The hole was huge, obviously, big enough to fit a pair of 7-foot twins. And one answer Stanford's basketball team offered to fill it with was a player who spent the past two seasons sidelined by injuries.

Give it up, then, for Curtis Borchardt. Once only known in college for stress fractures, he is instead now making things stressful on the opposition.

Breakout players? Out West, the 7-foot junior center stands tallest.

	Luke Walton leads Arizona in rebounds and assists, but also gives the Wildcats certain intangibles that don't show up in the box score.

Skill was never a question with Borchardt, who blocked 42 shots in just 20 games as a freshman. But he never made it through his first two seasons healthy. Many, then, wondered how he might replace some of the numbers lost from the departed Jason and Jarron Collins.

So far, pretty well.

Stanford is 6-1 and Borchardt is averaging 16.2 points and a Pac-10 best 12.3 rebounds. He had 20 rebounds -- yes, two-oh -- in a victory against Purdue.

"Curtis is a great rebounder and shot-blocker," said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. "Curtis needs more touches on offense. We just don't have the same offensive presence as we did (with the Collins' twins) and we have to develop that with Curtis.

"We said early on that he would improve and he got better as a rebounder, and now he just needs to continue that on the offensive side. Curtis used to avoid contact, but now he is bigger and a well-built kid. He's playing above the rim, really getting after rebounds. I think he's just going to get better and better."

The right foot, meanwhile, is fine. Soreness sets in after games, but what better cure than the magic of ice?

"Each game, I'm feeling more and more comfortable out there," said Borchardt. "I'm becoming a basketball player again, not a basketball player who's recovering from surgery."

Other breakout players in the Pac-10?

Take Arizona junior forward Luke Walton. A reserve on last year's NCAA runner-up team, Walton is one reason the Wildcats are 5-2 against the nation's toughest schedule. He is averaging 13.1 points and team highs in rebounds (8.9) and assists (5.3).

"Luke is sort of a big Steve Kerr because everyone thought he wasn't quick enough to guard a quick guy, but I don't remember anyone ever getting by him," said Wildcats coach Lute Olson, whose team opens conference play at Oregon State on Thursday. "Luke is smart. He's an excellent defender."

He is also why junior point guard Jason Gardner is having an All-America-type season. Teams have opted to over-play Gardner, hoping to limit his numbers. But all it has done is allow Walton easier passing lanes to find teammates.

"We've seen that in almost every game to keep Jason from being as involved," said Olson. "The good thing is that with as good a passer as Luke is, it usually backfires. Because of Luke's ability, it's really pretty hard for someone to play a defense like that on Jason without creating more openings."

Doug Wrenn has created some openings for Washington, not to mention some early success.

The Huskies are 5-3 entering their conference opener against UCLA on Thursday, in large part because of Wrenn's play. The sophomore wing and Connecticut transfer is averaging a team-high 16.6 points and 6.3 rebounds for a program that went 10-20 last season.

The best part: Attitude problems that led to the 6-8 Wrenn leaving UConn have not surfaced at Washington, where the player originally signed out of high school.

"I have really been pleased with Doug's consistency, which is usually the biggest stumbling block early on for a player who had been out of organized situations for a long period," said Huskies coach Bob Bender. "He has so much talent. With his versatility and flexibility, there are a lot of ways we can use him."

Said Wrenn: "I'm just excited to be back playing. It had been a long time."

Games of the Week

UCLA at Washington Thursday The Pac-10 season opens early this season with the scheduled return of a conference tournament in March. Here, the Bruins try and put some inconsistent non-league showings behind them against a Huskies team coming off a 20-point loss to Gonzaga. If UCLA is going to prove correct the preseason predictions of a conference title, big men Dan Gadzuric and Matt Barnes (when healthy) can't take many more nights off ... if any. Tulsa vs. Buffalo Thursday It is a first-round game of the Yahoo! Sports Invitational in Hawaii, where Tulsa takes a 6-1 record and the WAC's top scoring average at 86 points. Tulsa is winning games by an average of 21 points, helped by a strength-of-schedule rating of 230. The Golden Hurricane is led by two of the WAC's top 14 scorers in junior guard Dante Swanson (13.7) and senior guard Greg Harrington (13.0). The lone loss is to Arkansas by a 79-75 count. Stanford vs. BYU Saturday The second game of the Las Vegas Shootout (UNLV meets Texas in the opener) has the Cardinal trying to go 2-0 against the Mountain West. Stanford defeated New Mexico to open the season. BYU, meanwhile, has its league's highest RPI at No. 22, with losses to Utah State and UC Santa Barbara. Mark Bigelow, the former WAC freshman of the year for BYU, is averaging 17.5 points and has made 40-of-43 free-throws.

