For more, check out our Washington blog, UW Dawg Pound, and our Cal blog, California Golden Blogs.

Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Quincy Pondexter had 18 points to lead Washington to a 79-75 win over California, as the Huskies won their second Pac-10 Conference Tournament title.

Isaiah Thomas had 16 points and Venoy Overton added 10 points and five boards for the Huskies (24-9), who won their only other title in 2005 and received the automatic berth the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

"What a college basketball game," said Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar. "Both teams played, I thought, at an extremely high level. Both teams were competing. It was obvious something was on the line for both teams."

Theo Robertson had 25 points and five boards while Jamal Boykin added 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Golden Bears (23-10), who have never won a Pac-10 Tournament title.

"Well, it's disappointing, obviously," said California head coach Mike Montgomery. "In some ways it's surprising that we shot the ball as poorly as we did from two of the people who were primary guys for us [Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher] and we had a chance at the end to win. We made mistakes that we normally don't make. We gave them too many easy shots and we weren't as patient on offense as we needed to be."

With the score tied at 66-all, Jerome Randle gave Cal the lead with two from the line, but Elston Turner put Washington on top. He sank a layup moments before knocking down a three for a 71-68 Huskies lead with 3 1/2 minutes to play.

A Robertson turnover was converted into two points by Justin Holiday, expanding Washington's lead to two possessions.

Patrick Christopher answered with a three, but two Tyreese Breshers foul shots followed by a Pondexter jumper gave Washington a 77-71 lead with a minute left.

On the next Cal possession, Randle pulled up for a long three-ball and made it a one-touch game with 50.1 seconds to play.

Following a timeout, the Huskies ate up as much time as they could, but a turnover by Pondexter resulted in California taking the ball downcourt and calling timeout with 15.2 seconds to play.

Turner was called for a foul and Randle hit one of his shots from the line with 4.4 seconds to play to make it a two-point game. But Overton hit both his attempts with 2.1 seconds left to seal the win.

Washington built a seven-point lead early in the second half, when the teams traded a number of runs. The Huskies were ahead 59-51, but moments later, a Boykin jumper kick-started a 12-0 burst that he completed with another basket for a 64-61 lead with just over eight minutes to play.

A few minutes later, Christopher made a jumper, but Matthew Bryan-Amaning followed with a basket, and a three-ball from Overton tied the game with just under five minutes to play.

The lead went back and forth through the first several minutes of the first half, but the Golden Bears were ahead 25-22 with 10 1/2 minutes to play thanks to a Robertson layup.

Pondexter scored eight straight Huskies points to help them go in front, and a Thomas jumper had Washington up 41-37 at the break.

It was only the Bears' second appearance in the final, as they lost to UCLA in 2006...California holds a 77-76 lead in the series...Randle had 12 points while Christopher had 11...Washington shot 52.7 percent while California hit 41.7 percent of its shots.

For all the talk of how crazy the conference has been this year, the Pac-10 Tournament has provided a decidedly un-crazy showdown for its championship today, as the top two teams in the conference's preseason poll -- California and Washington -- will meet for the right to lock up an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears and Huskies have left little doubt who the two best teams in the conference are. Cal used a 22-7 second half run to put away a pesky UCLA team, 85-72, while Washington led from tip to finish in dispatching Stanford, 79-64.

UCLA was determined to interject some drama into the first semifinal, leading 39-30 with just over a minute to go in the first half. The Bruins were hot from all over the floor, while Cal's usually explosive offense had yet to take flight. But the Bears closed the gap before the buzzer, as Jerome Randle showed everyone why he's the Pac-10 player of the year by draining a 3-pointer off the dribble just before the horn.

From there, it was all about the Bears, says California Golden Blogs:

After Dragovic nailed a 3 to give UCLA a 44-42 lead, Cal went on a 22-7 run to effectively end the game. UCLA shot over their heads in the first half and returned to Earth to start the second, missing their first four shots and going 2 of 11 to start things off. A lot of this has to do with the ramping up of defensive effort, but some of it also has to do with poor shot selection. The Bruins shot 38% in the half, which just isn't going to end well if you're playing Cal.

And while the defense was the catalyst, it ultimately was the Bears' offense that proved to the be difference as they ended up scoring 1.23 points per possession when it was all said and done.

Washington, on the other had, was fueled by its defense -- which has increasingly become the Huskies' identity this season. Stanford shot just 31.3 percent overall for the game and posted just a 35.9 effective field goal percentage thanks in large part to a 6-for-23 performance from behind the arc. The Cardinal posted just .88 points per possession -- their second-lowest mark of Pac-10 play.

