Wednesday, January 13, 1999
Pac-10 Notebook
UCLA’s Hines out with fractured toe
Sophomore guard Rico Hines will be sidelined 4-6 weeks due to a
fractured toe.
Unknown to the coaching staff, he had been playing on it for a
few months, but when it was stepped on during UCLA’s 65-63 victory
over Oregon on Saturday the pain became unbearable. Hines averaged
16 minutes per game – scoring 3.3 points per game, as well as
garnering two rebounds per outing. Freshman forward Matt Barnes
will get more playing time due to Hines’ absence, according to head
coach Steve Lavin.
Pac-10 showing strong in rankings
The Pac-10 is one of the strongest leagues in the nation – at
least according to the Associated Press poll released Monday. Along
with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Pac-10 is one of only two
leagues to have three teams present in the top 10.
Stanford (4th), Arizona (7th), and UCLA (10th) all earned top 10
berths. However, no other Pac-10 team was ranked. California, USC
and Oregon did receive some votes.
In the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll Stanford placed fourth,
Arizona eighth, and UCLA twelfth. Other conferences with strong
representation were the ACC – Duke, Maryland, and North Carolina
were all in the top 10 – and the Big Ten, which had seven teams
ranked in each poll.
The top five in each poll were the same, with Connecticut on top
followed by Duke, Cincinnati, Stanford, and Maryland.
Early season filled with excitement
Not only is the Pac-10 ranked among the top conferences in the
nation in the most recent polls, it also has to rank near the top
in excitement.
Highlighted by USC’s Adam Spinach hitting two three-pointers in
the final three seconds to defeat Oregon last week and Oregon
State’s shocking victory over UCLA on the same day, the Pac-10 has
been anything but dull.
In the first two weeks of conference play, 10 of the 18 games
have been decided by three points or less, and three have gone into
overtime.
With the exception of games involving Stanford – which is
blowing out teams – and Washington State – which is on the other
end of large defeats – there has been only one contest decided by
double digits.
Not only are the games close, but the results seem to make no
sense.
UCLA handily defeated Arizona then lost to Oregon State.
Washington lost by 24 to Arizona State then lost to Arizona on a
buzzer-beating shot, and Oregon upset California in Berkeley only
to get swept by the Los Angeles schools at home in perennially
tough McArthur Court.
OSU’s Tanner named player-of-the-week
Leading Oregon State to upsets over UCLA and USC – the Beavers’
first back-to-back conference wins since 1995 – sophomore guard
Deaundra Tanner was named the Pac-10 player-of-the-week.
He scored 19 points and had six assists to help the Beavers
defeat UCLA last week – OSU’s first victory over a top 10 team
since 1989.
He followed up that performance with a career-high 27 points –
including 5-of-5 shooting from the three-point line – and had 12
rebounds to spur OSU’s 69-66 overtime victory over USC on
Saturday.
Notes compiled by Brent Boyd, Daily Bruin senior staff.
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