Isaiah Thomas and the Huskies are not expected to be gracious hosts.
Photo by Deirdre Hamill/The Arizona Republic

Who’s up for a little battle for first place?

Arizona/Washington is a showdown of the Pac-10’s only two ranked teams (thank you, Coaches Poll!) but there’s a lot more on the menu.

No random games on random days this week. Just the Pac-10 Thursday/Saturday basketball schedule at its finest.

Thu. Jan. 20
(all times Arizona/Mountain)

FSN = Fox Sports Net
PT = Prime Ticket

Sat. Jan. 22

FSAZ = Fox Sports Arizona
FSW = Fox Sports West

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The mini-previews:

Thu. Jan. 20

ASU (9-8 / 1-4) at WSU (13-5 / 3-3)
It’s a good thing Tony Bennett isn’t around or the score might be in single digits.

ARIZONA (15-3 / 4-1) at Washington (13-4 / 5-1)
The Cats are ranked for the first time in Sean Miller’s UA career. They’re going to have to play really, really well to be ranked for the second time in Sean Miller’s UA career.

Stanford (10-6 / 3-2) at USC (10-8 / 2-3)
USC lost to Oregon to ensure there won’t be a winless Pac-10 team this year. That KO is such a giver.

Cal (9-8 / 2-3) at UCLA (11-6 / 3-2)
I watched the start of the Cal/Washington game and saw the Bears fall behind by eight. I turned it on later to see Cal within one only to watch U-Dub instantly go on an 11-0 run. My fan plus-minus was horrible.

Sat. Jan. 22

Stanford at UCLA
USC beat UCLA so, naturally, the Bruins swept the Oregon schools while the Trojans got swept.

ASU at Washington
If the Sun Devils are going to have one game where they put it all together and rain down the threes, let’s hope it’s this one.

Oregon at OSU
A Beaver win would give them a better Pac-10 record (4-3) than non-conference record (5-6).

ARIZONA at WSU
This is the key game of the week as far as Arizona’s tournament chances go. Whatever happens on Thursday the Cats need to stay focused and get ready to face a tough Wazzu squad two days later.

Cal at USC
College hoops at 11 p.m Eastern? Another item for Larry Scott’s to-do list.

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As if the first-place showdown wasn’t enough we’ll also get to see Derrick Williams sharing the court with his competition for Pac-10 Player of the Year, Washington’s Isaiah Thomas and the Cougars’ Klay Thompson.

Team results are what matters but would it be asking too much to throw in a few highlight-reel dunks and post moves from Mr. Williams? Wildcat Universe says thanks in advance.

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Don’t you love it when the football news is spread out so the season lingers a little longer?

In addition to spacing out the assistant coach hires, Mike Stoops decided to make them increasingly impressive.

Joe Salaveʻa is a young coach with limited experience. The assumption was Arizona would be looking at the same type of guys to fill its other two vacancies.

But then Stoops brought in Robert Anae, the offensive coordinator at BYU the last six years, to coach the UA O-line.

How do you top that? You bring in the Texas Longhorns’ secondary coach to hold the same title here. Oh, and make sure he has 25 years of experience coaching DBs including 14 total years at Arizona.

Welcome back, Duane Akina.

Last year the Cats lost both coordinators but one was a promotion to head coach and the other went to a traditional power. Both moves were seen as another sign the Wildcat program was improving.

This year’s mass exodus looked eerily like guys abandoning ship.

These hires are strong in their own right but they’re exceptional given the way the season ended and the offseason began. Does Stoops have any more surprises in store?

Gentlemen, start your recruiting.

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Scott Terrell is excited about the games at 10:30 Eastern. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

It's clear ASU has trouble scoring.
Photo by Deirdre Hamill/The Arizona Republic

First, keeping things in perspective, McKale Center will be hosting an event far more important than basketball.

Now for the athletic distractions in the Pac-10 this week.

Wed. Jan. 12
(all times Arizona/Mountain)

Thu. Jan. 13

Sat. Jan. 15

Sun. Jan. 16

The breakdowns:

Thu. Jan. 13

UCLA (9-6 / 1-2) at OSU (7-8 / 2-2)
After a surprising sweep to start the Pac-10 the season the Beavers lost the second weekend’s games by a combined 45 points.

Washington (12-3 / 4-0) at Stanford (9-5 / 2-1)
The Huskies might be a just a little distracted this weekend which could slow down their runaway favorite status.

USC (10-6 / 2-1) at Oregon (7-9 / 0-4)
Did the Ducks blow their chance at a conference win when they only scored 55 against ASU?

WSU (12-4 / 2-2) at Cal (8-7 / 1-2)
Washington State got a much-needed home sweep last weekend. Can they recapture their early-season magic on the road?

Sat. Jan. 15

ASU (8-7 / 1-3) at ARIZONA (14-3 / 3-1)
In their last five games the Sun Devils have a high of 61 points. We’re going to find out how many points rivalry emotion is worth.

UCLA at Oregon
UCLA has now lost four straight games to USC. What in Wooden’s name has happened to Ben Howland?

WSU at Stanford
I hope Stanford goes on to have a great season after the Cardinal’s graciousness in Tucson last weekend.

USC at OSU
KO & Co. are an overtime loss to Washington away from running this place.

Sun. Jan. 16

Washington at Cal
Cal won the battle for 8th place against ASU. UCLA better not get comfortable in that 7 slot.

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Arizona football fans got some great news when Mike Stoops announced Juron Criner will return for his senior season. I expected Nick Foles to come back but Criner’s “50/50” talk after the Alamo Bowl made me think he was gone.

