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Pac-10 Men's Notes - Brooks making new memories

This time, Aaron Brooks left the Staples Center with a smile.

"I haven't had a good experience here the last couple of years," he said after Oregon beat Arizona 69-50 in a quarterfinal game at the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament Thursday. "I'm looking forward to having a good time."

That was an obvious reference to last year's tournament, when the Franklin High School graduate threw a forearm at the face of Washington's Ryan Appleby 10 minutes into a quarterfinal game. He was ejected, then suspended for Oregon's semifinal loss.

Thursday, that seemed a million miles away as Brooks scored 16 in the first 13 minutes as the Ducks broke out to a big lead. He also turned in two highlight-reel blocks, once stuffing Arizona's 6-foot-10 Ivan Radenovic, who is 10 inches taller than Brooks, on a drive to the hoop.

"I don't think about it," Brooks said. "If you look at who it is, you might not jump, so I just went up there and jumped and got it."

Brooks didn't score again after his early outburst, but his 16 points were enough to allow him to pass Luke Ridnour for 10th on Oregon's career scoring list.

Not that he can completely escape what happened a year ago.

The incident percolated anew two weeks ago when the teams played in Eugene. Appleby refused to shake Brooks' hand before and after the game. Brooks said he hadn't realized how upset Appleby still was over the incident, but also indicated he is done trying to apologize.

He said he had heard after the game in Eugene that Appleby thought Brooks' apology wasn't sincere and should have been made in person.

"I tried to do it right after the game here [last year], but I couldn't get to the locker room," Brooks said. "I wasn't in Seattle that much this summer. He wants me to go to Washington just to do it? I mean, I don't know."

Turner lobbies Dawgs

In response to a question, Washington athletic director Todd Turner said the Huskies have submitted a bid to host games in the NIT.

"But we're not thinking about the NIT," he said.

He then went on an extended defense of Washington's NCAA tournament resume. Even if the Huskies don't win the tournament here, Turner said that the strength of the Pac-10 should be enough to get a seventh conference team a bid. He also said he's disappointed in West Coast media for not pushing the conference's case enough.

"Have we had a couple of bad losses? Yeah," Turner said. "We could have taken care of this a long time ago. Nevertheless, I think our teams in the Pac-10 are as tournament-worthy as any others."

Olson rips team voting

After his team's loss to the Ducks, Arizona coach Lute Olson turned a question on Oregon forward Maarty Leunen into a rant on the Pac-10 having nine players on its all-conference team instead of the usual 10. The conference said nine players were named because just nine received votes on half of the ballots cast. The team was named earlier this week.

"It's an embarrassment to our league that we have the best league, the best this conference has ever been, and we can't find 10 guys who deserve to be all-conference," Olson said.

Olson said he wasn't just lobbying for one more of his players, mentioning Leunen and USC's Lodrick Stewart and Gabe Pruitt as those who deserved it. Olson said he expected to get a one-game suspension from the Pac-10 for speaking out.

"If they'll name a 10th player, I'll be happy to sit out the first game next season," he said.

See more at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com