Pac-10’s Little Nine Looking for NCAA Tournament Tickets

USC Basketball Coach George Raveling was only half joking, really, when he suggested that Arizona should play a lot of reserves and coast through the Pacific 10 Conference tournament this week in Tucson, letting a second conference team have a chance at the tournament title and the automatic berth into the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. playoffs. Everyone else was thinking it.

The common theme in the messages of all 10 of the conference coaches when they spoke by conference call with the media Monday was the importance of getting more than one Pac-10 team into the national tournament.

As it stands now, only Arizona, ranked No. 3 in the country with an overall record of 28-2 is sure to get a bid, even if it doesn’t win the conference tournament. But if Arizona gets the automatic berth that goes with winning the conference tournament--and that’s a good bet, the way the Wildcats have dominated the conference this year and with the tournament being played on their home court--Arizona could be the only Pac-10 representative in the NCAA tournament.

Raveling said: “Maybe Lute (Olson) should talk to the players about what is best for the conference. If they could just kind of ease up and play their bench, that might give them an advantage in the (NCAA) tournament to go in all rested up. It’s something to think about.”

Olson thought about it for about one second before responding: “I think that’s George’s and maybe eight other people’s opinion. It’s not mine. . . . Our players have been talking about the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament since the season began. . . . We’re not about to look at stubbing our toe now.”

USC, which will play California in the first game of the conference tournament Thursday night, could be Arizona’s first opponent Friday. Stanford, the only conference team that has beaten Arizona this season, also is in the Wildcats’ half of the bracket.

UCLA will play Arizona only if the Bruins advance to the final game. UCLA will have to get past Washington State Friday night and, probably, Oregon State, which will play first against the winner of the Arizona State-Washington game. Oregon State has beaten the Bruins twice this season.

The coaches agreed that the Pac-10 teams with the best chances of getting at-large berths in the NCAA tournament are third-place Stanford (19-10) and the teams that tied for second place in the conference--Oregon State (18-9) and UCLA (15-13). Each of those teams would pick up two more victories by making it to the final round, which might be enough to win an at-large berth.