M. hoops hosts Trojans with
Pac-10 crown on the line
Bruins can clinch a share of the title with win over ‘SC
By Randy Satterburg
Daily Bruin Staff
The top-ranked UCLA men’s basketball team could clinch at least
a tie for its first Pacific-10 title since 1992, tonight in Pauley
Pavilion with a win against last-place USC.
The Bruins (21-2 overall, 13-2 Pac-10) lead second-place Arizona
(11-4) by two games in the conference race, and third-place Arizona
State (10-5) by three, with three games left on each team’s
schedule.
As it is, the Sun Devils would have to win the rest of their
games and UCLA would have to lose all of its remaining Pac-10 games
for ASU to even earn a share of the conference championship.
Arizona could still conceivably claim the title as its own by
winning out the rest of the way, assuming UCLA were to lose its
next three, but if the Bruins beat USC tonight, the best Arizona
could hope for is a tie. UCLA, having won all head-to-head meetings
against Arizona and Arizona State, has the advantage in the case of
a tie-breaker situation.
In any case, two more UCLA wins, or one more loss by Arizona and
Arizona State  who play the Washington schools on the road
this weekend  gives the Bruins sole possession of the Pac-10
title. It would be UCLA’s second conference championship in the
last four years, and their 25th in 68 seasons.
The first obstacle standing between UCLA and its stated
objective of cutting down the Pac-10 nets is a feisty, if
under-manned, USC team that historically plays its best against the
Bruins. The Trojans (7-18 overall, 2-13 Pac-10) have struggled
under interim head coach Charlie Parker, who took over the reins
after George Raveling called it quits, just days before the season
began, due to health concerns. USC is in the midst of an 11-game
losing streak and has not won a Pac-10 game on the road this season
in eight tries.
"It’s a fine line between winning and losing," UCLA head coach
Jim Harrick said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "USC has
been on the (wrong side of) that line because of the distractions
they’ve had this season."
Still, USC played the Bruins close earlier this season at the
Sports Arena, before losing 73-69, and the Trojans have not been
swept in a season series with UCLA since 1989.
"(USC) is our biggest rival and it’s a game we can tie for the
conference championship if we win, and maybe put it away (depending
on how other teams fare)," Harrick said.
* * *
So how has the Bruins’ first week as the No.1 ranked team in
both the Associated Press and CNN/USA Today polls treated them? For
one thing, it has made Harrick a busy man trying to keep up with
the flood of requests piling up on his desk for television, print,
and talk-radio interviews on a nation-wide basis.
But along with all the favorable attention No. 1 status
generates, it’s also like getting thrown out in the woods at the
start of hunting season with a pair of antlers stuck to your
head.
"You become a big target," Harrick said. "Everyone makes a big
deal out of (being number one). Everywhere my players go, people
are saying, ‘Oh yeah, congratulations.’ Their backs are probably
sore today from everyone slapping them on the back. You can lose
your focus that way. We’ve only got a couple of weeks left (until
the tournament starts), so hopefully we can make it through all of
that."
* * *
If you hear an inordinate amount of praise for UCLA coming out
of Durham, N.C., in weeks to come, take it with a grain of salt.
After Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion,
some Duke players were incensed at the local media for asking what
they determined to be "stupid questions."
After L.A. Times writer Allan Malamud asked Erik Meek who was
the better team out of North Carolina and UCLA, Duke sophomore
Chris Collins was heard telling teammates within earshot to "put
the heat on UCLA" and "start telling reporters (UCLA) is supposed
to win the national champion ship."
* * *
For the second consecutive week, and the fourth time this
season, Ed O’Bannon has been named the Pac-10’s Player of the Week
after leading the Bruins to a 3-0 record with 86 points and 28
rebounds. With his recent scoring outburst, O’Bannon has climbed
from fourth to second place among Pac-10 scoring leaders, and his
current 20.6 scoring average trails only Damon Stoudamire’s 22.2
points per game. O’Bannon’s 8.3 rebounds per game ties him for
third in that category with ASU’s Mario Bennett.