Thursday night in Spokane, Brigham Young plays at Gonzaga in the most important game of the final weekend of basketball play in the West Coast Conference. It has all sorts of implications for both clubs, among them a chance to tie or win the WCC regular-season title outright, as well as establishing seeds for the league tournament -- which is a big deal.

Beyond that, there are even NCAA-tournament bubble issues. Gonzaga is virtually in, but BYU could still be vulnerable if it loses this one and then stumbles early in the tournament. Not likely, but still not out of the question.

We'll get to some of those details in a minute. For Gonzaga, it's a chance to wash away some of the bitter taste left by a 66-65 loss at San Francisco Saturday that could deny it a 12th straight league regular-season title.

I can't remember a Gonzaga game that left me more puzzled. The Zags fumbled their way into 22 turnovers, but never seemed to try to attack the USF traps and pressing. When Gonzaga got the ball to mid-court (which wasn't a given, by any means), it seemed to stop and exhale.

After it allowed the winning basket with 3.3 seconds remaining, Gonzaga chose to have 5-11 (generously) David Stockton inbound the ball at the far end. Stockton was able to run the baseline, but I've never seen a player that small asked to inbound the ball in a must-score situation. Yes, Stockton is a good passer, but that's not a spot where it tends to be reflected.

Stockton got the ball to forward Elias Harris at about the three-point arc at the opposite end. He caught it just about flat-footed and had to wheel, handle it upcourt and then cast up about a 32-footer that never had a chance. Generally, the whole play was a mess.

Gonzaga is now 21-5 and tied with BYU (23-6) for second in the WCC at 11-3. Saint Mary's has the top spot at 23-5 and 12-2. The Gaels visit Portland Thursday night and have to meet USF on the road Saturday night, and that doesn't figure to be easy. BYU finishes with Portland at home, which does. Gonzaga ends at San Diego Saturday afternoon at 4.

The top two seeds draw double byes, meaning they don't have to play until the WCC semifinals. Seeds three and four get one bye, but would have to win three games to capture the tournament title.

Two Gonzaga wins would mean no worse than second place and a No. 2 seed. If Gonzaga beats BYU but loses Saturday and ties with the Cougars for second, the Zags would hold the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed, having a win over Saint Mary's that BYU doesn't have.

Two wins by Saint Mary's means the Gaels wrest the regular-season title from Gonzaga, something that has been owned (or co-owned) by the Zags since 2001.

If you're a Washington basketball fan doing some late-season scoreboard-watching, the results are apt to drive you crazy: One game, it's a "bubble" team losing and hurting its chances of crashing the tournament. The next, it's somebody coming out of nowhere and posting a big victory sure to catch the eyes of the basketball committee in two weeks.

Example: Monday night, Texas, struggling this year under Rick Barnes, blew a double-digit lead against Baylor and lost to fall to 17-11. I don't see the Longhorns making it this year.

But a couple of hours earlier, that was balanced by Shabazz Napier and Connecticut. The defending champion Huskies, who have lurched throughout February and are themselves a questionmark for the tournament, beat Villanova on Napier's 30-footer in overtime, 73-70, so they're now 17-10 and still viable. They're also an undistinguished 7-8 in the Big East.

Tuesday night brought all sorts of such madness that down the road could affect a Washington or Arizona or Oregon. The night was rife with tournament implication.

North Carolina State, which last week came undone and lost a season-making game at Duke, lost to North Carolina, which means the Wolfpack is now 18-10 and listing.

About then, Seton Hall (19-9) was bombing eighth-ranked Georgetown, 73-55, which makes the Pirates that much more attractive.

But the Big Ten results were much more positive for the Pac-12 hopefuls. Illinois? Kiss off the Illini, who are falling apart at the seams. They lost at Ohio State -- no big surprise there -- to fall to 16-12 and 5-10 in the Big Ten. Along with them is a team just about everybody roots for, Northwestern, because the Wildcats have never been to the NCAAs. They lost to Michigan at home in overtime in what would have been a game-changer, and at 16-11 and 6-9, I think they're on the outside looking in, at least for now.

That could also describe Mississippi State, which led most of the way against Kentucky, but caved at the finish in Starkville, falling to 19-9 and 6-7 in the SEC.

