Updated Pac-10 Hoops Power Rankings

Heading into the season, Washington was projected to win the Pac-10.

After a rough outing in Maui, the Huskies have fallen in the rankings but still remain one of the favorites to win the conference. Meanwhile, Arizona has started the year strong, having only lost one game so far.

It is still very early in the basketball season but the conference's power order is already shaping up.

When President Obama saw his brother in-law's Beavers play in Washington D.C. last week, he certainly did not inspire them enough to play good basketball.

Since Oregon State's defeat of Howard, they have gotten edged by Utah Valley and demolished by Colorado.

This ranking may seem low, but ASU is tied for the worst record in the conference so far.

The Sun Devils are on a three game skid after losing to Richmond at home.

If there has been a bright spot for the Sun Devils, it is Trent Lockett who is averaging 16 points a game.

UCLA may be the hardest team to figure out in this conference.

Heading into the year, they were projected to finish as high as 2nd by some sports writers but are currently in a tie for last place.

The Bruins came as close as any school has of breaking Kansas' home court win streak but a last second foul ended up giving KU the win.

That performance by UCLA will be not forgotten but after the Bruins were just upset at home by Montana, the Kansas game looks more like a fluke.

Oregon's 5-3 record may be deceiving since the Ducks have not won against a good school yet.

However, they put up a heck of an effort against the 8th ranked Missouri Tigers. Mizzou had a 20 point lead at half but nearly blew the entire lead in the second half. In the end, Oregon was one three pointer away from sending the game into OT.

Although the Ducks have not gotten off to a good start, we know that no one in Eugene is focused on the basketball team right now.

Behind Jeremy Green's 15 points a game average, Stanford has started the season off pretty well. They had an impressive win over Virginia early in the year and just beat DePaul. But the Cardinal also lost to Murray State and that loss could hurt them on Selection Sunday, if they are even a bubble team.

The Trojans just accomplished something they wish their football team could have done in the 2005 BCS National Championship—beating Texas.

The upset victory may be the conference's best win of the year so far but it does not hide the Trojans' losses to Rider and Bradley University. It will be very interesting to see how Nikola Vucevic and USC fare against Kansas in a few weeks.

The Golden Bears have some of the conference's best wins but they also might have the conference's worst loss.

Cal has defeated New Mexico, Temple, and Iowa State but faltered horribly against Notre Dame.

In fact, they only scored FIVE points in the entire first half against the Irish. Next up, Cal faces a tough opponent in San Diego State.

The Cougars have yet to beat anyone impressive but came very close to beating 5th ranked Kansas State.

Klay Thompson's 16 points were not enough though and the Wildcats won 63-58.

Washington State now has to play in-state opponent Gonzaga, a game that will surely test the Pac-10's leading scorer, Thompson.

Derrick Williams is putting together a terrific year and has the Wildcat faithful thinking a Pac-10 championship.

Williams is averaging 20.6 points a game but is only playing an average 24 minutes. That is in large part due to his foul trouble which cost Arizona a chance to win against Kansas last week.

Since that Kansas loss, Arizona crushed Rice in Houston before blowing out Oklahoma at home on Sunday.

The Wildcats have a 7-1 record but most of the wins have came against far inferior opponents. If Arizona can beat BYU in Provo next week, they will gain even more national respect.

Washington lost a couple very close games in Maui to two schools that will contend for the national title.

With the prolific numbers that the Huskies' offense is putting up, they too might have a chance of making the Final Four.

The Pac-10 looks like a two horse race between Arizona and Washington right now and it too early to get an idea of who is the better team.

But as long as Washington is scoring 100 or more points in all their wins, they will keep the top ranking.