LOS ANGELES -- While many people came into this week's Pac-10 Tournament knowing that several teams needed to have strong performances in order to rid themselves of any further bubble talk, tomorrow's final won't feature any surprises.
Instead, No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 2 Stanford will square off after the Cardinal took down third-seeded Washington State, 75-68, in front of a packed house at Staples Center.
"I'm just glad we won't have to see Washington State again for the rest of the year," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said afterward. "I thought we did a very good job of keeping our poise and taking care of the ball at crucial times and also defending. They're tough to guard. I think we all know that."
Brook Lopez was once again the culprit for Stanford (26-6 overall, 13-5 Pac-10), as the sophomore 7-footer knocked down 11-of-22 shots for a game-high 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 37 minutes.
"He was a load down there," WSU senior Kyle Weaver said of Lopez. "It is tough when they space you and he is scoring and you have shooters ready to knock down open shots. They just strain you on defense."
Weaver was certainly tough to guard and was almost as good as Lopez for Washington State (24-8, 11-7), finishing with a team-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough in the end for the Cougars, who shot an impressive 60 percent (12-for-20) from three.
"They are a different kind of team," Washington State coach Tony Bennett said of Stanford. "They beat us three times this year and we obviously couldn't crack the code. I thought tonight was maybe our least impressive outing against them of the three."
That might have been due to the 37-28 rebounding edge that the Cardinal held, or maybe the 14 turnovers that Washington State committed, but the Cougars never seemed to quit even when the game looked to be in Stanford's hands.
"I told our kids I respected our comeback," Bennett added. "I thought it was a gutsy comeback. We made some shots and did some nice things, but I didn't feel like we played a real smart, sound game. I thought we got a little out of our game and that is hard against a team of this caliber."
Lawrence Hill, who led Stanford at halftime with 10 points, finished with 14 on 4-of-11 shooting in addition to four rebounds, two assists and two steals as the only other Cardinal player besides Lopez to tally double-digit points.
Washington State, on the other hand, had four scorers reach double figures, as Derrick Low hit 4-of-8 threes to finish with 15 points and Daven Harmeling hit all four of his long-range attempts for 13 points. Taylor Rochestie chipped in 11 and dished out five assists from his point guard position.
"I thought we gave it our all and never gave up," Low said of his team's effort. "I think that is the most important thing. Unfortunately we didn't win."
While the loss may hurt now for the Cougars, Bennett knows that his team is squarely in the NCAA Tournament starting next week, and that's certainly the case for UCLA and Stanford as well as USC.
The one question that remains, though, is how many teams will the Pac-10 actually get?
While some predictions believe seven teams from the conference will make the Big Dance, some have said six and even five.
Ask coaches across the league, and seven seems to be the magic number.
"I think seven are going to get in," UCLA coach Ben Howland said after the Bruins' tough 57-54 win over USC earlier in the day. "I think seven should get in...No other league is as tough as this league this year. This is the best this league has ever been. No question. And the true test is, once these teams do get in, how they perform in the NCAA Tournament as a conference. I am very confident that our conference will do well."
"I would be extremely disappointed if there weren't seven teams," Johnson maintained. "Our strength of schedule isn't anything like our seventh-place team's last year. I mean, my goodness, Arizona, Oregon, Arizona State. Are you kidding me?"
If the NCAA Tournament selection committee does select seven, they certainly won't.
