Wow. This is huge news.

USC just announced that it will forgo any participation in this year's Pac-10 Tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament as well as giving up wins from 2007-08 and money made from going to the NCAA Tournament. These sanctions of course, stem from money given by a booster to former star O.J. Mayo. The LA Times has a full rundown of the story, but here's the nut of the allegations:

The Mayo scandal involves a Los Angeles events promoter named Rodney Guillory who allegedly received more than $200,000 from a sports agent and funneled at least part of that money to Mayo in the form of cash, clothes, a high-tech television and other items.

This is just awful for USC's players who went from sharing the lead in the Pac-10 last night, to play for nothing this season this morning. That's beyond terrible.

If Tim Floyd was any kind of man, he'd personally apologize to each and every player on the team, but he won't because he's a degenerate. Have fun in retirement Tim, because there's no way in hell you're ever going to work in basketball again.

If you're a Washington State Cougars fan, the above video was probably the cause of your upset stomach, light nausea and crushing headache yesterday. Oh, that was from New Year's Eve? Right. Anyway, it sucked. There's one thing though – the refs made the correct call here.

The good folks over at CougCenter were obviously incensed about the technical foul and have a wonderfully argued, and very convincing breakdown of the call, the aftermath and the anger. It centers very specifically on the letter of the rule the refs say the Cougs violated, and if the refs interpreted the spirit of said rule correctly. That might not be the best description, just go read the post, it's very good.

But, for all the specificity of their argument, all you need to look at to determine right or wrong in this situation is the broader picture: A WSU player ran out on to the court – a long way out – while there was still time on the clock. That's a technical foul without fail, especially at the end of the game. I'd also take issue with this:

And there's the rub for me: Every rule should be carried out with this point of reference. Did the exuberant actions of an 18-year-old on the side of a team that had just made what it thought was the game-winning play at the end of overtime really constitute such an egregious act of unsportsmanlike conduct so as to warrant an indisputable administration of a technical foul with 0.3 of a second left and one team leading by two points?

That's exactly it though. Sports is exciting, especially college basketball and that exuberant 18-year-old needs to be able to control his emotions under pressure – and his coaching staff needs to be way more prepared to grab his ass before he does something stupid. That's part of college sports is building the maturity to now do stupid stuff – or limit it at least.

The call sucked. Any time a foul dramatically affects the outcome of the game it sucks. But, in this case, it was the right call.

As we creep toward the opening weekend of Pac-10 play, the only real consensus about the conference is that it will be a season-long game of follow-the-leader between Washington (9-2) and the other nine teams. With Washington State (10-2) and Arizona State (10-3) putting together strong (though, perhaps schedule-aided) non-conference performances and Cal (7-4) and USC (8-4) showing potential, it still remains to be seen how far ahead of the Pac the Huskies are going to run.

What-if's aside, though, what is Washington's potential as they stand right now? Not just in the Pac-10, but in the larger picture.

Let's take a look at what the Huskies have:

Best One-Two Punch in the Conference: The combination of senior forward Quincy Pondexter and sophomore guard Isiah Thomas is the best inside-out duo in the division. Pondexter is – if not the best – the most complete player in the Pac-10 and paired with Thomas, creates a lethal scoring threat for Washington, matched only by Cal's combo of Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher. Pondexter is averaging 22 points per game while shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor and, most importantly, has found the consistency he's been missing most of his college career. That other-worldly field goal percentage, by the way, means that Pondexter has been effective from inside, a great sign for Washington. Thomas is averaging 17.5 points per game, but, like a lot of underclassmen, has had some ups and downs. Don't expect that to last though, Thomas is solid.

Several Burgeoning Third Options: The Huskies have several useful role players who have shown flashes of being effective third options. Junior forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning, junior guard Venoy Overton, sophomore guard Elston Turner and sophomore guard Scott Suggs have all shown ability during non-conference play. Suggs' minutes have increased lately, while starter Overton has scored in double digits his last three games. Bryan-Amaning has been an effective inside compliment to Pondexter, and Turner had an impressive couple of games in early December, but has seen his minutes drop off a bit of late. If any of these four can consistently score in double figures and provide help with rebounds or assists, that's great news.

Defense: The Huskies lead the conference in steals and rebounds per game, and turned in impressive defensive performances against Texas A&M and Portland. This will absolutely be key to their future success.

Lorenzo Romar: The man can coach. Washington fans should always feel confident with him running the show.

