COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Arizona’s Rooks Writes Off All of UNLV’s Opponents : West Regional: Seton Hall, the last team to beat Rebels in postseason, doesn’t appreciate remarks.

Since he won’t be remembered for his so-so performance in Arizona’s season-ending loss to Seton Hall, Wildcat center Sean Rooks decided to make history with his postgame comments.

It was Rooks who declared today’s West Regional final between Nevada Las Vegas and Seton Hall--in fact, the rest of the NCAA tournament--an exercise in futility. Alert the trophy engravers, he suggested. Begin the ring designs. UNLV, he said, is on its way to a second consecutive national title.

“Oh, man, Arizona could have been the team to beat them, but all of that is out the window,” he said. “I think it’s over now. If anybody could have beaten them, it would have been us.”

Yes, well, the members of the Seton Hall team would like to extend Rooks a hearty hello and tell him to enjoy the rest of the tournament on television. Over? The Pirates (25-8), who are the last team to have beaten UNLV in the postseason--1989: Seton Hall 84, UNLV 61, in the West Regional, by the way--are anything but intimidated by the undefeated Rebels.

For instance, starting forward Gordon Winchester was asked to assess the matchups and announce a winner at each position. No wallflower, Winchester all but guaranteed a Seton Hall victory.

The guards--UNLV’s Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt vs. Oliver Taylor and Terry Dehere.

“I think our guards will have the edge,” he said.

His reasons: Taylor thrives on the pressure defense UNLV plays, and Dehere has proved to be an unstoppable scorer.

Next.

The forwards--UNLV’s Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon vs. Arturas Karnishovas and Mr. Winchester.

A push. Sort of, said Winchester.

His reasons: Karnishovas, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Vilnius, Lithuania, isn’t exactly your regular first-year student. “A very good defensive player,” Winchester said.

And his own 40-minute meeting with Augmon?

“I’m going to be hyped,” he said.

The centers--UNLV’s George Ackles vs. Anthony Avent. No contest.

“(Avent) can basically do anything he wants,” Winchester said.

Winchester wasn’t finished. He saved his best zingers for last, especially when determining who was the better coach, UNLV’s Jerry Tarkanian or Seton Hall’s P.J. Carlesimo.

“I don’t see Tarkanian coaching,” he said. “I just see his assistant coaches walking up and down. I think P.J.’s got the edge there. I think UNLV coaches themselves.”

Even Carlesimo, bless his honesty, hinted that his Pirates might be the team to end UNLV’s 44-game winning streak. Consider this exchange:

Reporter: “What’s it going to take--a perfect game?”

Carlesimo: “By who, Vegas?”

To hear Tarkanian these days, UNLV (33-0) is clinging to tournament life. According to him, the Rebels’ man-to-man defense stinks. Their intensity level is shorter than the hair on his balding head. Their number of assists--from 26 a game during the regular season to 15 during the postseason--is disturbingly low.

And then you glance at the margin of victory in UNLV’s tournament games, winning by 34 over Montana, eight over Georgetown and 17 over Utah. Some struggle.

If anything, suggested Anthony, Seton Hall’s victory over Arizona might have been the best thing for the Rebels. Of the UNLV starters, four--Anthony, Hunt, Augmon and Ackles--were on that 1989 team that lost to the Pirates.

“That’s definitely the game we really look forward to,” Anthony said. “Subconsciously, we were rooting for Seton Hall. It’s better emotionally to be playing Seton Hall.”

At stake is a Final Four appearance. And Sean Rooks’ reputation.

NCAA West Notes

What would a news conference be without UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian picking on UCLA? “Big parts of the country are pulling for us, and big parts of the country are pulling against us,” he said. “I think truck drivers, construction workers, all the beer drinkers, they’re all Rebel fans. You go to the inner cities, they’re for the Rebels. Probably if you go into Beverly Hills, (there would) probably be UCLA fans.” . . . Seton Hall Coach P.J. Carlesimo came to the defense of UCLA’s Jim Harrick and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, both of whom watched their teams lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament. “Coaching is very overrated, it honestly is,” he said. “They didn’t forget how to coach last week. When you have good players, you win. When you don’t have good players, you don’t.”