Lute’s Machine Sputters Without Key Part : Arizona: Wildcats are 8-2, but both losses are in Pac-10 and the team hasn’t been the same without Sean Elliott.

McKale Arena, the raucous home of Arizona’s basketball team, has been noticeably quieter this season. Fans no longer raise the decibel level to that of a jet engine.

The Wildcats aren’t making much noise either.

After winning two consecutive Pacific 10 championships, Arizona seems to have lost its grip.

Life after Sean Elliott hasn’t been easy for Arizona, even though the Wildcats are 8-2.

After beating NCAA champion Michigan in its season opener, Arizona lost its Pac-10 opener at Oregon, then was defeated by 23 points by Oregon State.

“We couldn’t have beaten Oregon State in a month of Sundays,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “They were just too good for us.”

Arizona, which last season spent 33 weeks in the top 10 and was ranked No. 1 going into tournament play, dropped from No. 2 to No. 18 after it was ambushed on the Oregon Trail.

In the last six weeks at home, where they were able to recuperate, the Wildcats have rebounded by winning their last seven games, including Pac-10 victories over California, Washington and Washington State.

As USC Coach George Raveling pointed out, however: “(Arizona is) in a real tough spot, as far as winning the league is concerned, because they can’t afford to lose another game at home. One loss at home and they’re out of it.

“And obviously, they have just as much pressure on the road. They haven’t won a (league) road game.”

After playing USC tonight at the Sports Arena, Arizona will move over to Pauley Pavilion to play UCLA on Saturday.

Olson, though, said he is satisfied with his team’s progress.

“I think we’re getting there,” he said. “There are a lot of new faces and we had a lot of things that had to be done in terms of trying to get the right guys with the right guys.”

Olson lost three starters from last season’s team--Elliott, the All-American forward, center Anthony Cook and guard Kenny Lofton.

Elliott and Cook were selected in the first round of the NBA draft and Lofton is playing pro baseball.

How much does Arizona miss Elliott?

“As much as the Yankees would have missed Babe Ruth or the Lakers would miss Magic or the Bulls would miss Michael Jordan,” Raveling said. “The thing that’s obvious now is that they don’t have a go-to guy. The other thing is that Elliott drew so much attention to himself that it caused other players to be open.

“I think the greatest compliment to Elliott as a collegiate player was that he made the other four players around him better players.”

The Wildcats also miss Cook, the leading shot-blocker in Pac-10 history. Cook closed off the middle, forcing opponents to take perimeter shots.

Since losing Elliott and Cook, the Wildcats have changed their style. A quick, guard-dominated team with Elliott and Cook, Arizona relies more on its inside game with a front line anchored by Brian Williams, a 6-foot-11, 235-pound center; Sean Rooks, a 6-11, 243-pound forward, and Wayne Womack, a 6-8, 195-pound forward.

Williams, a highly touted transfer from Maryland where he was voted the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year in the spring of 1988, was thought to be an able replacement for Elliott. Instead, , he has generated more publicity than points.

After sitting out last season because of the transfer, he is averaging 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds. He was also out of condition early in the season because of a stress fracture in his left foot, which was in a cast for six months.

Is Williams a disappointment?

“No,” Olson said. “It’s a case of where people think that just because a guy is a real good player that suddenly you put him back on the floor and he becomes an immediate hit.

“A year out of competition was one problem. But he was not able to play from the middle of April until the start of practice, which was a real difficult thing. Conditioning-wise, he’s still not there, but he’s made a lot of progress over where he was even three weeks ago.”

The Wildcats also have had internal problems.

Upset because the coaches were on him for inconsistent play, Rooks considered transferring to another school and skipped practice for two days last month. But a phone call from Elliott helped persuade Rooks to remain at Arizona.

What did Elliott tell Rooks?

“I think Sean just told him like it is,” Olson said. “He told him that there’s no easy road to where you’re going to get. He told him that it isn’t going to change from one program to the other and you’re always going to have people pushing you.

“It came at a time when (Rooks) was disappointed in how he was playing and maybe disappointed in the fact that we were trying to push him to get him to play like he’s capable of playing. Rooks is not by nature a very energetic kid and he’s the first one to admit that people have to be on him to get the best out of him.”

Matt Muehlebach, a 6-2 junior guard, and Jud Buechler, a 6-6 senior forward, are the only players who have started every game this season.

Although Buechler was voted captain, he appears uncomfortable in his new role, and Muehlebach has taken the leadership role on the floor.