In the Missouri Valley, Creighton might have saved its season by rescuing a home victory, 93-92, over a 14-14 Evansville team that was led by swingman Colt Ryan's 43 points. Creighton has a healthy 28 RPI, but this one no doubt would have damaged the Blue Jays, who improve to 24-5.

On the other hand, Xavier, thought once to be one of Gonzaga's most important victims, looks headed to a lesser tournament. The Musketeers got thumped at UMass, 80-73, and are now 17-10. There's nothing much to suggest they're going to turn around a season that swung on the ugly Dec. 10 fight with Cincinnati.

In the Big 12, Kansas State buffed its credentials by beating Missouri on the road, and I can't see the Wildcats being left out now, not after a second win over Mizzou -- and a victory the other day at Baylor. Given those three wins, it's a little amazing to think the Wildcats are only 8-7 in the conference (19-8 overall).

Finally, in the last important game of the night, Colorado State hung on to defeat No. 18 New Mexico to move to 17-9 and 6-5 in the Mountain West. The Rams had a 30 RPI entering this one, so they bear watching as a possible fourth from the MWC if they finish strongly.

A person could drive themselves a little crazy trying to deconstruct it all, and there's a whole lot still to come. Best prescription, of course: Keep winning yourself and forget everybody else.

Saturday's hot college-basketball menu item locally will be the Washington-Arizona game, with implications for the regular-season Pac-12 title chase, but after that, I'm going to be paying attention to some of ESPN's BracketBuster event.

Kind of cool that there's a day to see some of the less-visible teams - the sort you might want to know something about as potential sleepers in your NCAA bracket.

Topping the list is Saint Mary's at Murray State (3 p.m. PST). Ironically, even as the game's luster has dimmed in recent days with Murray State's first loss last week and the Gaels' two-defeats-in-three-games slide, it's actually taken on more importance because the loser could be sliding from what seemed to be a certain NCAA berth toward the bubble.

Then there's Dan Monson's Long Beach State team at Creighton (which itself has hit a bit of a lull lately). The 49ers strike me as a team that might be one of those mid-March surprises, with a fast-paced up-and-down style excellent point guard play from Casper Ware.

LBSU is 19-6, has won 12 straight, and played the nation's most wicked pre-conference schedule, beating Pitt and Xavier and playing Kansas and North Carolina to single-digit losses.

Creighton is 22-5, and it's another chance to see their standout sophomore forward, Doug McDermott, who averages 22.7 points.

Murray State, meanwhile, is 25-1, and I caught up with its first-year coach, Steve Prohm, earlier this week. He obviously doesn't take kindly to the idea that the Racers could fumble away an NCAA bid with another loss here and a third one in the Ohio Valley tournament.

"I hear all of it," he said, a little wearily. "I probably listen to to too much of that stuff. We've done an unbelievable job so far. We've got some great non-conference wins."

The OVC is relatively cushy, but there's no doubt the Racers have some non-league cred. They beat Southern Mississippi (RPI No. 10) in Alaska, won at Memphis (19th in the RPI) and blew away Dayton (No. 66).

Still, Prohm doesn't minimize what a victory over Saint Mary's could do.

"It's a big game, no question," he said. "I'm not going to shy away and say it's not a big game."

The Gaels (23-4) will be trying to get back on track after a bad eight days in which they've slid back into a tie in the loss column in the WCC race with Gonzaga. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in a matchup of point guards between the Gaels' Matt Dellavedova and Murray's Isaiah Canaan.

But Saint Mary's is hurting. Guard Stephen Holt injured a knee in the Loyola loss Wednesday night and could be out for the season, and Dellavedova turned an ankle. So a victory at Murray will be an uphill struggle.

Unexpectedly -- well, maybe not so unexpectedly -- Loyola Marymount went to Saint Mary's Wednesday night and dropped the Gaels, 75-60, which not only has huge implications for the West Coast Conference basketball race but possibly at-large bids affecting both the WCC and the Pac-12.

Loyola is an astonishing study unto itself, a team that has won seven road games in the WCC, a ridiculous accomplishment for a team that won't win the league. The Lions are 17-10 and 11-4, and have a convincing early win against UCLA plus one over Saint Louis.

They're not a threat to nab an at-large berth. But they might be a threat to win the WCC tournament title. If that were to happen, it would expand the NCAA-tournament bubble and make the scramble for at-large bids more competitive.

