Pac-10 will be lucky to get more than two teams in NCAA men's basketball tournament

A priest and a rabbi are seated at a bar. In walks a Pac-10 basketball player.

Go ahead, supply a punchline. Everybody else does. We all knew this wasn't going to be a vintage year for the conference, but it's turning into an Abbott and Costello skit of double entendre, exploding cigars and backside falls down staircases.

California and Washington began the season in November as the consensus cream of the league, the tandem that would spare the Pac-10 embarrassment in the wake of all the early dashes to the NBA.

So the Huskies begin 2010 by losing at home to Oregon, which had mucked aimlessly through the preseason. Then Cal left the door open for Washington by losing at home to UCLA, the Bruins of the 174 RPI. The Huskies' way of saying thanks was to cough up two 17-point losses in the desert.

AP voters decided they'd had enough this week, snubbing the Pac-10 for the first time since late February 1987. That was the first season of the three-point shot.

It's gotten to the point that, with USC banned from the postseason, it would be a serious upset if the Pac-10 got three teams into the NCAA tournament. No other BCS conference has ever failed to land three teams (other than the Pac-10, which got two in 1986-88).

The league began making its bed early, doing next to nothing before conference play. These are the Pac-10's (USC excepted) current RPI computer numbers, courtesy of CollegeRPI.com, followed by the best nonleague win of each:

Arizona (72): Louisiana Tech (74).

Arizona State (88): San Diego State (41).

Cal (32): Murray State (86).

Oregon (132): Oakland (66).

Oregon State (206): George Washington (127).

Stanford (121): Virginia (128).

UCLA (174): Colorado State (94).

Washington (64): Texas A&M (35).

Washington State (84): Idaho (160).

Anyway, we want a mulligan. Shred those predictions of two weeks ago in which we picked the Huskies for first and Oregon ninth. Here's a new (improved?) version:

1. California (2-1). Without guard Jorge Gutierrez, who will sit out games again this week in Washington with a knee problem, Cal is getting thin. But who else deserves to be up here?

2. USC (2-2). Lots of wide-bodied athletes.

3. Oregon (2-1). Not a picture of stability, but the Ducks flew under the radar with some December injuries.

4. Arizona (2-2). A youthful team that should get better.

5. Washington (1-3). This might be pessimistic, but the Huskies have lost three straight in double digits for the first time since December 2003, Lorenzo Romar's second season, partly because of a 31-rebound deficit in those three. Would Jon Brockman have allowed that?

6. UCLA (2-2). Just when the Bruins show signs, they tumble.

7. ASU (2-2). Sun Devils' defense looked better than ever last weekend. Eight opponents have had season-low points games against ASU.

8. WSU (2-2). Like last year, Cougars sometimes struggle to score.

9. Oregon State (1-2). Fortunately, Seattle U. is not in the league.

10. Stanford (2-1). Not much depth, but Landry Fields and Jeremy Green can play.

And a disclaimer: This year, an extra win or loss might mean three or four places.

And what's more ...

• Thursday night's Arizona-OSU game in Corvallis will be the first regularly scheduled UA game not on any form of TV since 1998.

• Nothing new on touted OSU guard Roberto Nelson's saga with the NCAA Clearinghouse, and coach Craig Robinson says he might be redshirted.

• Point guard Jio Fontan, who averaged 15.3 points as a Fordham freshman last season, has transferred to USC, and coach Kevin O'Neill says he'll be immediate help next January.

• O'Neill on the fallout of Pete Carroll's departure at USC: "Pete was a great resource for all of us. When we had guys here for recruiting visits, he was really active with it. Unbelievable personality and unbelievably loyal. He's going to be missed by everybody here. He's a one-in-a-million type guy."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com