Washington State at Stanford. Cougs outscored 135-13 over last two games. Stanford, 42-13.

No. 23 Oregon at California. Holiday Bowl bid could be on the line. Ducks, 41-32.

Arizona State at Oregon State. Beavers have six-game home winning streak. OSU, 34-20.

Washington at No. 7 Southern California. One of the widest point spreads in Pac-10 history seems low. SC, 53-3.

(By the way, when I was at USC football practice Wednesday, I spoke to SC defensive coordinator Nick Holt, and he made it clear that he isn't thinking about a 50-point spread:

"Quite honestly – this isn’t just coach-speak – every Pac-10 team plays us pretty good," he said. "So we’ve got to come every week. You just look at the last two (UW-USC games), it has come down to the last couple of plays of the game. We don’t take them lightly. We know their coaches – they’re very well coaches, quite honestly. And they’ve had a lot of injuries, and hopefully they don’t get it going against us.")

(And speaking of Holt, why hasn't his name come up in connection with the UW job? He's coordinator of one of the great defenses in modern football history, he has head coaching experience in the Northwest -- 5-18, but still: Idaho -- and has spent the better part of two decades coaching in the West and is now in his sixth season in the Pac-10. So, I asked if he'd be interested:

"I don’t think about that," he said. "To us down here and to people who know the Pac-10, that is just an awesome job. Whatever happens, they’re going to be good up there. Had they probably stayed with the guys they have now they’d end up being good. They’ve got some good young kids. They had some holes to fill recruiting. Hopefully they don’t catch up, but that is, as you know one of the premier places we think dow n here in the country. It’s just a matter of time.")

Last week: 4-0.
Season: 42-10.
UW games: 6-1.

The most memorable thing about today's Pac-10 basketball media day was our Q&A session with new Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who also happens to be Barack Obama's brother-in-law.

Robinson talked a lot about how his life might change Tuesday, depending on the results of the election. And I'll have a story about that in the Friday paper.

However, one answer didn't make the paper, and it was Robinson's scouting report on Obama's basketball game.

So here it is, now:

"I can give you a scouting report on his game. I’ll also make a comment about his judgment: We have never played one-on-one. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

"I describe him as, 85 to 90 percent of the people who play basketball are pickup basketball players. They’re not college players or pros or European guys. They’re just average run-of-the-mill guys. And I think he is in the top quartile of guys who play pickup basketball. So he can play pickup basketball with just about anybody.

"His scouting report would be: He’s left-handed, and he’s a true lefty. He’s not one of these lefties who’s better going to their right. He is a left-handed left-hander. So he’s going left, and if you stop him from going left he’ll pick it up and shoot it. He has a very good outside shot as most people do as they get older. He’s wiry strong and he knows the game, which makes it fun to play with him. He’s a very high basketball IQ player, so it’s fun to play with him."

The media day format has each coach open with an overview of his team before taking questions from the reporters.

Lorenzo Romar used the opportunity to strike two main themes that those of us who cover the team have heard quite a bit already: that this team has more upperclassment with experience and that it has more playmakers.

Romar's time at the mike actually began with a little interplay with Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford legend who is now back in the league coaching at Cal.

The coaches speak in reverse order of their team's finish the season before, so Montgomery had just finished when Romar walked to the front of the room.

"I have a letter at my mother’s house from Mike Montgomery," Romar said. "Mike Montgomery recruited me to play basketball back in the day."

At that point, Montgomery yelled from the back of the room, "I’ve always ben a lousy recruiter, Lorenzo."

Romar smiled and went on with this assessment of the 2008-09 Huskies:

"We are excited up in Seattle about this season that is about to take place.

"We feel that we have a couple of things that we haven’t had as much in the last couple of years. One of those is experience. Now, the last two years we’ve had two seniors on each team … (but) this year we have Jon Brockman, Justin Dentmon and Artem Wallace who have all played together three years and Quincy Pondexter who has played with those guys for two years. So this will be three and four years of them playing together and I think that’s really important when you put a team out there on the floor that there is some continuity with guys who have played together. With our young players and even our sophomores, the entire load of the program won’t be on their shoulders. And in times past the last couple of years we’ve probably had more of that.

"We also have more playmakers. And what I mean by that is not necessarily more point guards, but more guys that make plays. … I think we’ve lacked that the last couple of years in terms of the numbers. I think that in turn is going to make us a better basketball team this year. We’ve had some good practices. I think out team is a close-knit team. Our team is already playing together. We’re still acclimating some of the new guys in. We’re kind of looking forward to this year."

Pac-10 men’s basketball capsules with teams listed in their order of finish as predicated by the annual media poll:

1. UCLA
Received 37 of the 38 first-place votes. The NBA has taken three starters from last season’s Final Four and Pac-10 championship squad. However, returning seniors Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya will be complemented by another dazzling freshman class. If there’s a problem, it could be depth.

2. Arizona State
Received the only first-place vote that didn’t go to the Bruins. Expectations are high because all starters return from last season’s 21-win NIT squad. Top returnees are guard James Harden and forward Jeff Pendergraph, who chose another college season over the NBA draft. Still, there’s only one senior.