The showdown between Landry Fields and Quincy Pondexter would have to be considered a draw, with both players struggling at times to score efficiently from the field -- Pondexter with 19 points (on 5-of-12 shooting), seven rebounds and three assists, Fields with 20 points (on 6-of-15 shooting), 14 rebounds and one assist.

It's tough to know whether the drama has been removed from the championship or not in terms of the conference's postseason fate. It would be shocking if Cal wasn't a lock at this point, and most Bracketology experts seem to agree that Washington is one of the final handful of teams in. It's hard to believe that losing to the regular season conference champion in the final would do anything to diminish that. Regardless, it appears highly unlikely the Pac-10 will receive more than two bids tomorrow, which is still almost shocking to write.

Who will come out on top today? The two teams split their regular season meetings with each team winning convincingly at home. The Huskies' win came in the second weekend of the conference slate, though, with Jerome Randle hampered by a minor knee injury and the Bears' defensive catalyst, Jorge Gutierrez sitting out.

While both teams preach offense and like to get up and down the floor, the truth is that this game will be won or lost with UW's defense. The question is whether the Huskies can be the first team in a month to even sort of slow down the Bears' multifaceted attack.

The final tips off at 3:10 p.m PST on CBS.

Seth Kolloen and I got together late Thursday night/early Friday morning to record a special conference tournament episode of our Pac-10 hoops podcast, 18 And Life. We give our thoughts on the Pac-10's quarterfinal round of the conference tournament as well as preview the semifinals, which tip off tonight at 6 p.m. PST with UCLA and Cal.

You can listen to it via the embedded player below, and if you like what you hear, there are subscription options available at our main site. We'll have more tomorrow morning, as well.

Last night's upset by Stanford over Arizona State has already reverberated throughout the Bracketology world, where our own Chris Dobbertean has replaced ASU with Washington as one of the last four in the NCAA Tournament field after the Huskies came back to beat Oregon State last night. Here's how he assesses UW's resume:

It wasn't easy but the Huskies were able to advance to the Pac-10 semis, as they needed to mount a comeback to beat Oregon State Thursday, Unfortunately, since Arizona State was eliminated in the game before, Washington will have to hope they can meet Cal in the final for one last shot at a quality win. Washington owns home wins over Texas A&M and Cal. However, December losses at Texas Tech and against Georgetown in Anaheim are missed opportunities in a weak bubble year.

Bracketology 101, another great bracket projection site, also has the Huskies as one of their last four in. While an encouraging sign for Husky fans, UW's standing is still tenuous at best. Beating Stanford and reaching the championship of the conference tournament would seem to be the safest outcome for the Huskies, short of winning the whole thing.

They also float the idea that the conference still could be looking at anywhere between one and three bids:

If Washington were to lose to Stanford and if Cal wins the tourney then it would still be possible for the league to get one bid (that's unlikely). The most likely scenario is for Washington and Cal to both win their semifinal games, and then for both teams to get in regardless of who wins the title. Another possible scenario would be for UCLA to beat Cal and then beat Washington in the final. The league would then get three bids as the Huskies would grab one of the final at-large bids because of their two Top 25 wins.

Here's the best of the rest from SB Nation's Pac-10 sites:

• Bruins Start The "New Season" On A Good Note: Beat Arizona To Advance To The Final-4 (!) - Bruins Nation
  Before anyone gets too excited we are going to take on either Oregon or Cal. We don't matchup well against any of those teams because both of them have athletic and speedy backcourts. We can't also count on our guys to come back with 40 minutes of effort and defense because we got what we were going to get this afternoon at Staples. ... We got our win on a Thursday. You know what happens to a Ben Howland team when the weekend comes around. Not going to hold my breath.

• Game 31 Recap: Washington 59, Oregon State 52 - Building The Dam
  Perhaps the biggest play in the game came early in the second half, when Josh Tarver was able to force a steal but missed a wide open, uncontested dunk. His brother, Seth, was able to come back and score a basket on the ensuing possession to give Oregon State at 12 point lead at 35-23, but Washington scored the next eight points of the game and took the momentum from that point on. That 8-0 burst was part of a 22-4 run for the Huskies that transpired in just six minutes of game clock.