What Washington doesn't have:

A Consistent Third Option: A duo like Pondexter and Thomas can take you a long way, but a good defensive team – say a Kansas or Texas – can crush a team overly dependent on two players. Having another player the Huskies can use consistently to spread the floor will be essential.

Ball Control: Washington is fifth in the Pac-10 in turnovers per game, averaging almost 14 per, while conference leaders Arizona State and Stanford are much more stingy, running only 11.5 per game. The Huskies took a big step in the right direction on Sunday, turning the ball over only seven times ... but that was against San Francisco, a decidedly lesser opponent.

As of now, in the national picture, Washington is a good, but by no means elite team. It would be hard imagining them winning a 1-8 or 2-7 matchup in the second-round of the tournament, but if they handle the Pac-10 like people say they should, a seven or eight seed is nowhere in their future. Barring injury or unforeseen setback, Washington has a great chance to use Pac-10 play as a platform to grow into itself and earn a good position in the tournament. After that – as everyone knows – anything can happen.

If we had a few more weeks before the start of Pac-10 conference play, the Pac might be feeling a little better about their national prospects. UW is the only ranked team right now, but USC, Cal, WSU and ASU all got some votes in the last round of polls. USC looked especially good taking out #8 Tennessee and #20 UNLV in the last couple weeks. So there's hope yet for a decent showing in March.

ESPN is even starting to come around to this notion - read it here - but no mention of Washington State yet. I think that will change.

On to opening week and we know what that means. Hold serve!! If you can't win at home, you're sunk. Among the contenders, only ASU has a real chance to steal one from USC this weekend.

Arizonas visit SoCals:
Smoking-hot USC gets an Arizona school reeling and coming off a stomping by BYU. Arizona can't like this matchup and this timing. Arizona State won't be so easy on Saturday and brings a similar resume as USC. Both USC and ASU have senior guards leading the team by points and assists. Both have played a tough pre-conference schedule. I have to give the edge to USC at home but ASU could surprise and really make some waves in this early Pac-10 litmis test.
PREDICTION: USC over UA, USC over ASU (barely)

ASU will easily handle UCLA on Thursday. The Arizona/UCLA match could be interesting if only to see if UCLA is really going to move into the Pac-10 cellar this season. If they can't beat a struggling Arizona squad at home, chances are they will.
PREDICTION: ASU over UCLA, UA over UCLA

Oregons visit Washingtons:
Let's not talk about the Ducks. Ever. Wins for both UW and WSU against them. OSU could be a different story as they've got some alright wins under their belt and rebound well but don't score much and that's going to be a problem in Seattle and Pullman.
PREDICTION: Washington and WSU sweep with authority.

Stanford visits Cal
Everything points to the Bears in this early NorCal tilt. If Stanford does pull the upset, however, media-darling Cal should be instantly dropped from everyone's list. I think there's three better teams in the Pac-10 right now and probably four. I'm watching you Cal.
PREDICTION: Cal over Stanford

In the wake of USC's drubbing of #20 UNLV to finish off their Diamond Head Classic Championship and return to the conversation, the Pac-10 enters conference play with a heartbeat and maybe a new team to beat.

After watching a few of their games against quality opponents, USC has everything they need to take out the conference. Their schedule is serving up some tough matchups while the Trojans are hot, sending Arizona and ASU to LA next, followed quickly by a trip to the Northern California schools. They then get a breather at UCLA before taking on the annointed conference champ Huskies and the upstart Cougars back home.

If they can ride the momentum next week and hold-serve against the Arizonas and stay hot enough to split their trip to NorCal, I can't see this defensive-minded squad dropping too many games at home, giving them a surprise landing at the top of the Pac.

I just watched USC continue their unlikely rise from the dead and handle Saint Mary's in their second win at the Diamond Head Classic. Last week they easily dumped Tennessee in a surprising victory for a team that was written off early. With this turnaround, thanks to new redshirt senior transfer Mike Gerrity (in the picture above looking every bit like a I would think a redshirt senior would) and just re-instated Leonard Washington, USC is looking like at least a contender in the Pac. Especially with their defense. They made St. Mary's look like a poor-shooting team and the Gaels are anything but.

As far as the Pac's big Tuesday games, Washington put the peddle down Texas A&M late in the second after the Aggies main man Derrick Roland broke his leg in a freak play. It was literally to the side and was definitely tough to see. Guard Isiah Thomas had a horrible day shooting but upped the rest of his game and Pondexter carried the scoring load.

