BearTalk

The Pac-10 Conference media made its annual predictions on the league finish Thursday, and UCLA was virtually a unanimous pick to win the conference again. The Bruins got all but one of 38 first-place votes cast. Cal was picked eighth and Stanford ninth.

UCLA coach Ben Howland wasn’t so sure about how the media viewed the Bay Area schools.

“I don’t know where everybody’s going to finish,” he said, “but I don’t expect Stanford to finish ninth or Cal eighth with Mike (Montgomery) back. Immediately, Cal is already improved with the addition of him as their head coach. He’s going to do a great job.”

PAC-10 MEDIA POLL

1. UCLA (37)          397
2. Arizona State (1)  325
3. USC                292
4. Arizona            241
5. Washington         217
6. Washington State   188
7. Oregon             147
8. Cal                143
9. Stanford           115
10. Oregon State       40