Gonzaga will make it in any case, barring a complete collapse. BYU is a bit iffier -- pending a date next Thursday at GU's Kennel -- and I'm wondering again about Saint Mary's. We've been through this rodeo before.

The Gaels lost by 14 at Gonzaga last week, got a competitive game from Santa Clara Saturday night, and then fell flat against Loyola. Now comes Saturday's BracketBuster game at Murray State. It's a game that has lost some luster in recent days, but perhaps gained more importance at the same time, as both teams' at-large credentials could be called into question with a defeat.

Saint Mary's (23-4) got banged up against Loyola, as guard Stephen Holt left with a knee injury of unannounced severity. If the Gaels drop one at Murray, no doubt they're going to be reminded of last year, when they skidded down the stretch and saw a three-game WCC lead over Gonzaga melt into a co-championship. And then the Gaels failed to make the NCAA tournament.

They dropped to No. 31 in CBSSports.com's RPI ratings Thursday. Their non-league scheduled included not only two-non-Division 1 teams, but six others with sub-200 RPI rankings. So a loss at Murray State, and another loss, say, before the WCC-tournament final could jeopardize an at-large spot.

If Loyola were to win the WCC tournament, it would stir debate about whether the WCC could nab an unprecedented four NCAA bids, which doesn't seem likely. If it did come about, it would slim the chances of other bubble teams, which are sure to include some from the Pac-12.

On the other hand, it's easy to see the WCC getting two bids -- Gonzaga and somebody else.

Of course, Gonzaga stands to benefit from the Saint Mary's loss to Loyola Marymount. Entering a weekend at Santa Clara and San Francisco, the Zags are now in position where, if they win out (finishing at home against BYU and on the road to San Diego), they can do no worse than tie for a 12th straight regular-season title.

Spent some time this afternoon on a national media teleconference with Jeff Hathaway, former Connecticut athletic director who is chairman of the Division 1 NCAA basketball committee. Annually, the committee chair does this teleconference, plus another one when the committee is beginning to convene in Indianapolis March 7, and another one after the bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday.

Among other observations, Hathaway noted that the bracket process is more transparent with the publication of team sheets on the NCAA website.

Some of the highlights, per Hathaway's responses, especially pertaining to Washington and the tournament (there's rarely any specific comment on any one team, but you can extrapolate some of the observations):

Placement within a conference isn't a factor in at-large selections.

In other words, if Washington finishes second in the Pac-12 regular season and Cal wins the regular season and conference tournament, the Huskies don't necessarily rate a nod over third-place Arizona in the at-large reckoning (but other factors, such as two head-to-head wins over the 'Cats, would help).

"The bottom line is, when viewing an individual team sheet, they're an independent," Hathaway said. "They are not conference-affiliated."

Working on a free-lance piece for Basketball Times last summer, I wrote about how a couple of Bay Area teams in the West Coast Conference, Santa Clara and San Francisco, appeared poised to make a move toward the top and challenge Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in the 2011-12 race.

Right on schedule, Santa Clara today is winless in 12 WCC games and holder of a school-record 13-game losing streak.

It's been a thoroughly forgettable season for the Broncos, who host Gonzaga Thursday night minus a player whose personal travail provides a window into discipline in today's college athletic environment.

Kevin Foster is a strong, 6-2, 219-pound guard who has made a habit of killing the Zags. He scored 36 against them in a Santa Clara victory last year in the Bay Area, and in the rematch in Spokane -- you can look it up -- he scored 10 points in a span of 22 seconds.

He averaged 20.2 a year ago and was at 17.8 this year when he was picked up in the early-morning of Jan. 22 -- only hours after a home loss to Saint Mary's -- and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. According to the San Jose Mercury-News, he is scheduled to be arraigned March 7.

Monday, Santa Clara announced it was suspending Foster for the season after he went through the school's student judicial process. Foster has sat out the past seven games, and he'll be out Santa Clara's next four, plus any the Broncos play in the WCC tournament.

The Pac-12 basketball race's theater of the absurd continues, and it could get weirder very soon. It's not at all out of the question that by Sunday night, we could be looking at a five-way tie for the league lead with 9-4 records.

Here's the way it is entering Saturday: 1 (tie) Washington and Cal, 9-3. 2 (tie), Colorado, Arizona and Oregon, 8-4.

