Poll: Women's hoops in top five of Pac-10

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Women's basketball head coach Joan Bonvicini speaks to the players at practice Friday night at McKale Center. The women's basketball team is ranked No. 5 in the preseason Pac-10 poll.

UCLA is currently ranked first, followed by Stanford, Oregon, Washington and Arizona.

"On paper, UCLA should be the favorite," Bonvicini said. "I think Stanford is good, and Oregon's going to be a lot better than people think. But Arizona's going to be in there."

UCLA is the preseason favorite for the Pac-10 title, and many major college basketball preview issues include the Bruins in their preseason top 10. Stanford is ranked anywhere from No. 8 in Basketball News to No. 24 in Dick Vitale's College Basketball.

Arizona is ranked No. 7 by Vitale, but most of the major magazines place Arizona near the bottom of their top 25.

The Wildcats have an intrasquad scrimmage Sunday and an exhibition game against Slovan Bratislava next Friday to prepare themselves for one of the country's most demanding schedules.

Arizona faces Purdue, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Stephen F. Austin, Colorado State and, assuming the team wins the first games of mini-tournaments in Nebraska and Tucson, Nebraska and last year's national runner-up, Louisiana Tech. Those games take place in the first month of the season.

"Our non-conference schedule is very demanding," Bonvicini said. "I don't want false expectations going into the Pac-10, I want the kids tested and ready. We don't have a lot of gimmies, so we're going to know exactly where we stand."

Bonvicini expects to see more balance in the team's scoring this season.

"In some ways, we're quicker. In some ways, we have more depth," Bonvicini said. "We just don't have that go-to player yet. Our team is a question mark. People across the country want to see where we are. I want to see our team ready."

The Wildcats lost a key leader when senior guard Monika "Bug" Crank tore her ACL in a pick-up game in September.

"It added more pressure to all the guards," junior guard Lisa Griffith said. "We're going to miss the little things Bug does."

Griffith spent the summer in her hometown of Portland, Ore., working on her game and getting into the best physical shape she could.

"I would do pro-style workouts, and to do those, you have to be in great shape," Griffith said. "My number one priority is to get in shape."

While the guard trio of Griffith, Felecity Willis and Reshea Bristol will supply most of the leadership, the Wildcats' main concern is post play, where they are quick but also young.

"They've all had a very good fall in terms of development and getting to a point where we have an idea of what needs to be done in the post area," assistant coach Sam Dixon said. "Now the intensity level steps up."

Bryan Rosenbaum can be reached via e-mail at Bryan.Rosenbaum@wildcat.arizona.edu.