Power rankings

I was just going to say.....Pac-12 season starts this weekend with a number of rivalry games. I like Ben Dull's writing, although I don't necessarily agree with all his rankings in this article. I took a look at Stanford's schedule earlier today, and I thought they may get through the Pac 12 schedule only losing 2 games. Ben thought they would lose 2 games at the most. I'll say they lose 2 at the least. I do think Stanford has the best shot at winning the conference, mainly because they don't have to make a trip to Oregon to play the Beavers and ducks. The Beavers and ducks miss playing Stanford and Cal twice, which many would considered a positive, but unfortunately, the one game against both teams is in the Bay area.

I'm a big fan of the Beavers, and I'm a believer in coach Rueck (and the whole staff), but as the team enters Pac 12 play, I don't see a big difference between the Beavers, Arizona State, and Cal. For the Beavs to finish third, or higher, I think they will need to be on top of their game each night. I do think the Beavs have the best shot at improving down the stretch, much as they did last year.

I'll say it one more time and then drop it, I'm sure to great relief. Statistically the Beav's consistently do better with Jo at the 5.

And besides, Taya is too aggressive to play the 5. She's done it a few times and quickly gotten fouls.

And on how the Beav's are going to do this Pac-12 season....no clue really. They really haven't jelled yet as to their playing style.

Is Destiny going to figure out the right proportion of passes to scoring? Is she going to nail her layup's after those brilliant drives?

Is Aleah going to keep improving such that other teams get no breaks in play?

Is Pivec going to figure out her FT problems?

Is Maddie going to keep improving her defense at the 5?

Is Jo going to keep improving her scoring/rebounding? Actually the scoring part isn't her problem but her teammates need to pass her the ball correctly, ie not wanging it off the backboard etc.

Is Kat going to keep being the incredible backup guard that she's been so far?

Is Taya going to improve her shooting? All her %'s are down this year. Everything else is doing better, passing, rebounding, defending etc.

Is Katie going to get the recognition for her defense she deserves? Lately she's done some amazing stuff (Yeah, she's had difficulty at times against bigs and Carter) where she effected the game with just her defense. The only other persons I've personally seen do that in women's basketball is Gabby and Ruth.

Katie had to bounce between Jackie and Arike. Whoever she was on, did not score. Other than cloning there isn't much of a solution to that problem.

And on Carter it was a problem for one and a half quarters and then she did fine against her. Carter makes good use of picks and Katie had to figure it out. But with 4 min's to go in the 2nd

quarter Katie was there each time and it was 0/4 for Carter. Carter was "hurt" in the 2nd half.

Not claiming Katie is perfect, few of us are, but can you name a better defender currently in college women's basketball? I know that the DPY will be either the top blocker or the top stealer and

Katie doesn't have a chance. And I think that's wrong.