UCLA’s Stock Rising With Pac-10’s : Resurgent Bruins’ Next Test Is Arizona State Tonight

It wasn’t too long ago that the Pacific 10 Conference basketball championship, surprisingly within grasp of UCLA this season, wasn’t thought to be worth much.

The conference was maligned from coast to coast.

All that has changed this season, although Marty Blake, director of scouting for the National Basketball Assn., has been quoted as saying that the Pac-10 is the worst of the major conferences.

“If UCLA can’t beat anybody else, it’s awful,” Blake is supposed to have said.

Is that true?

Is the Pac-10 that bad?

Not at all, according to several observers, including Blake, who claims that he was misquoted.

Blake said he expects three Pac-10 players to be taken in the first round of the NBA draft, naming Arizona’s Sean Elliott, Stanford’s Todd Lichti and UCLA’s Pooh Richardson, and said that Arizona’s Anthony Cook would be among the first 30 players selected.

And second-ranked Arizona, of course, is one of the country’s most competitive teams.

“I’ve been the biggest critic of the Pac-10 over the years, but you’ve got to give credit where credit is due,” said ESPN’s Dick Vitale, who believes that as many as five Pac-10 teams--Arizona, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon State and California--could be invited to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

“The Pac-10 has turned the corner in its competitiveness, and it’s going to get better and better because those teams have started to sign the local kids.”

So, in Vitale’s mind, it hasn’t been inferior competition that has allowed UCLA to restore at least a little of its prominence.

The Bruins, written off by many last fall as no better than a fourth-place team, can claim their 28th conference championship by winning their last six games, starting tonight against Arizona State in ASU’s University Activity Center and including a pair of showdowns against Arizona.

It would be no small feat.

And it’s a longshot, of course. Arizona is a game ahead of UCLA in the games-lost column, and UCLA, in addition to games against the Wildcats Saturday at Tucson and March 4 in Pauley Pavilion, also must play Cal March 2 at Berkeley.

But, only a year ago, the UCLA program was said to be in disarray. A 16-14 season, including a 73-71 loss to Washington State in the Bruins’ first game in the Pac-10 tournament, resulted in the firing of Coach Walt Hazzard.

Then, last summer, the Bruins lost a potential starter when 6-foot-3 sophomore Gerald Madkins, expected to play alongside Richardson in the backcourt, broke his pelvis in a traffic accident.

But, under Coach Jim Harrick, UCLA has already matched last season’s victory total. The Bruins are 16-5 overall and 10-2 in the Pac-10.

And two freshmen from the Los Angeles area, Don MacLean and Darrick Martin, have been instrumental in UCLA’s resurgence.

“I think they’ve turned it around from the standpoint that they’ve created some spirit, some enthusiasm,” Vitale said of the Bruins. “Jimmy Harrick is making it known that he’s going to get his share of the local kids.

“There’s a whole new attitude. There’s a new spirit among the players, among the alumni, among the fans. I feel it in the letters I get from people on the coast.”

Vitale has said on the air this season that UCLA will be in the Final Four within four years.

Arizona State, which is 11-11 overall and 4-9 in the Pac-10, ended a four-game losing streak when it beat Oregon last Saturday at Eugene, Ore., 98-94.

The victory was the Sun Devils’ first in three games under interim Coach Bob Schermerhorn, who replaced Steve Patterson when Patterson resigned under pressure Feb. 4.

UCLA struggled against the Sun Devils last month before extending a one-point halftime lead to more than 20 points and settling for a 94-84 victory at Pauley Pavilion.

“This is going to be a very difficult game for us,” Harrick said.

Bruin Notes

In UCLA’s 77-75 victory over Louisville Sunday, “we played as well as we can possibly play for about 30 minutes,” Coach Jim Harrick said. . . . Kevin Williams, UCLA’s third guard, tore cartilage in his left knee Sunday and may have to undergo arthroscopic surgery next week. A decision will be made after this weekend.

UCLA’s signees from last November--Mitchell Butler of North Hollywood Oakwood, Zan Mason of Westchester and Rodney Odom of Kingwood, Tex.--are enjoying big seasons. Butler is averaging 28.5 points, 15.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 4.4 steals for a 16-5 team; Mason is averaging about 21 points and 11.5 rebounds for a 15-5 team and the 6-10, 200-pound Odom is averaging about 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for a 26-7 team.