Washington State dealt with LSU thanks to some late-game heroics. This game was closer than I thought it would be but it's good to see WSU able to put away the close ones.

California was surprising in keeping up with Kansas in the first half but could keep it up down the stretch. They did look good shooting the three and will be tough to handle for the rest of the conference.

Stanford looked the worst of the four teams in action Tuesday but that might be as much Texas Tech as the Cardinal

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but the USC win over Tennessee, Washington's dismantling of Portland and Arizona State's win over San Diego State at least gave the Pac-10 something to cheer about."

I broke out my inaugural CoW (Chance of Winning) forecast board to look at the Pac-10's last big test day against out-of-conference majors. Unless the Pac has a good showing Tuesday, their chances for more than a few teams in the dance come March are pretty weak. Here's some things to watch for tomorrow.

Texas A&M @ (21) UW - CoW: 80%
UW is coming off its best game of the season, especially in terms of turnovers, giving the ball away only 11 times instead of their usual 20-plus. This was mostly a result of G Isiah Thomas looking to dish at the end of his dash instead of throwing it up among the trees. The Huskies also hit their threes, showing they might have a little outside shooting after all. If UW holds onto the ball and can make a few outside shots, they should be able to sprint past A&M.

LSU @ WSU - CoW: 70%
LSU is terrible and already got walloped by Arizona State. Washington State is already a darkhorse for the tourney but need this win or it's goodbye dance card. The Cougs should have the firepower to down the low-scoring LSU squad.

Stanford @ (20) TexasTech - CoW: 40%
I'm being generous here because the Pac-10 really needs this win and Stanford has played tough against some big boys so far this season. The Cardinal problem in Palo Alto, though, is finishing games, dropping 3 of 4 tight finishes (one to #3 Kentucky in OT). Since Tech looked so cool against Washington in an earlier overtime win, you gotta give the nod to the Red Raiders here if it's close.

Cal @ (1) Kansas - CoW: 10%
This would normally be 0% but if the Golden Bears can somehow keep it competitive and hit some big shots down the stretch and Kansas has a dismal shooting day in their own gym and Dick Vitale loses his voice ... then maybe the Pac-10 gets some cred. Don't count on it.

Everyone's talking about how unlikely a hero Jerryd Bayless was in Portland's 105-102 win over the Suns last night, but Pac-10 fans wouldn't be crazy to harbor this theory for what was going on in the kid's head: maybe Bayless, a second year, third-string guard out of Arizona and St. Mary's high school in Phoenix, had something personal on the line beyond showing off for his old home team. Maybe he wanted to show up Channing Frye.

Frye, the Suns' solid new big man, was a few years ahead of Bayless, both as a Wildcat and a St. Mary's Knight. Last night, he was 5-8 from three with 17 points total.

I can only imagine the text messages flying around Phoenix last night.

How quickly our East-coast brethren forget that we play sports out here. It's a downright travesty and evidenced in Joe Lunardi's first Bracketology break down of the year where he predicted the mighty Pac-10 will get only two teams in the tournament out of 65.

Wow. Two. That's as many as the Missouri Valley conference got. Nothing against Missouri State and Northern Iowa but damn, that must be be some valley to match the entire western seaboard where college dynasties were invented.

The underlying issue, though, is the Pac-10 has really underperformed in its non-conference schedule so far and doesn't have many games left with which to distinguish itself on a national stage. In years past, a strong showing against some of the higher-ranked conference opponents helped out the bubble teams but with all the Pac-10 teams down, that aid is gone.

After Washington (assuming they can get their turnovers under control) and California (who can really help its cause with a win or at least a good showing at Kansas on what is becoming Pac-10 Test Day, December 22) our next-best hope is SURPIRSE - Washington State??

Yes. The Cougars in their new score-first system with coach Bone and sophomore Klay Thompson have a chance to get noticed after a close loss at Gonzaga and win against Air Force. Their December 22 test is against a weakened LSU squad.

Arizona State might well be our last-best case for dancing. They lost their studs of a year ago but have taken over the defense-minded game Wazzu abandoned. If they can stick to their slow-tempo and efficient scoring, it could lead to some surprising wins to go along with an early victory over LSU and a good showing against Duke in the pre-season NIT.

So mark your calendars Pac-10 fans, because good games on Dec. 22 will be our best chance at any games in March.