Men's Basketball | Oregon State nears dubious Pac-10 mark

When it comes to losing basketball teams in the Pac-10, I've always taken the view that there's a bone out there for everybody. Nobody goes begging for an entire conference season. Socialism reigns, at least a little, even in a league with UCLA.

Then I watched a tape of the first half of Washington's 97-59 victory over Oregon State (don't ask me why). OSU's offense was disjointed. Shots were taken out of rhythm and hit the wrong side of the rim.

I've thus moved off my position. Oregon State, 0-15 in the Pac-10, is indeed eminently capable of losing its last three and becoming the first school in the league's 30-year history to go winless in league play.

That's a lot of league play.

"I still see it in their eyes," OSU interim coach Kevin Mouton said stoically Tuesday. "They haven't folded in the tent. I'm excited about practice today. I just see it. I would know if they quit."

The Beavers, who have lost 17 in a row overall, have three left, all at home, against Oregon and the Arizona schools. Working against OSU is the fact all three need desperately to win to fan their NCAA-tournament chances. Bad enough that your RPI computer ranking takes a hit when you play the No. 248 team; lose, and it's a résumé-ravaging experience.

A bigger question some sadists and sportswriters are entertaining: Might OSU be the worst team ever in the league? I'd contend that even if the Beavers go 0-18, the competition is now tougher than that faced by history's four 1-17 teams, so it's a tough call. This is the company the Beavers are keeping:

Arizona, 1982-83

• Ben Lindsey got one year coaching the Wildcats (4-24), and he didn't do much with it, beating only Florida International, Northern Arizona, San Diego State and a 14-14 Stanford team (by a point). And the Pac-10 wasn't very salty, putting two teams into the NCAA.

WSU, 1989-90

• Kelvin Sampson's third WSU team (7-22) lost a school-record 18 straight. It beat George Raveling's 12-16 USC squad (also by a point). Sampson, who has enough disgrace these days, will be spared here because the Pac-10 that year had seven tournament teams, four in the NCAA.

WSU, 1999-2000

• Paul Graham, who inspired the Cougars to a combined 9-63 conference record in four years, can at least say his team was the only one of this feckless four to have beaten a Pac-10 program with a winning record (Cal, 18-15, in overtime). Four Pac-10 teams went to the NCAA.

WSU, 2001-02

• The Graham reclamation wouldn't have had a chance, even if the Pac-10 didn't have six NCAA teams. The Cougars beat Bob Bender's last Washington team (11-18) by two, plus this motley crew: Prairie View A&M, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Idaho, Texas Pan-American and in the season-ending game in Pullman, Centenary. What a senior day that must have been.

Meanwhile, other assorted effluvia from the loser file:

In a mere four years, Graham's teams authored 15-, 14- and 12-game losing streaks.

John Wooden's worst losing streak in his 28 years at UCLA? Four, which happened twice in the late 1950s.

Think coaching pressure wasn't different back in the day? Fred Enke, who had Arizona's worst losing streak of 16 games in 1958-59, finished a 36-year career there with seven consecutive losing seasons.

George Bohler, who coached Oregon to a league-worst 22-game losing streak in 1921-22, was the brother of WSU coach Fred Bohler, who has a gym named after him.

In the final seconds of a loss at Oregon State that capped Oregon's winless Pac-8 season in 1971-72, an OSU male cheerleader in Corvallis was given the public-address microphone and said, "We'd like to congratulate Oregon on becoming the first team in history to go 0-14 in the Pac-8."

So our advice to OSU public-address man Mike Stone: Keep your hands on that mike.

Rim shots

• USC's Daniel Hackett (back problem) might be able to resume practice today. He's a key figure for the depth-shy Trojans.

• Oregon coach Ernie Kent says freshman point guard Kamyron Brown will get only limited minutes until Kent sees improvement in responsibilities on and off the floor.

• Imagine this backcourt if Jerryd Bayless stays at Arizona one more year: Incoming point guard Brandon Jennings, who has already broken the season scoring record at noted Oak Hill Academy, just scored 63 points in a game.