UCLA Moves Up to No. 5 in Basketball Poll : Colleges: Coach Harrick credits teamwork for the Bruins’ 7-0 start. UNLV remains No. 1.

Jim Harrick promised stability when he became the sixth man to follow John Wooden as UCLA’s basketball coach. What he is delivering is success.

At 7-0, the Bruins are off to their best start since Wooden quit winning national championships in 1975, and they’re among the elite with a No. 5 ranking in this week’s Associated Press poll.

“Two years ago, I think we were 45th,” Harrick said today. “That’s probably the best part of it, where we were and where we’ve come to.”

The Bruins haven’t been ranked this high since the next-to-last poll of the 1982-83 season.

The top four teams--UNLV, Arkansas, Syracuse and Arizona--are unchanged from last week. Georgetown fell from No. 5 to No. 12 after losing to Texas-El Paso, 71-60, on Saturday, clearing the way for UCLA to move up from No. 6.

“I know it’s early in the season,” Harrick said, “but I’d rather be there than not.”

In his third season since replacing the fired Walt Hazzard, Harrick has compiled a 50-21 record. That’s one more loss than Wooden had in his last 10 seasons combined, but it’s progress nevertheless for a school that lost 14 games two of the three previous seasons before Harrick arrived.

“What got us to the top five is playing together, sharing the ball and making the extra pass,” Harrick said. “We have better defenders, more depth and we’re sharing the ball. Those are the key things.”

UNLV (3-0), a 95-75 winner over Michigan State, polled 61 of 63 first-place votes and 1,573 ranking points. Syracuse, which beat Cal State Long Beach, 94-79, and UCLA, which beat DePaul, 92-90, got the other two first-place votes.

Five UCLA players average in double figures, and three of them--Don MacLean, Shon Tarver and Keith Owens--are making 60% or better of their field-goal attempts. Tarver, a freshman, and Owens are reserves.

“We have seven starters,” Harrick said, stressing the importance of Tarver and Owens. “We have goals of 20 to 25 assists and 52 to 55% (field-goal shooting). We’ve reached those goals most of the time this year. We have some very good shooters on this team.”

Harrick pointed to Owens and Tarver as keys to UCLA’s success.

“He’s just been a catalyst,” Harrick said of Owens, who has blocked 22 shots in UCLA’s seven games. “I expected him to help us and contribute and it’s been much, much more than that. THE TOP 25 The top 25 teams in the AP college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses:

1. UNLV (61) 3-0

2. Arkansas 8-1

3. Syracuse (1) 9-0

4. Arizona 7-1

5. UCLA (1) 7-0

6. Indiana 8-1

7. Ohio St. 6-0

8. North Carolina 6-1

9. Duke 6-2

10. LSU 4-1

11. Oklahoma 8-1

12. Georgetown 6-1

13. St. John’s 8-0

14. Pittsburgh 7-1

15. Connecticut 5-1

16. South Carolina 7-1

17. Georgia 6-1

18. Kentucky 5-1

19. Virginia 5-2

20. Southern Miss. 3-1

21. E. Tennessee St. 7-1

22. Nebraska 9-1

23. Texas 3-2

24. Michigan St. 3-3

25. Princeton 7-0