The 2008–09 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball season ended with six teams participating in the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and two teams playing in the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

(CBI). The

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

won the regular season championship and its head coach

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball, Loyola Marymount Lions, a position he has held since 2024. He pre ...

was named coach of the year. Only three teams, Washington (#14),

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

(#17) and

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

(#19), finished the season in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. They were #15, #18, and #19 respectively in the " AP Top 25" polls. However, in the final post-NCAA tournament coaches' poll, Arizona was also ranked, coming in at #24, behind Washington (#16), UCLA (#18) and Arizona State (#19).

Pre-season

Mike Montgomery, who was previously the head coach of the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

, came back to college coaching with the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

. Craig Robinson, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's brother-in-law, became the head coach of the Oregon State.

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

retired from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and Russ Pennell took over. Pac-10 teams participated in the Pac-10/Big 12 Series. They also took part in other x-season tournament games, including the 2K Sports Classic, and the John R. Wooden Classic in the

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Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

played in the

Maui Invitational Tournament The Maui Invitational is an annual early-season college basketball tournament that takes place Thanksgiving week, normally in Lahaina, Hawaii, at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. It is hosted by Chaminade University of Honolulu, ...

and

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the sport, athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic pr ...

were there at the Legends Classic.

Conference games

Washington was first in scoring offense and rebounding offense, while Washington State was first in scoring defense and free throw percentage in conference games. UCLA was on top in scoring margin, field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage. Arizona led the conference in attendance with a total of 232,576 in 17 games, averaging 13,681 (14,545 capacity).

Conference tournament

USC, the #6 seed team, won the 2009 Pacific Life Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament at the

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

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on March 14, in front of a crowd of 16,988. The team defeated #4 seed Arizona State and won the school's first tournament championship. It was also the first time a team seeded sixth in the tournament went on to win the championship. The Trojans received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.

Postseason

Six Pac-10 teams participated in the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Five teams won their first-round games, but only Arizona played in the regional semi-finals. The Wildcats lost to Louisville 103–64. Oregon State and Stanford played in the

(CBI). Oregon State defeated Stanford (65–62) in over-time in the semi-finals and played

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

for the championship in a best of three-game series. Oregon State won the CBI title by winning the first and third games over UTEP.

Highlights and notes

At the end of March 2009,

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

head coach

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

announced that he was leaving

to take the head coaching job at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Ken Bone, formerly with Portland State, takes over. On March 31, 2009,

's senior point guard

Darren Collison Darren Michael Collison (born August 23, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Collison played four seasons of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. He earned All-Pa ...

was named the 2009 recipient of the

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor players who excelled on the court in spite of their height. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-law, was establi ...

by the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

. The award goes to the "nation's outstanding senior male collegian 6'0" and under who has excelled both athletically and academically." Russ Pennell left Arizona after a year coaching one of the country's premiere basketball programs. He coached the Wildcats to the Sweet 16, where the team lost the final game to Louisville, 103–64. USC's

Tim Floyd Timothy Fitzpatrick Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. ...

went to Tucson for an interview of the Arizona job, but he decided to remain at USC.

Sean Miller Sean Edward Miller (born November 17, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as head coach at the Texas Longhorns men's basketball, University of Texas at Austin. He previously served as head coach at the Arizona Wil ...

, former Xavier coach, accepted the job on April 6. The conference set a new attendance record with 8,541 per game, beating the 2007 record of 8,524.

Awards and honors

All-Americans

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is regarded by some as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA hist ...

(SG, Sophomore), of Arizona State was named to the 2009 Consensus All-America first team. He was listed on the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, the

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

, and the

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All-American lists to qualify for the "Consensus All-America". The following players from Pac-10 were honored on the AP All American list: First Team (Player, School, Ht, Wt, Yr, Key stats) * James Harden, Arizona State, 6–5, 218, So., 20.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4.2 apg, 35.8 min., 50.2 fg pct (45, 290) Honorable mention (Player, School) *

Jon Brockman Jonathan Rodney Brockman (born March 20, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. He was the starting power forward and team captain for the University of Washington men's basketball team. He is the University of Washington's ...

