Pac-10 Hoops Preview from Tuscon

Here's a nice article from Arizona giving a few pre-season grades on the upcoming Pac-10 men's basketball season starting this week.

Arizona Star - Analysis by Brian J. Pedersen : Preseason tells little, means less

What is the difference between Washington's 10-0 record — its best start in 30 years — and the 4-4 mark Stanford has posted so far? Or between the nine wins in 11 games recorded by USC and the six victories in 11 tries by Oregon?

Absolutely nothing.

The only record that matters now is the one each Pac-10 team has in league play, which for everyone is 0-0 heading into Thursday's openers.
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Oregon State (6-4): Though still unable to play well outside of Corvallis, the Beavers might have found their go-to guy in senior guard Chris Stephens. He had a monster run at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu and is shooting great (53.1 on field goals, 92.7 on free throws). Grade: C plus

I think most Beaver fans would generally agree with that grade. Inconsistency has killed them. However, I think Chris Stephens is back after a year taking a back seat to everyone else.