MWC: Nothing Bland about Aztecs' backcourt
San Diego State is 6-3 entering a home game against Eastern Washington on Thursday, but the Aztecs own two of the league's best non-conference wins -- home against Fresno State and at Hawaii. It's hard to envision either without Tony Bland and Al Faux starting in the backcourt.

Bland is the Syracuse transfer who sat out last season, a junior who leads the Mountain West in scoring (18.9) and is fourth in assists (4.7). Faux was suspended for the first four games for violating team rules, but has averaged 20.4 points since returning. The senior is shooting 43 percent on threes and is arguably the nation's most valuable walk-on.

"(Bland) is the guy who thinks he is ready to take on Michael Jordan," says SDSU coach Steve Fisher. "He has won everywhere he has been. He is use to playing in tough arenas and he is use to playing at a high level with good people. But maybe most importantly, he is use to winning. He wants to be a leader. And more than I thought when he came here, Tony knows how to play.

"There is no question we are better with (Faux) back in the lineup. He might be our best player. You could tell when he came back in the fall that his game was a lot better than last season."

Mark Bigelow is back at BYU, but someone forgot to tell the 6-6 sophomore guard it usually takes eight months to a year before one's skill returns off a two-year mission.

The Cougars have this former WAC freshman of the year back shooting and he has responded with a 17.5 scoring average, third best in conference. BYU, which lost four starters off last year's NCAA Tournament team, couldn't ask for more from the guy asked to replace Terrell Lyday's 16.4 average.

BYU (6-2) has wins against Arizona State and Creighton.

"One thing (Bigelow) does very well is to allow the game to come to him," said Cougars coach Steve Cleveland. "He is so effortless on the offensive end. He has really shot the ball well (46 percent), which is usually one of the last things that come when you return from a mission.

"He is still not in good enough shape for this level. He is lacking energy on defense. He can't sustain a stance, which gets him out of rebounding position. But eventually, his legs will come all the way back. We have him for two more years."

Patrick Dennehy will also be around two more seasons at New Mexico. And, while we know about the Lobos' guards, about talents like Ruben Douglass and Marlon Parmer, unless the Lobos -- quite capable of winning the Mountain West -- get consistent inside play and hold their own on the boards, a potentially great season could become an average one.

Dennehy could be the low-post presence to complement the backcourt. The 6-9 sophomore who is averaging 9.9 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds.

WAC: Pack's pair of surprises
Nevada was pick below the break-even mark in the WAC. The Wolf Pack is 7-2, but also started fast last season only to finish 10-18. And yet coach Trent Johnson thinks his team's second WAC record will be far better than its first, which was 3-13.

A few reasons could be Garry Hill-Thomas and Corey Jackson.

The former is a sophomore guard averaging 19.2 points, third best in conference.

"(Hill-Thomas) is a great kid who has really worked on his game," said Johnson. "He's an explosive player who people are really starting to realize can play at a high level."

Jackson, a senior forward, is averaging a WAC-best 10.5 rebounds.

"Corey was like all junior-college transfers in that it took him time to get adjusted to this level," said Johnson. "But he understands his primary responsibilities for this team is rebounding and defending."

Damon Hancock is arguably the league's most underrated player, a senior guard at SMU who leads the conference in scoring with a 20.7 average.

The Mustangs are just 5-5 after Tuesday's loss to Texas Christian.

"Damon is our senior leader, and we expected this kind of play from him this season," said SMU coach Mike Dement. "He has been a clutch players for us for a long time."

The popular preseason thought was that Dante Swanson, a junior guard at Tulsa, would complement senior point guard Greg Harrington. But Swanson has assumed more of a leadership role.

He averages a team-high 13.7 points and 5.3 rebounds for a Tulsa team that doesn't start anyone taller than 6-7. But lightening-quick, the Golden Hurricane.

"Our entire offense is geared around the quickness of our guards and their ability to breakdown defenses," said Tulsa coach John Phillips. "(Swanson) does all of that. He can score from the perimeter or take the ball to the basket."

Who's Hot
Casey Jacobsen: Texas taught Stanford's star a lesson, and now he's making everyone else pay.

Dalron Johnson: UNLV's junior forward is going for 18.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, again reminding us how ridiculous that preseason all-conference team was.

Who's Not
Oregon State: Cal Poly ... Cal Poly ... CAL POLY!

Santa Clara-San Francisco duo: A combined 2-15. Bay Area busts, so far.

Quote to Note
"We were in diapers and those guys spanked us."
-- Washington forward Doug Wrenn after a 20-point loss to Gonzaga.

Thought for the Day
There is absolutely no way in the world Melvin Ely stayed at that hotel. Even he knows if you're going to jeopardize your college career and kill your team's chance at a deep NCAA Tournament run, you do so for a few nights at the Four Seasons and not the Budget Suites.

Ed Graney of the San Diego Union-Tribune is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ed.graney@uniontrib.com.