This is all it would take: Saturday, Arizona beats Utah. Colorado beats Arizona State. Oregon beats Washington State. And UCLA beats Cal. Sunday, Oregon State beats Washington. Presto, a five-way tie.

That would set up a madcap scramble the final three weekends of the season -- with the possibility that none of the five earns its way into the NCAA tournament on an at-large basis. Just sayin'.

Thoughts on what took place Thursday night:

Washington

The Huskies were left in the dust by the Ducks from the outset. Oregon played harder and smarter. I found it interesting that the Ducks prospered by pushing the tempo, because we always assume that's when Washington flourishes.

Random hits:

It always bothers me when a team drops back into a zone after essentially finding it can't guard the opposition man-to-man, as the Huskies did (although on this night, nothing much worked).

It's apparent C.J. Wilcox is less than the player he can be, when not troubled by his hip problem. He just doesn't seem to be moving as freely as normal.

Terrence Ross got relatively good looks at the basket, even while shooting 4 of 12, but I'd contend he needs to be more aggressive off the bounce, especially in games when Washington is desperate for offense.

It's just one loss, so no time to overreact. I would contend, however, that Washington's eight-wins-in-nine games stretch was a bit of a mirage. One broadcaster entering last night's game referred to the Huskies as "on fire." Well, it was a one-alarm fire.

Consider the eight victories in that stretch:

Three came against the Pac-12's dreadful, sub-200-RPI trio, Utah, Arizona State and USC.

One was against Seattle U. (6-14).

Two happened when the Huskies had to overcome double-digit deficits in the second half on their home floor to Washington State and UCLA, which are tied for eighth, and in sixth place, respectively, in the league.

Of the remaining two, the victory at Arizona was a great breakthrough, Washington's best win of the season. The home win over Stanford was, well, over the seventh-place team in a bad league.

This isn't to diminish the fact Washington won, which is the name of the game. Just that the Huskies were hardly cutting a swath during that period.

Washington State

You can't stop Brock Motum, you can only hope to contain him. Something like that.

Motum, the Aussie junior, has cinched a place on the league's official 10-man first team, and I'd contend he'd be a near-lock for a five-man unit. He's been phenomenal of late, scoring 109 points in his last four games. You have to go back to the non-conference portion of Klay Thompson's sophomore year (the 2009-10 season) to find a WSU player who scored more over four games.

Motum is leading the league in scoring at 20.8 in conference games only. He's also become a rebounder; the past six games, he's had no fewer than eight.

Here's a more telling statistic on what he's meant to WSU lately. In the past four games -- against Arizona State, USC, UCLA and Oregon State -- Motum has scored 40.4 percent of the Cougars' points -- 109 of 270.

When I asked WSU coach Ken Bone this week if anything had changed Motum in the off-season, he said, "Not really. I saw a guy that knew he was going to get more of an opportunity to play. I think he pretty much figured he was going to start and I think that's given him a level of confidence. As the year has gone on, I think Brock has become more and more competitive on the floor. He's a great kid, and we've asked him to flip the switch and become a little nastier."

As for the team, the Cougars have been the chief albatross to Oregon State, having swept the Beavers, the most disappointing team in the conference. Last night, WSU had 46 points at halftime, and in its previous nine Pac-12 games, it averaged 29.6 at the break. The last time WSU had 40 or more was against Oregon State, naturally, Dec. 31.

WSU, with a front line that's never going to be confused with Kentucky, outscored Oregon State, 40-20 in the paint.

Gonzaga

The Zags got a badly needed quality victory against Saint Mary's, their first of real note since they went on the road and won at Xavier Dec. 31.

Kevin Pangos was money Thursday night, and he provided something often missing in the Gonzaga offense -- "easy" points. This is a team, that -- partly because it's still finding its way at the small-forward (No. 3) position -- doesn't seem to score very easily. It pounds the ball in and the bigs aren't always reliable on offense.

Not that Pangos' threes were easy, but with the game in the balance, he took it over with his scoring from the perimeter, finishing with 27 points. He was simply more than the 13th-ranked Gaels could cope with.

