The Pac-1?

If you happen to glance at any March Madness bracket projections, you're sure to notice at least one thing. The premiere basketball conference in the West is absent.

The Pac-10 is dreadful this year.

Entering Saturday's games there was a glut of teams boasting a 6-4 record, all tied for first place. So is it possible the Pac-10 could have just one entry in the field of 64?

It's possible, but not probable.

I can't see the Pac-10 receiving fewer bids than the WCC (likely Gonzaga, St. Mary's), especially since the trend has been away from mid-majors getting at-large bids. Middling power teams like Arizona and Minnesota grabbed the final spots last year.

Currently, Cal is the clear favorite, Arizona's surge gives them life (having made 25 straight NCAA tournaments they could get a sympathy bid) and Washington, who briefly cracked the top-10, is sneaking back into consideration.

Rather than breakdown who could make the dance, the better question is why is the conference so down?

The answer is clear if you look at the last few NBA drafts. The league has been decimated by early entries into the pro-ranks.

The past two seasons, eight athletes from Pac-10 teams have been lottery picks. That's likely unprecedented.

USC's O.J. Mayo lead the 2008 class which also saw UCLA's Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love be selected in the top five. Arizona State's James Harden headed the '09 group which saw another five early entrants get drafted.

It's hard to recover when a league loses 21 players to the NBA in two years, 14 of whom left school early.

Imagine if Stanford still had the Lopez brothers; UCLA was starting the likes of Love, Westbrook and Jrue Holiday; USC still had Mayo, Taj Gibson and DeMar DeRozan and Arizona had Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill for their senior years?

The conference would be the deepest in the country, while devouring itself in league play.

That's happening again this year, but teams are being consumed by mediocracy. I don't expect that to last for long.

A Sonics victory 2 years too late

From the files of under-reported stories, Seattle SuperSonic fans scored a minor victory last week.

The robber baron owners of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Clay Bennett & Co., agreed to pay former Sonics season-ticket holders $1.6 million to essentially go away.

It's now awaiting approval from a federal judge.

Basically, 1,000 former Sonic ticket-holders filed a class-action lawsuit alleging when the team was ripped from the Emerald City and moved to Oklahoma, they reneged a deal to let them renew their tickets at 2006-07 prices through 2010.

The fans argued if they were allowed to transfer tickets to OKC's Ford Center, they could have resold them at higher prices.

Two years after the Sonic fans had their collective hearts crushed, they finally got something. But that's going to be the last basketball-related win for a while.

Even with five or six potential NBA franchises available for sale (Memphis with prior Northwest ties included) Seattle doesn't show up as a blip for a new franchise.

It's a simple reason why. Seattle does not have a modernized arena paid for by taxpayers, and there is no political will to devote public money to such a project.

Enjoy the tiny win Seattle, and get ready, Spring Training starts soon.

Always a ruse for The Blue

Curiosity took over last week when I spotted this University of Idaho Athletics tweet.

I wanted to know which Idaho athletes earned all-WAC academic honors? And why more Vandals didn't make it?

As I scrolled through the list of student-athletes who had at least 3.0 GPA and took part in half of their team's contests, I was shocked to find more Boise State Broncos show up than any other WAC school. That was especially true for football.

It was a surprise because Boise State University has a academic reputation on par with Greendale Community College in many of its programs.

So how did the Broncos get 14 more all-WAC academic players than Idaho (a school with a solid classroom reputation)? Something wasn't right.

After a few minutes of digging it was clear this was just another Boise State gimmick, like the trick plays they use to score against BCS opponents.

Of their 22 academic performers only four Broncos had declared majors, two of which could qualify as tough (accounting and psychology). It's not hard to make the dean's list when you're taking 'rock's for jocks,' weightlifting and basket-weaving.

On the flip side, only one of Idaho's six academic players was an undeclared major, one was pre-med and yet another was earning a master's in accounting.

At first glance, things may appear in order on the Smurf Turf, but there's always another dimension when you look.

Rather than challenging its athletes to go for a Heisman in the classroom, Boise State is content having its athletes pose like Lady Liberty.

Boise State All-WAC Academic Honors

Accounting: Richard Brockel; Communication: Jeron Johnson, Kyle Wilson; Psychology: Michael Choate

Undeclared: Michael Adams, Michael Atkinson, Kyle Efaw, Zach Gholson, Byron Hout, Joseph Kellogg, Chandler Koch, Darren Koontz, Kellen Moore, Hazen Moss, Daniel Paul, James Percy, Christopher Potter, Nathaniel Potter, Tyler Shoemaker, Matthew Slater, Tommy Smith, Aaron Tevis

Idaho All-WAC Academic Honors

Accounting: Aaron Lavarias, Adam Juratovac (Masters); Business: Robert Cowan; Chemistry/Pre-Med: Nathan Enderle; Finance: Peter Bjorvik; Undeclared: Preston Davis

In USC v USC, the real SC Wins

When I first moved to the South (from Washington state) and heard people talking about USC, I was pumped.

Finally, I had found some worldly sports fans who actually discussed college conferences outside their own geographic area. Boy was that wrong.

In the Carolinas, USC meant the University of South Carolina (a member of the SEC) not the University of Southern California (crown jewel of the Pac-10).

But now, thanks to a lawsuit the real SC has been established.

South Carolina wanted to put an interlocking “SC” logo on its baseball uniforms. That logo was similar enough to the “SC” Trojans, so Southern Cal sued.

A federal appellate court ruling came down on Jan. 19 in favor of the Left Coast school. In the decision the court noted that South Carolina's mark was “legally identical” to Southern Cal's and could potentially create confusion.

So even though South Carolina was established 75 years before Southern Cal, the Trojans are the real “SC”. And justice is served.

Now if only the NCAA would only clamp down those extras passed out to the Trojans top running backs over the years.

He's no Montana, not even close

If you're trying to figure out the next media crush when Florida quarterback Tim Tebow graduates, look no further than USC's Matt Barkley.

After one collegiate game SI.com writer Stewart Mandel set off a barrage of anger when he compared the Trojans freshman QB to All-time great Joe Montana. Things have gotten worse since USC stole a win last Saturday in Columbus.

LA Time's columnist Bill Plaschke wrote "the questions that had dogged the USC football program for several weeks were stunningly answered Saturday night with two words. Matt. Barkley."

Fanhouse's Jay Mariotti wrote "never have I seen a quarterback so young, in a game with Bowl Championship Series implications, carve out an epic 86-yard rally in an enemy setting." Others evoked images of a John Elway-esque drive.

This has been bugging me all week. Were they watching the same game I was?

I give USC lots of credit for the win. And yes, Barkley was taking snaps on the final drive but what did he really do?

Give the ball to tailback Joe McKnight. McKnight lead the Trojans down the field on that "epic" drive, circa Reggie Bush. Bush bailed out USC time-and-time again during his time in LA.

Barkley completed three throws on the final drive, though two of them were dump off passes. For the game the freshman was a pedestrian 15-of-31 passing for 195 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception (yawn).

Call me crazy, I just don't see the Montana or Elway comparisons. Barkley could develop into that type of player one day, but it's clear he's not there yet. I wouldn't even say he's as good as Mark Sanchez.

As for the game 18-15 victory, I'd say Barkley & Co. are lucky referees continue to conform to human nature, and err a lot.