• Should the Pac-10 Tournament Rotate Away From Staples Center? - California Golden Blogs

The first full day of the Pac-10 Tournament is in the books with mostly predictable results, but it's the one that didn't go according to plan that could have the conference hurting come Sunday.

Arizona State was thought to be on the verge of playing its way into the NCAA Tournament with a win or two in the conference tournament, and it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the Sun Devils were on a crash course with Washington in the semifinals.

Turns out, only the Huskies got the memo, as No. 2 seed ASU lost a stunner to No. 7 seed Stanford, 70-61.

The Sun Devils fell behind early, came back to take a one-point lead early in the second half, then watched the Cardinal go on a big run keyed by eight straight points from Landry Fields -- who finished with 17, while Jeremy Green finished with 18  -- and would never threaten again. It was just another mystifying result in what has been a strange year in the Pac-10, and it likely means ASU will be heading to the NIT when the postseason tips off next week.

Washington held up its end of the bargain and strengthened its case for an at-large bid by coming back from a 13-point second half deficit to defeat Oregon State, 59-52. The Beavers had succeeded in uglying the game up, holding the Huskies to just 23 points through the first 25 minutes, but then Washington remembered it was playing for its NCAA life, and began to do what it does best -- force turnovers on defense, crash the boards on offense, and watch Isaiah Thomas take over a game.

While it doesn't set up the NCAA Tournament showdown many were expecting, the UW/Stanford semifinal will feature one of the better individual battles you'll see in any conference on Friday: UW's Quincy Pondexter vs. Stanford's Fields. It's rare that you see two elite players literally go head to head, guarding each other on both ends of the floor. That's what you'll get tomorrow.

In the first game of the morning session, UCLA beat Arizona 75-69 in a game that was close throughout, but was led by the Bruins virtually the entire way. It marked the return of Reeves Nelson, who hadn't played since that ugly forehead-greets-floor incident in Pullman, which required surgery on his eye. He was big with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The loss finally extinguishes any flickering hope that the Wildcats would continue their 25 year run in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins will meet conference regular season champ California in the semifinals after the Golden Bears easily handled Oregon, 90-74. Cal led by 22 with less than 10 minutes to go, powered in large part by conference player of the year Jerome Randle's 22 first-half points. It was a tough draw for the Ducks, who finished their overtime win against Washington State last night at about 10:30 p.m., then had to come back and play at 2:30 this afternoon.

With the loss, Ernie Kent has likely coached his final game for the Ducks.

Here's Friday's schedule. All times PST, all games broadcast on FSN.

Friday, March 12 - Semifinals
#5 UCLA vs. #1 Cal, 6 p.m.
#7 Stanford vs. #3 UW, 8:30 p.m.

If you're looking to kill a couple of hours leading up to the noon PST tipoff of the quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament brought to you by Pacific Life (only those who watched WSU/Oregon last night will get that joke), why not take a spin around SB Nation's Pac-10 sites for the best conference tournament previews, news and notes?

California Golden Blogs offers up its own nice comprehensive preview of the tournament, identifying long shots, dark horses, contenders and the favorite. Not surprisingly, they think it's Cal:

As much as I don’t like proclaiming Cal the favorite in anything, the fact is that Cal has shown themselves to be the class of this conference. Three of Cal’s five losses were close, back and forth games that could have gone either way, and the two teams that managed to soundly beat the Bears are on the opposite side of the bracket. Cal is the best team and they got the best draw, and they should not be lacking motivation.

Bruins Nation really just can't wait for UCLA's season to be over:

Since we launched BN almost five years ago this time of the year has always been something special. This is the time of the year watching college basketball from around the country became even more fun than usual. As the pool of 64 teams slowly came into shape during those years, we were busy sizing up the marquee teams and going over possible matchups with Ben Ball warriors in our heads. In comparison, when basketball comes up on tWWL or other channels this season, right now I just feel a total sense of dread as it serves up as reminder of the debacle we experienced this season.

Building the Dam breaks down what the Beavers have to do to get their first win against the Huskies in their matchup tonight:

If the Beavers want to advance in the Pac-10 Tournament with a win tonight, they'll need to be able to do the things they weren't able to do previously against the Huskies: stop the transition game, play with an extreme level of toughness, and finish the game down the stretch.

