ESPN’s Gottlieb: "the Pac-10 is the best"

He’s been a leading critic, but now he’s a cheerleader for the Pac-10.

ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb wrote on the network’s Web site on Monday that "In almost any other year, there would be an argument as to which league in the country is the best top to bottom. This year, there is no argument. In fact, the Pac-10 is the best league by a sizable margin, and it really is from top to bottom."

Gottlieb sees UCLA as the conference favorite and noting the arrival of Kevin Love, wrote "Now, the Bruins might be better than the last two Final Four teams."

He thinks USC, thanks to Taj Gibson, O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson, could also be a Final Four team and that Washington State will be right with them. Beyond the top three, Gottlieb also lists Washington, Stanford and California as quality teams with Arizona and Oregon also in contention. Only Arizona State and Oregon State are expected to be less competitive.

In a more detailed piece on the conference’s ten teams, Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted one weakness: "The Bruins are in obvious need of better results from the free-throw line, where returning players (excluding [Josh] Shipp and [Darren] Collison) made just 49.8 percent last season."

ESPN’s pre-pre-pre-season NCAA Tournament projections have six Pac-10 teams in the tournament come next March.