Two days after the Pac-12 took its final competitive breath, the conference lost its soul. Bill Walton passed away Monday after 71 years of a life like no other, ever. The cause: cancer. Left unsaid: a broken heart. Walton might have been the greatest player in college basketball history. He won two NCAA titles with UCLA and two more in the NBA (with Portland and Boston) and was a no-brainer Hall of Fame inductee. He was the world’s preeminent Grateful Dead fan, a cycling enthusiast, a passionate environmentalist, a voracious reader and an iconic sports broadcaster. He was as brilliant as he was goofy, as genuine as he was colorful, as joyous as he was loquacious. Oh, could he talk. My first conversation with Walton, years ago, was by telephone.