Arizona St. did not lose any player of importance to either graduation or the NBA draft and was one of the youngest teams in the Pac 10 last season. Sendek’s starting lineup consisted of two freshmen, two sophomores, and a junior but despite this the team as a whole was not particularly turnover or mistake prone. Most importantly though is the fact that James Harden returned to play for another season. Harden is the most well rounded player in the conference with his ability to shoot, drive to the hoop (and draw fouls), pull down rebounds, and defend in zone or 1 on 1. They have nice depth for their backcourt (SG/SF Kuksiks is a nice boost off the bench), but they are incredibly thin in the front. Pendergraph is a good player, but former Dukie Eric Boateng was disappointing last year needs to develop if they really want a shot at winning the conference.

UCLA lost arguably their best player in Kevin Love and lost their two best defenders in Westbrook and Mbah a Moute. However, the team is also brought back two very good players in Darren Collison and Josh Shipp. In addition to that veteran tandem the Bruins will also be welcoming one of the best freshman shooting guards in the country in Jrue Holiday. Assuming Malcolm Lee lives up to his high billing and Michael Roll comes back from injury, Howland may have the best backcourt and backcourt depth in the Pac 10. Like ASU though, UCLA has their own issues with their bigs but in a different way. They have a nice group of front court players, but no one really stands out as particularly dominant. J’mison Morgan was a nice get, but it is not likely that he will be an impact player. Although a rotation will keep everyone fresh and introduce wrinkles into the game (like Keefe’s shooting or Aboya’s D), it may also indicate a weakness. Regardless, UCLA will be (an in all honesty should be) the preseason favorite to win the conference due to a talent and coaching advantage.

USC lost major scoring and rebounding when both OJ Mayo and Davon Jefferson declared for the draft, but at the same time retain many of their key players with the return of Daniel Hackett, Dwight Lewis, and Taj Gibson (who decided not to enter the draft). USC will also add a number of key players including 5 star prospect Demar Derozan, top JUCO PG Donte Smith, UConn transfer Marcus Johnson (who finally gains eligibility this year after joining the team last year), former 5 star turned academic liability turned 3 star Leonard Washington, and of course UNC transfer Alex Stepheson. Although all of these players could have a major impact, the two most important are clearly Derozan and Stepheson. Derozan will be expected to step in and produce offense immediately, and Stepheson will be a defensive force and day 1 starter if he gets a waiver from the NCAA. The biggest thing holding back USC is uncertainty, but it is certain that without Stepheson they are likely a third place team.

Arizona lost Bayless and a few others, and it seems like Lute Olson may have lost it.
Washington finished 8th last year before losing to Cal in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament. They have a decent recruiting class and return Brockman, but they have long way to go to catch the top teams.
WSU lost a lot of seniors, including Weaver and Low.
Cal finished 9th last year and lost their best player.
Stanford lost their three best players and their coach.
Oregon lost their two best players and kept their bad coach.
Oregon State is awful.