The obligatory Friday morning "Pac-10 is no good" post

Pac-10 games are played on Thursdays and Saturday, and it has become routine to see articles every Friday and Sunday about how weak the Pac-10 is or how no one wants to win the Pac-10.

Its true.

And it amazes me.

Heading into last night, Cal was probably the favorite to win the league. The were tied for first with Arizona, finally getting healthy in their back court, and were arguably the most talented team in the conference.

But then the Bears went out and blew a 13 point lead and lost 66-63 to a USC team that has really struggled since finding out that they would not be allowed to participate in any postseason tournament. USC went on a 25-3 run over a ten minutes stretch spanning both halves. For the record, that's a USC team that has struggled to break 50 points in a game scoring at that rate.

This loss for the Bears came on the heels of blowing a late four point lead to Arizona on Saturday night.

That win for Arizona put them in a tie for first place despite all of their early season struggles and off-season departures. So did the Wildcats capitalize?

Nope.

They lost 81-75 at Washington.

UCLA and Arizona State did win, however, meaning that there is now a four-way tie atop the Pac-10, with Washington and USC a game back.

Apparently, Pac-10 teams are just good enough to make a run to the top, but aren't good enough to stay there.

Saturday will be a big day for the league. Cal will play at UCLA in a battle of first place teams, Arizona State heads to Washington where the Huskies have lost just one game, and Arizona gets Washington State on the road.

The conference is clearly not what it was even two years ago, but its tough to maintain a level of consistency with you have 21 players drafted in two years time from a league with only ten teams.

But no matter how poor the quality of play is, one this that is for certain is that this will be an entertaining race to follow.