Much is being made of whether Gonzaga can continue its streak of 11 straight won-or-tied regular-season West Coast Conference titles. No doubt that's a worthy goal for the Zags, especially since UCLA's college record is 13. But since you'd need to go 13-1 in league to ensure it happens, there are external factors involved. I don't see it as a misstep or a chink in Gonzaga's armor if the Gaels pull it off. Saint Mary's has simply been very, very good -- unbeaten in the league until Thursday night. Randy Bennett has been building that program steadily, and this is the year when the Gaels have been better.

If Gonzaga had been reeling and was sitting there with a 13-9 record, it would be different. As it is, GU is 19-4, its worst loss (by the computer rankings) is to Illnois on the road and it simply hasn't faltered much in the big picture. It's headed toward another NCAA tournament, and has performed well. Just not as well as Saint Mary's.

The move toward the Pac-12 stretch run begins Thursday night, and there's a bit of weirdness associated with the race.

I'm using Arizona as the prime example, but it's actually a broader phenomenon.

The Wildcats, who have a big game with Colorado at 6 p.m. (PST), are recognized to have the easiest schedule down the stretch. Among their seven finishing games are four against the lowest four teams in the league - USC, Utah, Arizona State and Washington State.

So, the question: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Most years, it would be good. Most years, the contending teams in the league have banked enough quality wins, and the league is good enough, that the key issue would be trying to capture the regular-season title.

This year is not that year. So Arizona, more than any other team, is in a position in which its easier schedule could hurt its chances of making the NCAA tournament.

Each time the Wildcats play one of those bottom four - especially sub-200-RPI woofers Utah, USC and ASU - it's going to drop Arizona's RPI and its strength-of-schedule rating. A victory over one of those only means you escaped losing to them.

So you can make the case that Arizona would be better served by having a tougher schedule, if the ultimate goal is making the NCAA tournament. (By the way, Washington has three of those bottom four left among its last seven).

Apparently, it's not a good idea to test Mike Leach, the new WSU football coach. Late Tuesday morning, the Cougars announced that sophomore linebacker C.J. Mizell "will not be retained" on the WSU squad after an eventful couple of seasons.

Mizell was charged Sunday with fourth-degree assault and second-degree criminal trespass by Pullman police after an alleged fight at a fraternity. A police spokesman told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that Mizell punched a victim several times after he was denied admittance to a party at the Delta Tau Delta house.

I detailed the pre-WSU Mizell drama when he entered WSU in 2010. He grew up in southern Georgia, and as a sophomore at Coffee County, Ga., got into an altercation with the coach at the school, Jerry Odom. Neither Mizell nor Odom would say much about it, but June Munford, assistant superintendent of Coffee County schools, told me in 2010, "It wasn't really a fight. It wasn't really punches, just some aggressiveness, one toward the other." Munford said it happened in the locker room after a practice.

Mizell's family moved south to Tallahassee and he signed a letter of intent with the hometown Florida State Seminoles in 2009, but he came up shy of a qualifying test score. Court records show him receiving probation for possession of a small amount of marijuana.

Mizell said he talked to the new FSU coach at the time, Jimbo Fisher, and Fisher wanted him to attend a junior college. Mizell didn't want to, and he slipped between the cracks and was a surprise signee by the Cougars in 2010. A friend of then-WSU grad assistant Sheldon Cross tipped the Cross on Mizell's availability, and the Cougars took a flyer and signed him.

He was a handful from the beginning. Mizell would visibly loaf through some early practices, as if trying to be insubordinate. Paul Wulff and his staff tried to discipline him, but also gave him a fairly long leash. He was a talent. Finally, Mizell began to show better work habits, and he was a fairly big factor down the stretch for the Cougars -- memorably setting the tone in a big upset at Oregon State by running star back Jacquizz far out of bounds onto a hard surface for a 15-yard personal-foul penalty.

Mizell had a fairly undistinguished sophomore season, capped by a perplexing incident at the Apple Cup in which he appeared to take himself out of action, wearing sweats after halftime. There was speculation about whether he would be allowed to return, regardless of whether Wulff was retained. Now we know.

Assuming football is important to Mizell, not doing his best to impress the new staff has to rank as a supremely stupid move on his part. He would have been a junior on a team that seems to have some promise, and if he had chosen to take off following the 2012 season for a shot at the NFL, it was there for him. He has those kinds of physical gifts. Now, to make that happen in a year, he has to drop down a level of competition. In any case, he's wasting a mountain of ability.

