Don't overlook the Pac-10.(Point Forward)

While maybe not on the level of Carnac the Magnificent, Arizona coach Lute Olson is proving to be pretty good at this prognostication business. Before the season started, he called this year's Pac-10 the most competitive he has seen in a long time. Yeah, right, I thought. He's just trying to hype up a conference that generally is dissed by those east of the Rockies. He also said whichever team wound up in first place could have as many as four or five losses in conference play. I felt that to be highly unlikely, seeing how the two top dogs, Arizona and Washington, were playing each other only twice.

But a few funny things happened on the way to the Staples Center, where the conference tournament is played. Washington State ended a 38-game losing streak to Olson's Wildcats--in Tucson. Oregon State knocked off highly ranked Washington. UCLA made up a 21-point deficit against the Huskies and won at home. UCLA got blasted at home by Stanford and Cal.

It seems coach Olson knew what he was talking about. But what does it all mean come Selection Sunday? The big fear in the Pac-10 is that the league will experience ...