NCAA West Regional at Boise, Ida. : Elliott Picks Arizona to Make It All the Way

Like many other people across the country, the Arizona Wildcats have filled out the brackets, picking their winners and choosing their longshots in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament.

They knew as little about some of the first-round matchups as the folks at the office, but for some games--six, to be precise--there was no agonizing.

“I picked us,” said Sean Elliott, Arizona’s expert on the court and off it. “I had us beating Georgetown (in the semifinals) and Illinois (in the final).”

Elliott will take top-ranked Arizona (28-3) against Clemson (19-10) today in the second round of the West Regional. Nevada Las Vegas (27-7) plays DePaul (21-11) in the other game.

In Clemson, Arizona will face a team that is undaunted by the Wildcats’ ranking.

The Tigers’ Atlantic Coast Conference victories this season over North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech give them an air of nonchalance about facing Arizona.

The answers Coach Cliff Ellis and his players give to most questions begin, “When you play a Duke or a North Carolina . . . “ or “Against Carolina . . . “

Though they are not cowed by Arizona, neither are they disrespectful.

“They’ve had no mercy on people as of late,” Ellis said. “You have to feel inspired and enthused because you don’t get to play the No. 1 team that often.

“Arizona reminds me of an ACC team,” Ellis said. “They have bulk, they have size and they have quickness. They remind me a lot of Duke. This will be very similar for us to an ACC type of game.”

The Tigers, making only their third NCAA appearance, have a player who is familiar with basketball beyond the Mississippi--Elden Campbell, the 6-foot-10 junior from Inglewood’s Morningside High School with the 109-inch reach and the sculptured hairdo.

Said Campbell, the Tigers’ scoring leader with a 17-point average and the foreman of a crew of ferocious shot-blockers: “I went to play back East because I think the level of play is better. I’ve gotten a lot better than if I had played in the Pac-10.”

For Arizona--and the pride of the West--it will be important to contain two of Clemson’s front line players--Campbell and Dale Davis.

“We are playing a balanced team that creates some real matchup problems for us,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “Their big guys are quick and very good jumpers. It’s not going to be easy on the inside. . . . The keys to this game will be the boards and keeping the ball out of the interior.”

Arizona, of course, presents some defensive challenges itself, particularly in Elliott.

Derrick Forrest, a 6-3 guard, will draw Elliott in man-to-man defense, or--if a taller player is needed--6-7 Jerry Pryor gets the nod.

West Regional Notes

Nevada Las Vegas and DePaul met in the Maui tournament in November, the Rebels scoring an 86-77 victory. “We think we’re a better team now,” said DePaul Coach Joey Meyer, who has guided the Blue Demons to the second round for the fourth year in a row. “Unfortunately, I think they’re a much better team too.” . . . Jud Buechler’s ankle, injured in Arizona’s first-round game, is not expected to limit him. “Jud’s ankle is fine,” Coach Lute Olson said.