In the middle of a forgettable season of Pac-12 basketball, maybe it's natural that occurrences peripheral to the games themselves stand out, and that's what happened over the weekend.

Arizona went to the Bay Area and won two games, which, even in a down year for the league, is notable. But the Wildcats had another weird Thursday-night happening, and it's becoming difficult to call the chain of events mere coincidence.

Here's what we know: Back in December was the ugly brawl between Xavier and Cincinnati. 'Zona coach Sean Miller (former Xavier coach) was asked about it and was quoted, "I'm really proud of those guys," apparently referring to the fact the Musketeers didn't back down. A couple of days later came a statement from Arizona and Miller, clarifying that he didn't mean to minimize the gravity of the brawl or sound as though he was condoning it.

Then . . .

Jan. 12 -- Late in a game with Oregon State, Arizona's Kyle Fogg and OSU's Jared Cunningham got into it after a fast-break basket and when the benches erupted, Arizona's Kyryl Natyazhko and OSU's Joe Burton were ejected for coming onto the floor. From the TV replay, it appeared Fogg was the clear aggressor, woofing at Cunningham and confronting him before Cunningham pushed him away. Another version has Arizona's Nick Johnson embracing Fogg and essentially propelling him toward Cunningham, who took the first physical action. Last week, Miller, talking about Natyazhko, said, "We had one player come about six feet off the bench, growl and turn beet-red. He deserved to be thrown out."

Jan. 19 -- Arizona's Solomon Hill was tossed from a game at Utah for throwing an elbow at the Utes' Cedric Martin in what Miller last week called a retaliation.

Jan. 26 -- Freshman guard Josiah Turner and Washington State's Brock Motum were assessed a double-technical foul, and when the two players locked up again shortly after, Turner drew a technical (Motum didn't) and was automatically ejected.

Feb. 2 -- Cal's Jorge Gutierrez, flying after a loose ball, found himself entangled with Arizona assistant Joe Pasternack on the Wildcats bench. On video, it's difficult to draw conclusions, which is what officials must have decided; they made no call. Asked about it afterward, Cal coach Mike Montgomery said, "In his (Gutierrez') opinion, one of the coaches on the other team did something he shouldn't." (Gutierrez wasn't made available to media.) Friday, Arizona released a statement from Pasternack (the 'Cats must lead the league in statements), which said in part that his actions "were a reflex in response to a player falling on top of me while running at top speed toward our bench . . . in no way was I deliberately attempting to engage him."

Not a big surprise, but Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott's contract has been extended through 2016 by the league's board of directors (presidents and chancellors). Since he took over 2 1/2 years ago, Scott has transformed completely the profile of the league, negotiating the biggest football and basketball TV contract (for now) of all conferences, and implementing the Pac-12 TV Networks set to start in the fall. Here's the link:

With another football signing date now in the past, I'm reminded of a whimsical question asked years ago by George Raveling, the former basketball coach:

"Where are all the bad players?"

He was referring, of course, to the tendency of a lot of football coaches to lay it on thick when they announce their recruiting classes. You know, everybody was an All-American, this kid was really the one we wanted anyway, this class is the fastest ever signed by our school (even though analysts say it's the fattest).

So I figured it would be worthwhile to comb through what was said by Pac-12 coaches on signing day and assess how much they pushed the hype needle. To be honest, what I discovered overall was a relatively reserved approach - enthusiastic but not over the top. But that doesn't describe every coach.

Before that, a couple of random observations:

While the assessment of players by scouting analysts is always going to be risky business related to eventual performance, I'm seeing greater acceptance by public and media of their ratings. To be fair, that could be because the ratings are increasing scientific and credible -- who knows? But when a newspaper refers to a player as the "No. 5 cornerback in the country," that's a pretty sweeping, silly assumption, even if it's referencing what some scouting service believes. Can't we at least refer to him as the No. 5-rated cornerback?

Where the ratings don't necessarily reflect the real strength of a class is in the equal assignment of stars regardless of position. They thus minimize the impact of playmakers, especially quarterbacks. For instance, Stanford was ranked No. 43 by Scout.com in 2008, despite the five-star signing of Andrew Luck. What do you suppose Luck was worth to Stanford's success the past two years? Forty percent of it? Fifty? More? (For more on that, Robert Griffin III of Baylor was the 12th-ranked quarterback in that class, and Baylor ranked 55th that year.)