar had moved onto the NBA to allow the 6-0 Collison to get plenty of playing time. Collison also proved he could provide fantasy stats with 12.7 ppg on 47.8% shooting, 5.7 apg, 2.2 spg, and 1.5 3pg. With Arron Afflalo following Jordan Farmar into the pros, Collison may have more opportunities to shoot and with Love manning the post, he may get more easy assists.

3. F Taj Gibson, USC Trojans

Preseason prognosticators last year figured the Trojans would have a dynamite backcourt with Nick Young and Gabe Pruitt (in the second semester), but they figured to have some holes in the frontcourt. With Gibson, coach Tim Floyd could consider that hole filled. The 6-9 Brooklyn native became a rebounding dynamo, dominating the boards from day one. He actually had a bit of a lull in the middle of the season with ten games in a row of less than ten boards. But, he found his second wind in March and had a pair of stellar games in the tournament against Texas and North Carolina. Overall, Gibson provided 12.2 ppg on 55.3% from the field, 8.7 rpg, and 1.9 bpg. He and Mayo should form one of the better duos in the nation.

2. F Chase Buddinger, Arizona Wildcats

Statistically and for consistency, Buddinger did not really measure up to Gibson in 2006-07. However, Buddinger becomes the main man in Tuscon because Marcus Williams has moved on. When the 6-7 former volleyball star had his shooting mechanics aligned, he became a scoring machine (two games of 30+ points and four more with 20+ points). He had five other games in which he failed to score double-digits. With a year of college ball under his belt, Buddinger should be ready to dominate on a more regular basis. His freshman stats, overall, were quite good: 15.6 ppg on 48.5% from the floor, 84.5% from the line, 5.8 rpg, 1.1 spg, and 1.6 3pg. New assistant coach Kevin O?neill was brought to the desert to provide the team with some toughness, so Buddinger could be in for a big season.

1. F Ryan Anderson, California Golden Bears

No single player made more CFBB owners scramble to their computers in mid-November than Anderson. The then freshman opened the season with three straight 20+ point games and never looked back. He scored 20+ points in five more games and had nine games of double-digits rebounds. Due to the injury of DeVon Hardin, Cal did not have much frontcourt depth and relied upon Anderson heavily. He consistently produced with nice looking numbers such as 16.4 ppg on 47.4% shooting, 8.1 rpg, and 1.8 3pg. Hardin will be back in 2007-08 and should form an excellent frontcourt duo with Anderson. The Golden Bears? backcourt, however, could be shaky ? so Anderson may have to do even more.

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