We can now officially get really fired up about the Wildcat passing game in 2011. All that’s needed now is, oh, a whole new offensive line. But what happens if Dr. Robert Anae can work some magic with the new guys? It’s the offseason now so unbridled optimism is allowed.

Speaking of the offseason, Monday’s game made it two consecutive years where the Oregon offense piled up mountains of stats in the regular season but flamed out in the BCS bowl game. Does this mean Oregeddon is the new Run-n-Shoot?

I hope we all appreciated watching a Pac-10 team playing for the crystal football because it may be a while before we see another one. It was amazing enough that Oregon was able to run the table this year, but the task gets even tougher next season. A Pac-12 national championship contender would have to win ten conference games. That’s a rugged 10-pack for the 12-Pac.

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Scott Terrell does not mind that UCLA and ASU hoops are struggling. For more lack of concern see Facebook and Twitter!

It's never a good sign when 82% turns into 30%.
Photo by Wildcat Sports Report

The Arizona Wildcats basketball team will try to bounce back after only posting half a good weekend in Oregon. How did the rest of the conference do and what are they about to do?

Get your Pac-10 basketball TV schedule here, and final notes from the Alamo Bowl (I promise).

Thu. Jan. 6
(all times Arizona/Mountain)

Sat. Jan. 8

Sun. Jan. 9

Thu. Jan. 6
Stanford (8-4 / 1-0) at ASU (8-5 / 1-1)
The good news: ASU is 5-0 when they score at least 63 points. The bad news: They Devils have only scored 63 points five times.

Oregon (7-7 / 0-2) at Washington (10-3 / 2-0)
Stat whiz Ken Pomeroy says the Huskies now have a 91% chance of winning the Pac-10. Could he be more specific?

OSU (7-6 / 2-0) at WSU (10-4 / 0-2)
The 5-6 team pulls off a sweep to start conference play while the 10-2 team gets swept. This might be why all those birds died.

Cal (7-6 / 0-1) at ARIZONA (12-3 / 1-1)
The Cats need both games this weekend to protect their tournament resume. Bubble talk on Epiphany Eve? That’s what happens when you lose to the team with the worst RPI in the league.

Sat. Jan. 8
Cal at ASU
The race for 8th place starts now.

Stanford at ARIZONA
The UA needs to be careful: Stanford only lost to Oklahoma State by 11.

OSU at Washington
It’s a battle for 1st place! If the Beavers win watch out for falling birds.

Oregon at WSU
This weekend will be the Cougars’ first home games since Dec. 10. Look for Klay Thompson and company to blow off some steam.

Sun. Jan. 9
UCLA at USC
The Bruins on the other hand have only played one road game all year. Look for some steam to be blown on them.

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Cleaning out the notebook from San Antonio, then we will remember this game no longer.

The college football world has conspired to make Arizona look as bad as possible. Iowa proved that a 7-5 team can beat a 10-2 Big 12 team. Stanford proved, if you’re good enough, missing two extra points doesn’t matter. Washington, who lost to the Cats by 30, played the team that beat the Cats by 33 (and the Huskies by 35), and won. The only way the Sun Devils could be enjoying this bowl season more would be if they were playing in it.

Mike Stoops won his first Territorial Cup game then lost three straight. He won his first bowl game and has since been dominated twice. Stoops has first impressions down but needs to work on his seconds and thirds.

The Wildcats are now 6-9-1 all time in bowls and 6-6-1 in the Pac-10 era.

Arizona’s best pro quarterback prospect in a long time (ever?) is now only 11-10 as a starter. He was 5-6 this year. The chance to play well in a bowl game and win it should give Nick Foles extra incentive to return in 2011.

The big mistakes in the Alamo Bowl looked even worse on TV – the Bug flub, Criner’s 4th down drop, the blown coverage on Blackmon, Wilcox whiffing on the TD-after-INT. And that was just the 1st quarter.

Speaking of TV, they had all the lowlights from the ASU game queued up and ready to go, didn’t they?

Bowl practice is a great time to install new wrinkles on offense. The Cats’ two surprises were a shovel pass (4 yards) and a flea flicker (sack). Robert Anae, come on down!

And we went a very long way to see it all. Going to these games doesn’t make you a better fan than the people who don’t have the means to go, but it does put you in some kind of twisted club. There should be a secret handshake for anyone who sat through both the Holiday Bowl and the Alamo Bowl. You get VTP (Very Tortured Person) status if you also had season tickets during the 2003 season.

I did enjoy spending the day in San Antonio. Is there any way we could get a river to run through downtown Tucson? How about an Arroyo Walk?

The best part of the history surrounding the Alamo: The “Come and Take It” flag.

We almost surrendered on the drive home. Dust and high winds in west Texas, rain in El Paso and snow in New Mexico. As the miles turn into hours and the hours turn into “What day is this?!” you have to remind yourself of the benefits of driving:

-Take whatever you want.
Your nail clippers will not be confiscated as a weapon.

-No TSA groping.
The Border Patrol guys keep their hands to themselves.

-All you can eat.
If you want three pounds of honey roasted peanuts, you get three pounds of honey roasted peanuts.

-Rest stops.
Picnic tables decorated with wagon wheels, fake teepees, The Thing? I-10 has it all.

-Cheap, cheap, cheap.
If you’ve got more time than money you can pull it off. In 2008 I thought I could go to any Pac-10 bowl except the Emerald because it was too far to drive. Well, Tucson to San Antonio is 869 miles while Tucson to San Francisco is a mere 867 miles. Bring on the Fight Hunger Bowl!

It’s not glamorous but at least you get the secret handshake.

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Scott Terrell does not advise eating three pounds of honey roasted peanuts. Get more health tips on Facebook and Twitter.)