I hope everybody is enjoying March Madness, the best time of year. Pac-10 teams have performed predictably, with the exception of USC which thoroughly disappointed me and pretty much busted the midwest region of my bracket. Oregon and Arizona never looked impressive in conference play, so there was no reason to expect them to survive even the first round of Tourney play. Washington State, on the other hand, is looking dominant, and how about Brook Lopez’s clutch baseline fadeaway that gave Stanford the win in overtime? I wouldn’t mind seeing either of those teams go deep into the Tournament.

But UCLA. That’s a different story. I couldn’t care less if a Bruins loss anytime before the national title game would bust my bracket. After seeing this for the third time this season, I would love to see UCLA finally fall flat on its face.

Simply ridiculous.

The hits just keep on coming for Cal baseball, as the Bears (9-1-1) climbed even higher in the Baseball America rankings to No. 12, right behind the Baby Bears of Los Angeles, who are falling fast, going 2-3 last week. Arizona (10-1) remains at No. 1 with cross-state rival Arizona State (12-0) checking in at No. 2.  Cal and UCLA (7-4) are the next two Pac-10 teams in the rankings, followed by Stanford (8-4), which climbed from unranked to No. 18 … sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The last Pac-10 team in the mix is struggling No. 22 Oregon State (5-5), the two-time defending NCAA champion. All of a sudden, head coach David Esquer’s assertion that this is the best the conference has ever been doesn’t sound like too much of a stretch. Even a .500 team in the Pac-10 is worthy of a ranking. Sweet.

Two main news items out of Cal baseball following the team’s 2-0-1 opening weekend. First, starting catcher Charlie Cutler will miss 8-10 games because of a broken pinky finger on his left (catching) hand.  Cutler is optimistic and has all the confidence in the world in backup Dylan Tonneson, who went 1-for-4 on the weekend with a run scored.

Second, junior ace Tyson Ross received Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors from the conference for his opening day start against Kansas State. Despite intermittent rain, Ross went five one-hit innings against the Wildcats, walking one and striking out seven.  The only hit Ross allowed was a leadoff home run to Kansas State rightfielder Jordan Cruz. Transfer Daniel Wolford finished the game for Ross, throwing four no-hit innings in his first appearance for the Bears since he transferred from Long Beach State.  Wolford struck out five and walked three to earn his first save.