After examining the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten two weeks ago, it is time to discuss what could happen in three other sectors of college basketball this season. We’ll start out West.

**Pac-10**

The Pac-10 will be the weakest of the six major conferences this season because of the departure of an enormous amount of talent. Nine Pac-10 players were selected in the 2009 NBA draft, tying the Pac-10 with both the ACC and the Big East for the highest number of players chosen. Of the six Pac-10 teams that made the NCAA tournament last year, four of them – UCLA, Arizona State, USC and Arizona – will not be returning either of their top two players from last year.

The two other teams who went dancing, Cal and Washington, should battle for the league title in 2010. Both are led by sub-6-foot sparkplugs at point guard, with 5-foot-10-inch senior Jerome Randle leading the Bears and 5-foot-8-inch sophomore Isaiah Thomas directing the Huskies. Randle is a deadly shooter who nailed an astounding 46 percent of his threes last season, while averaging 18 points and 5 assists. Thomas is one of the fastest players in all of college basketball, and put up 16 points per game as a freshman last year. Look for Cal to have the edge over Washington, as the Bears return not only Randle, but also their second- and third-leading scorers last year – Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson.

The sleeper in the conference is Oregon State. Just two years ago they went a pathetic 0-18 in conference play, but the program has done a 180 with the hiring of former Brown coach Craig Robinson, who is perhaps better known as President Obama’s brother-in-law. Last year, Robinson’s first at Oregon State, the Beavers made a huge leap to 7-11 in conference play, with two victories over Cal and another over USC. Oregon State returns its top four scorers and should make some noise this year.

**SEC**

Kentucky’s days as a basketball powerhouse seem like a distant memory, since the Wildcats have not made the Final Four since 1998. But this storied program’s decline was turned around on March 31, 2009, when Memphis coach John Calipari signed a contract to become the head coach at Kentucky. Calipari immediately persuaded one of his Memphis recruits, DeMarcus Cousins, the No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2009 according to Rivals.com, to join him in Lexington. A month and a half later, Calipari convinced the No. 1 overall recruit, John Wall, to join him at Kentucky.

Wall is one of the best point guard recruits in decades, and he should immediately compete for first team All-American honors. In fact, he is a virtual lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. Wall and Cousins will be joined by two other elite recruits, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe, which gives Kentucky one of the most talented freshman classes of all time.

In addition, Kentucky brings back forward Patrick Patterson, an 18-point, nine-rebound per game player who likely would have been a first-round pick if he had declared for the NBA draft. Put all of this together and Kentucky, which missed the NCAA tournament altogether last season, is a serious national title contender this year. If Kansas is the favorite to win it all, Kentucky is a very close second.

With Kentucky dominating the SEC East, Mississippi State is the favorite in the SEC West, thanks to a very intimidating stable of big men. Center Jarvis Varnado nearly averaged a double-double last year, and he led the country with 4.7 blocks per game. John Riek is a 7-foot-2-inch freshman center from Sudan who will make an immediate impact as a shot blocker. Renardo Sidney, one of the most talented freshmen in the country, will make a big impact down low if he is ruled eligible by the NCAA.

This powerful frontcourt will be aided by three returning guards who each averaged 10 points per game last year. If Riek and Sidney step up, Mississippi State could make a surprise run to the Final Four.

**Mid-Majors**

For the last several years, the top teams from mid-major conferences have usually been Memphis and Gonzaga. Memphis has won at least 33 games in each of the last four years, and Gonzaga has made 11 straight NCAA tournament appearances. But Memphis will be without its top four scorers from last season, and the loss of Calipari means that no elite recruits will be replacing them this year. Similarly, Gonzaga lost four of its top five scorers as well. Both teams will struggle to win their conference titles and return to the Big Dance.

This year, the two most dangerous mid-majors may be Butler and Siena. Butler features a very talented duo in Matt Howard and Gordon Hayward, who combined for 28 points and 13 rebounds per game last year. Hayward in particular is one to watch, as he is only a sophomore with a sweet shooting stroke (45 percent from behind the arc last year) and has NBA potential. Siena returns four of its top five scorers, including guard Ronald Moore, who hit clutch three pointers in the final seconds of both overtimes in Siena’s victory over Ohio State during last year’s NCAA tournament. Look for these two teams to be busting brackets in March.

Next time, in part three of a four-part preview, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Big East.

Parimal Garg is a senior in the College. Three-Point Play appears in every other Tuesday issue of Hoya Sports.”