Former Arizona player Lamont MoMo Jones is one of at least 18 former Pac-12 players in the NCAA tournament (US PRESSWIRE/Nicole Sweet)

First, it was the NBA draft, starting in 2007, that dealt what was then the Pac-10 a devastating blow.

The inordinate amount of player suspensions and dismissals have also rocked the conference.

Now, as evidenced by the rosters of teams in the NCAA tournament, player defections have completely floored the conference.

At least 18 former Pac-12 scholarship players are on the official rosters of programs in the NCAA tournament. It is no wonder why the conference is the weakest among the major conferences, advancing only two teams to the NCAA tournament. One of them — No. 12 seed Cal — must play in the NCAA tournament’s First Four on Wednesday. The regular-season champion, Washington, was not selected to the Big Dance, the first such scenario for a major college conference.

The mass player transfers immediately followed the raid of top talent from the league by the NBA, resulting in a knockout blow to the league. Between 2007 to 2009, the Pac-10 had the most players drafted by NBA teams with 27. The ACC was next at 22. The Pac-10 had the most first rounders picked in that span with 17, three more than the ACC.

Three of the 18 Pac-12 defectors once attended Arizona on a basketball scholarship — Lamont “MoMo” Jones with Iona, Jeff Withey of Kansas and Daniel Bejarano of Colorado State. Bejarano is sitting out this season because of the NCAA transfer rule. Two other Pac-12 defectors — Jabari Brown and Malcolm Armstead (both of whom transferred from Oregon to Missouri) — must also wait per the transfer rule.

Want to know why UCLA is struggling, other than the fact that Ben Howland lost some of his control according to Sports Illustrated? Four former Bruins are playing for teams in the NCAA tournament, including standouts Drew Gordon (13.4 points and 10.9 rebounds a game) of New Mexico and Mike Moser (14.1 and 10.1) and Chase Stanback (12.7 and 4.7) of UNLV.

Matt Carlino, who enrolled at UCLA but never played for the Bruins because a concussion sidelined him at the start of last season, transferred to BYU and is one of the Cougars’ best players. He is averaging 12.7 points with a team-high 106 assists. The Cougars play Jones and Iona in the other First Four game Tuesday. Jones, granted immediate eligibility because of a family hardship case by the NCAA after leaving Arizona, is averaging 16 points per game for the Gaels.

In addition to 18 former conference players on NCAA tournament rosters, some of the league’s other best players, including Reeves Nelson formerly of UCLA, who were dismissed from their respective teams this year.

Also, Arizona and Washington State found it difficult that Derrick Williams and Klay Thompson left early for the NBA. Colorado managed to survive with a Pac-12 tournament title and NCAA berth following the early departure of Alec Burks to the NBA.

ASU coach Herb Sendek, who dismissed his top recruit Keala King from the team in January, will watch four of his former Sun Devils in the NCAA tournament — Demetrius Walker of New Mexico, Victor Rudd of South Florida, Brandon Thompson of Long Island University and Stephen Rogers of BYU.

King, by the way, is transferring to Long Beach State, which is in the NCAA tournament but does not have King on its official roster yet.

Chuckle over this: Utah also lost a player — Carlon Brown — to an NCAA tournament team but at least he transferred to another conference school — Colorado — before Utah and Colorado merged with what was the Pac-10. Other than that, this is certainly no laughing matter.

FORMER PAC-12 PLAYERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

ARIZONA
Lamont “MoMo” Jones, Iona
Jeff Withey, Kansas
Daniel Bejarano, Colorado State (sitting transfer rule)

ASU
Demetrius Walker, New Mexico
Victor Rudd, South Florida
Stephen Rogers, BYU
Brandon Thompson, Long Island

CAL
Gary Franklin, Baylor

OREGON
Malcolm Armstead, Missouri (sitting transfer rule)
Jabari Brown, Missouri (sitting transfer rule)
Jamil Wilson, Marquette

UCLA
Drew Gordon, New Mexico
Matt Carlino, BYU
Mike Moser, UNLV
Chase Stanback, UNLV

USC
Bryce Jones, UNLV

UTAH
J.J. O’Brien, San Diego State

WASHINGTON STATE
Xavier Thames, San Diego State

The following information was compiled by ASU sports information specialist Doug Tammaro

NBA DRAFT PICKS (2007-2009)
Pac-10, 27
ACC, 22
Big East, 19
Big 12, 18
SEC, 18
Big Ten, 11

NBA DRAFT PICKS (2008-2009)
Pac-10, 21
Big 12, 13
Big East, 13
ACC, 13
SEC, 9
Big Ten, 6

NBA FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICKS (2008-2009)
Pac-10, 13
ACC, 8
Big East, 7
Big 12, 6
Big Ten, 4
SEC, 2

NBA FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICKS (2007-2009)
Pac-10, 17
ACC, 14
Big East, 9
Big 12, 9
Big Ten, 8
SEC, 5

NBA TOP-10 DRAFT PICKS (2007-2009)
Pac-10, 8
Big 12, 5
Big East, 4
Big Ten, 3
SEC, 3
ACC, 1