Lastly, we'll leave you with links to our SB Nation.com Bubble Watch and Bracketology streams, which should be of particular interest to both Arizona State and Washington fans. Chris Dobbertean has moved the Sun Devils into his bracket as one of the last four in after yesterday's results, while Washington is still part of his first four out. Here's what he had to say about each.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils swept past the L.A. schools to lock up the second seed in this week's Pac-10 Tournament. Thanks to what else has gone on around the country, they may only need to make the final to get in, which speaks volumes about the quality of this season's bubble. Currently, the only win the Sun Devils can hang their hat on is a home victory over San Diego State on December 19, their lone top 50 win in six tries. ASU begins Pac-10 Tournament play against seventh-seeded Stanford on Thursday.

Washington

Much like the Sun Devils, the Huskies have some life, as they own home wins over Texas A&M and Cal. However, December losses at Texas Tech and against Georgetown in Anaheim are missed opportunities in a weak bubble year. Washington swept the Oregon schools to finish the regular season strong and lock up the third seed in the Pac-10 Tournament. They'll face sixth-seeded Oregon State again in the quarterfinals on Thursday. If both ASU and UW make the semifinal, that game could be for a bid.

Keep an eye on that Bubble Watch, because it's likely the fate of those two teams -- if they don't win the conference tournament -- will be determined by the success or failure of other teams.

After watching a season that started with so much promise slide into a last place finish in a mediocre Pac-10, Washington State fans had to suffer one final indignity -- losing yet another overtime game to Oregon, 82-80, to be the only Pac-10 team eligible for the postseason to not be invited to the eight-team party on Thursday.

It was a typical Oregon/WSU affair, with the Ducks being led by Tajuan Porter, who, despite only averaging about 12 points per game in the regular season, somehow managed to go off for 32 points -- which he always seems to do against WSU.

The Ducks have made a habit out of beating the Cougs in improbable fashion over the years, and this game was no different as E.J. Singler tipped in a wild Porter shot as the buzzer expired in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Also improbable? Washington State had multiple chances to seal the game down the stretch with free throws, only to miss them again and again and again -- they would shoot just 12-of-25 from the line for the game. The Cougars shot better than 71 percent on their free throws up until tonight's game.

It was a poetic end to a season in which an absurdly young WSU team -- there is only one senior on the roster and no juniors -- has seemed to repeatedly be just one or two plays short. The game was in the bag ... and then it wasn't.

The Ducks, meanwhile, have granted coach Ernie Kent a stay of execution with their win (he's reportedly already been told he's been fired). They'll face top-seeded Cal in the quarterfinals on Thursday, a mere 16 hours after the end of tonight's game.

Here's the full slate of games for Thursday (all times PST, all games broadcast on Fox Sports Net):

Thursday, March 11 - Quarterfinals
#4 Arizona vs. #5 UCLA, Noon
#1 Cal vs. #8 Oregon, 2:30 p.m.
#2 Arizona State vs. #7 Stanford, 6 p.m.
#3 Washington vs. #6 Oregon State, 8:30 p.m.

If the written preview below just wasn't enough for you, here's your chance to learn even more.

18 And Life, the Pac-10 hoops podcast (co-hosted, not so coincidentally, by yours truly and Seth Kolloen of StomingTheFloor.net), breaks it down with a little help from Vince Grippi, Pac-10 reporter from The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. Don't let the comparatively small-town paper fool you -- his basketball strategy acumen is second to none among his peers. Lots of good insight.

You can listen to it via the embedded player below, and if you like what you hear, there are subscription options available at our main site. We'll have audio breakdown after each day's action this week, too.

To say it's been a crazy year in the much-maligned Pac-10 would be an understatement.

The final standings will show that California lived up to the preseason prediction and won the conference, but not without racking up five losses along the way. It earned the Golden Bears the dubious distinction of tying for the most losses by any Pac-10 champion, a "feat" they share with the 1984-85 Washington Huskies. Only four straight wins to end the regular season -- including one over second place Arizona State -- kept the Bears from owning that record outright.

The oddity didn't stop there. Only four teams in the conference finished .500 or better (that hasn't happened in five years), two games separated last place from fifth place, and the 10th place Washington State Cougars finished with the most wins of any last place finisher in the conference's history (which, I'm pretty sure, doesn't make them feel any better).

Anybody could beat anybody on any given night, making for highly entertaining basketball, but doing nothing to take away from the widely held perception that this was a mediocre conference. By any measure -- Pomeroy, Sagarin, RPI, number of quality non-conference wins (of which there were precious few), flat eyeball test, you name it -- the Pac-10 was a distant sixth among the power conference, and the result is a jumbled mess in which the Pac-10 tournament will play a bigger role than it ever has.

The Stakes

It's almost unimaginable, but only the Golden Bears will take the floor for their first game feeling reasonably confident they're headed for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, regardless of how they perform in Los Angeles. (Our own Blogging the Bracket had the Bears as a 10 seed on Monday, and others have them as high as an eight, which would suggest the Bears are comfortably in at this point.)

Everyone else needs to play themselves into the tournament, and with the possible exceptions of Washington and Arizona State, that means winning the whole thing.

The subplot of the Huskies and Sun Devils is the most interesting thing this tournament has going for it. Both teams are considered squarely on the bubble and would do wonders for their resume with a pair of wins. One problem: Only one of them will leave with two wins, since they're on a crash course for the semifinals. It should make for great drama if both can win their opening round games. The best scenario for both would probably be one of them going on to win the championship.

Names You Should Know

Jerome Randle, California -- The diminutive point guard was named the conference's player of the year this week, and it was well deserved, if not a little controversial (more on that in a second). He was the best player on the best team, noted for his nearly unlimited range.

Quincy Pondexter, Washington -- The Huskies' small forward made a strong push for conference player of the year when he picked up five player of the week awards -- more than anyone else in conference history. Beyond averaging an impressive 20.2 points per game, his 123.2 offensive rating (an advanced metric that measures individual offensive efficiency) was 50th in the nation. He's deadly from 15 feet and in, and is an underrated rebounder -- especially on the offensive end.

Landry Fields, Stanford -- Yet another player who made a strong push for conference player of the year. Fields is a versatile threat in much the same mold as Pondexter who helped lead the Cardinal to seven wins with what is probably the worst overall roster, talent-wise, in the conference. He's a matchup nightmare for defenders, as evidenced by his 6.8 fouls drawn per 40 minutes (No. 33 nationally).

Ty Abbott, Arizona State -- The Phoenix-area native truly blossomed this year, rebounding from a sophomore shooting slump to ascend to the all-conference first team. He's gone off for 28 and 29 points this year, and is the one guy from ASU that other teams have to game plan for.

Derrick Williams, Arizona -- The conference's freshman of the year is also its best interior player. (Not sure if that says more about Williams or the state of big men in the conference, but I digress.) At 6-7, he's a bit undersized for a power player, but that's exactly what he is, as many of his lightning-quick post moves end with thunderous dunks.

Klay Thompson, Washington State -- Thompson didn't have the best Pac-10 season as he drew a substantial amount of attention from defenders thanks to his early-season scoring outbursts, but the potential is there for Thompson to go off for 30 on any given night, as his 22-point first half against Cal a month ago demonstrated.

Isaiah Thomas, Washington -- Look up flammable in the dictionary, and there might just be a picture of Thomas. Don't let his 5-7 stature fool you; he's a runner and a gunner and exceptionally strong. He rolls into the lane like a bowling ball, and can flat take over games. Unfortunately, he can shoot the Huskies right out of games, too.

Tournament Outlook

About the only thing that would be surprising is if Cal actually won the tournament, both because it would be expected and because Mike Montgomery makes no effort to hide his disdain for conference tournaments. If he feels he's safely in, look for him to avoid pushing his players too hard -- especially given the thin nature of his roster, which has been injury riddled most of the season.

The most likely winner will be either Arizona State or Washington, given what's at stake for both. But in this take-nothing-for-granted conference, nobody would be surprised if someone outside of the conference's top three walked away with the title and stole an at-large bid from another conference.

Nobody -- not even WSU and Oregon, who have a long road with four games in four days but have shown they can play with anyone this year -- should be written off.

The Bracket

All game times PST. Opening round, quarterfinals and semifinals broadcast on Fox Sports Net; championship broadcast on CBS.

Wednesday, March 10 - First Round
#8 Oregon vs. #9 Washington State, 8 p.m.

Thursday, March 11 - Quarterfinals
#4 Arizona vs. #5 UCLA, Noon
#1 Cal vs. Oregon/Washington State, 2:30 p.m.
#2 Arizona State vs. #7 Stanford, 6 p.m.
#3 Washington vs. #6 Oregon State, 8:30 p.m.

Friday, March 12 - Semifinals
Arizona/UCLA vs. Cal/Oregon or WSU, 6 p.m.
ASU/Stanford vs. UW/OSU, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 13
Championship, 3 p.m.

Jeff Nusser writes about the Washington State Cougars at CougCenter. You can follow him via Twitter @NussCoug.