3. Southern California
USC lost its top two scorers: O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson. But the Trojans are aiming for a school-record third straight trip to the NCAA tournament behind guards Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis, forward Taj Gibson and an infusion of freshman and previously injured players expected to return.

4. Arizona
The Wildcats have become the league’s wild card team as a returning threesome of stars Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise is offset by the disruption of coach Lute Olson’s shocking resignation. Olson’s interim replacement is Russ Pennell, who was an Arizona State radio analyst last season.

5. Washington
Lorenzo Romar believes these Huskies are tournament contenders again because they have more experienced leaders than at any point since the team’s Sweet 16 days. That should make things easier on this highly ranked freshman class. Between the vets and the newcomers, Romar sees more playmakers.

6. Washington State
The core of WSU’s glory run – Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver and Robbie Cowgill – is gone. Now the challenge falls to guard Taylor Rochestie and center Aron Baynes to keep the program from dipping too far while a handful of first-year players are thrown immediately into coach Tony Bennett’s rotation.

7. Oregon
Much like the Cougars, the Ducks will turn to a new generation of players now that the long run led by Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor is over. Returning starters Tajuan Porter and Joevan Catron will try to keep things afloat while another lauded freshman class eases in.

8. California
The Golden Bears lost forward Ryan Anderson and center DeVon Hardin to the NBA. However, they might have gained a lot with the hiring of Pac-10 coaching legend Mike Montgomery. His initial challenge will be getting enough out of his strong guard corps to compensate for the lack of big men.

9. Stanford
First-year coach Johnny Dawkins steps in for Trent Johnson, who bolted to Louisiana State. And his top priority will be finding anyone to step in for 7-footers Brook and Robin Lopez, who bolted for the NBA. Their departure moves Cardinal hopes to returnees Lawrence Hill, Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson.

10. Oregon State
The Beavers were 0-18 in league play last season, costing Jay John his job. With nowhere to go but up, OSU reached across the country to hire Craig Robinson, who went 30-28 in two seasons at Brown and is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law. It remains to be seen if Robinson or Obama has the tougher job ahead.

Each team brings one player to Pac-10 media day. The only exception today is Washington State, which had to leave start guard Taylor Rochestie behind.

Rochestie was injured during a collision while practicing in Pullman. And apparently coach Tony Bennett and staff feared the worst.

Fortunately, it seems the worst didn't happen. X-rays to is injured shin came back negative, so while he missed a press conference, he may not miss any games.

Here's what Bennett told the Media Day audience:

"(He) was supposed to be here at Media Day and was in a collision at the end of practice. He got X-rays on his shin – we were very concerned, but they came back negative and we think he’ll be fine."

Here are the results of the annual media poll of writers who cover Pac-10 men's basketball.

1. UCLA (37 first place votes)
2. Arizona State (1)
3. USC
4. Arizona
5. Washington
6. Washington State
7. Oregon
8. California
9. Stanford
10. Oregon State

UW coach Lorenzo Romar hadn't seen the poll and didn't really want to react to it. However, Oregon coach Ernie Kent talked about "three top teams" and then listed them as UCLA, Arizona State and ... not USC, but Washington.

A few things Romar did talk about:

* As he has all preseason, the stressed that a big reason for encouragement is that there are upperclassmen in main contributing roles to make the adjustments easier for the talented underclassmen.

* He also stressed that there are more playmakers this season. By that he means guys -- regardless of position, who who make plays that impact the game.

* He said practices have been good and that is a close team.

*He said Jon Brockman -- who is here as the UW player representative to media day -- has progressed each season so far and will again. He said Brockman is more athletic this season ... " a sleek doberman, 250 and hard as a wall." "We’re going to cherish every moment of his last year here," Romar said.

* Romar also paid tribute to coach Lute Olson, and said he hopes his unfortunate exit from Arizona doesn't tarnis his legacy.lute not since this happened.

* He also said freshman Isaiah Thomas seems to be the only person who doesn't realize he's short -- a trait he said is similar to many previous short but successful players in Pac-10 history, including Nate Robinson.

* Finally, he paid tribute to football coach Tyrone Willingham, as both a coach and a person.

Otherwise, the highlight of the morning was hearing from Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, one of four new coaches in the conference this season. Robinson is the brother-in-law of Barack Obama and seemed eager to talk about all that being an in-law to a president might mean either personally or professionally. But like any coach, he isn't taking that result for granted, either.

It's that time of the season when college football and men's basketball begin overlapping.

There's evidence in today's paper:

Here's my football story from today's paper, in which USC coach Pete Carroll weighs in on what the coaching change could mean to UW ... and a couple of recommendations for potential coaches with USC ties.

Meanwhile, here is TNT reporterDoug Pacey's interview with Abdul Gaddy about his decision to join Lorenzo Romar and the Dawgs next season.

This blog will contain more of both sports throughout this day. First, it's Pac-10 basketball media day, so I'll be blogging the media's prediction of the conference race by around 10 a.m., and then should have other news updates from around the league as the day moves on.

But this afternoon also brings the final briefing from football coach Tyrone Willingham before his team flies down to LA for the USC game on Saturday. So I'll have more from that and from the Trojans this afternoon and evening as well.