, Washington * Chase Budinger, Arizona *

, UCLA * Jordan Hill, Arizona

All-Pac-10 teams

Regular season honors: *

Player of The Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

, Arizona State * Freshman of The Year: Isaiah Thomas, Washington * Defensive Player of The Year:

Taj Gibson Taj Jami Gibson (born June 24, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the USC Trojans men's basketball, USC Trojans and was sele ...

, USC * Most Improved Player of The Year:

Justin Dentmon Justin Lorenzo Dentmon (born September 5, 1985) is an American professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compet ...

, Washington *

Coach of The Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

, Washington First team (Name, School, Pos, Yr, Ht, Wt, Hometown (Last School)) * Jon Brockman, WASH, F, Sr., 6–7, 255, Snohomish, Wash. (Snohomish HS) * Chase Budinger, ARIZ, F, Jr., 6–7, 218, Encinitas, Calif. (LaCosta Canyon HS) * Patrick Christopher, CAL, G, Jr., 6–5, 215, Compton, Calif. (Dominguez HS) *

, UCLA, G, Sr., 6–0, 160, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (Etiwanda HS) * Justin Dentmon, WASH, G, Sr., 5–11, 185, Carbondale, Ill. (The Winchendon School, Mass.) * James Harden, ASU, G, So., 6–5, 218, Los Angeles, Calif. (Artesia HS) * Jordan Hill, ARIZ, F, Jr., 6–10, 235, Atlanta, Ga. (The Patterson School, N.C.) * Jeff Pendergraph, ASU, F, Sr., 6–9, 240, Etiwanda, Calif. (Etiwanda HS) *

Jerome Randle Jerome Jerry Randle (born May 21, 1987; ) is an American-Ukrainian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the California Golden Bears before playing professionally in several European countries. Randle has a Ukra ...

, CAL, G, Jr., 5–10, 160, Chicago, Ill. (Hales Franciscan HS) * Taylor Rochestie, WSU, G, Sr., 6–1, 186, Santa Barbara, Calif. (Tulane)

All-Academic

The 2008–09 Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball All-Academic teams (minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and be either a starter or significant contributor): First Team (School, Year, GPA, Major) * Aron Baynes, WSU, Sr., 3.24, Movement Studies * Derek Glasser, ASU, Jr., 3.14, Communications * Daven Harmeling, WSU, Sr., 3.54, Health and Fitness Education * Nikola Koprivica, WSU, Jr., 3.39, International Business * Taylor Rochestie, WSU, Sr., 3.37, Communication Second Team (School, Year, GPA, Major) * Nikola Knezevic, CAL, Jr., 3.03, Interdisciplinary Studies *

Rihards Kuksiks Rihards Kuksiks (born 17 July 1988) is a Latvian professional basketball player who last played for Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). He is also a member of the senior Latvia national basketball team. Col ...

, ASU, So., 3.07, Business Communications * Roeland Schaftenaar, OSU, Jr., 3.17, Pre-Business * Drew Shiller, STAN, Jr., 3.08, Communication * Jordan Wilkes, CAL, Sr., 3.13, Social Welfare Taylor Rochestie, of Washington State, was named a Pacific-10 Conference winter Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

USBWA All-District team

The

U.S. Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The US ...

's 2008–09 Men's All-District Teams (District IX: CA, OR, WA, HI, AZ, AK): * ''Player of the year'' – James Harden, Arizona State * ''Coach of the year'' – Craig Robinson, Oregon State * ''All-District Team:'' ** James Harden, Arizona State ** Jon Brockman, Washington ** Darren Collison, UCLA ** Patrick Christopher, California ** Jordan Hill, Arizona ** Jerome Randle, California ** Chase Budinger, Arizona

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball season