2011 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day



Story by L.T.Willis

USC's  Kevin O'Neal and Maurice Jones. All

photos are by Eric Wade/T.G.Sports.

 The Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day was a great event that gave writers and reporters to talk with coaches and players from the Pac-12 Conference. As i was sitting in the front row i was having flash back of  last year 2010 Pac 10 Women's/Men's Basketball Tournament  how exciting the games were and could we be heading into another big tournament down the road. I don't know who are how all the teams are pick in what order they will finish in the this year Pac 12 conference, but i do know one thing about basketball it always comes down to teams being healthy. Basketball is so unpredictable because how teams match ups are so different from team to team. You have seen a team with a big lineup get out rebound by a team with a smaller line up. The best news of the day was a coach i met last year at the Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament was Cal's Mike Montgomery a very classy guy and a great sense of humor announce that he was cancer free and i was glad to hear that coming from him.

Cal's Mike Montgomery and Jorge Gutierrez.



UCLA's Ben Howland and Lazeric Jones.

Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott has done a remarkable job making this conference that has taken the lead on how to bring excitement to college sports with a vision that  includes greater coverage of the Pac 12 in all sports. Not because i  live here in California but this conference has always been disrespected by some of the other conference, and the BCS. Finally someone standing up for the Pac-12 and putting other conferences on notice there will be no more disrespect to this conference. UCLA head coach Ben Holland as far as his program goes this year he is really focus on rebounding and being tougher inside this season and admitted that the last couple of years his team have been out rebounded in the NCAA tournament and must fix that if  UCLA is going to make it further.







Utah's Larry Krystkowiak.



Oregon State's Craig Robinson.



 

 















Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak  said something that i never thought about about Utah joining the Pac- 12 conference. Before moving to the conference we would look about twenty players from Texas and maybe five players from California. Now our thought process is different we will look at twenty players from California and maybe five from Texas. This is another great reason why having Colorado and Utah join the conference look at how many more kids may have a chance to get a scholarship and a college education. The other good news is that Pauley Pavilion is getting remodel and UCLA will be playing there games at the Sports Arena. Ben Holland  was ask about playing in USC's backyard and he even had to laugh about that showing he has a sense of humor.




USC's Maurice Jones.

Utah's David Foster.











One thing for sure about this year Pac-12 Conference teams a lot of players are going have to grow up and develop a lot faster if their teams are going to have a chance to make it to the Pac-12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Youngmen like USC's Maurice Jones and Utah's David Foster are ask to lead their teams this season as leaders and are up to the challenge. Oregon State's coach Craig Robinson feels this year team has more of a solid foundation were they will be able to really compete this year with the improvement of players coming back this year. This should be a fun season in the Pac-12 and i can't wait. Video footage and photos of the Pac-12 Media Day are by Eric Wade/T.G.Sports and EW/Gems Images. You can hear what USC's Kevin O'Neal, UCLA's Ben Howland , Oregon State's Craig Robinson and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott had to say.