COLLEGE BASKETBALL NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : UCLA Not Ready for Swan Song : West Regional: Bruins go against New Mexico State tonight feeling that detractors are waiting for them to fall.

Gerald Madkins vividly recalls UCLA’s loss to Washington State in the quarterfinals of the 1988 Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

It provided an ignominious ending to a forgettable season.

Unforgettable for Madkins, however, was the Bruins’ bus ride back to their hotel in Tucson. Several Bruins rejoiced, serenading teammates with “Going Back to Cali,” an L.L. Cool J song.

“It clarified their actions in the game,” said Madkins, suggesting that some of his teammates gave less than a total effort against the Cougars. “It made it obvious what their plans were from the beginning of the game. And their mission was accomplished.”

Rather than prolong a 16-14 season by landing a postseason berth, Madkins said, “they just wanted to end it so they wouldn’t have to play with (Coach Walt Hazzard) for another week.”

About a month later, Hazzard was fired, Jim Harrick hired.

In four seasons since, the Bruins have returned to national prominence, attracting a bid to the NCAA tournament each season and advancing to the round of 16 twice in the last three seasons.

This season, they won the Pac-10 championship for the first time since 1987.

They were ranked fourth in the final Associated Press poll.

Seeded No. 1 in the West Regional for the first time since 1979, they are 27-4 and have advanced to the regional semifinals.

But as the Bruins prepared for tonight’s game against 12th-seeded New Mexico State (25-7) at University Arena, otherwise known as the Pit, they reiterated their belief that nobody is taking them seriously as a contender to win the national championship.

“There’s a national perception that we’re overrated,” Madkins said. “At Notre Dame, that’s all their fans kept (chanting), ‘Over-rated, over-rated.’ That’s what the East Coast thinks of us.”

The Bruins discovered this month, however, that the perception of them as underachievers is not limited to Easterners.

During a day off in Seattle three weeks ago, Madkins and teammates Darrick Martin and Mitchell Butler attended a SuperSonic game, meeting with Sonic guard Gary Payton beforehand.

Spotting Payton with the three Bruins, Tim Grgurich, now an assistant coach with the SuperSonics, told Payton: “You’d better get away from those guys. They’re soft and it might rub off.”

Said Madkins: “He said it jokingly, but there was some underlying belief in it, I’m sure.”

Tracy Murray has no doubt.

“Even walking around Westwood, or when I go home, I hear people say, ‘UCLA’s not going to get that far. They’re going to flop somewhere,’ ” the Bruin forward said. “And I’m sick and tired of it. We have too much pride and talent to fall like that.”

A persecution complex has united the Bruins, Murray suggested.

“It’s sort of like us against L.A., or the world, or whoever’s doubting us,” Murray said. “This is the closest we’ve ever been.”

When UCLA reached the round of 16 two years ago, it was a surprise. Seeded No. 7 in the East, the Bruins upset second-seeded Kansas in the second round and celebrated as if they had won the NCAA championship.

Happy just to be there, they lost to Duke in the regional semifinals at East Rutherford, N.J.

“We’re older and more mature now,” Butler said. “We’ve been there before, and now it’s time to go a step further.

“We have the type of talent on this team to go all the way, and that’s what we want to do.”

In the process, the Bruins would like to assume a new identity.

“We’ve been labeled and stigmatized as a very soft team--a team that’s not capable of winning the big games--and it’s definitely something we want to get rid of,” Butler said.

Said Madkins: “We’re definitely focused. We’d like to put our best foot forward now that we’re on national display.”

Bruin Notes

Richard Petruska, expected to be UCLA’s starting center next season, underwent surgery to have part of a disk removed from his back, according to Dr. Rick Delamarter, who performed the procedure. Delamarter said Petruska should begin training in about four weeks and could be playing again “in a couple of months.” A 6-foot-10, 260-pound native of Levice, Czechoslovakia, Petruska was ineligible to play this season after transferring from Loyola Marymount, where last season he averaged 16.4 points and 7.6 rebounds.

The UCLA-New Mexico State winner will play second-seeded Indiana (25-6) or third-seeded Florida State (22-9) Saturday for the West Regional championship and a berth in the Final Four next weekend at Minneapolis. . . . UCLA freshman Tyus Edney, on the NCAA tournament: “It’s kind of like the NBA playoffs, I guess. It’s just more serious (than the regular season).”

As a starter in UCLA’s first 28 games, Shon Tarver averaged 24 minutes and 11 points. As a reserve in the last three, he has averaged 14 minutes and 7.7 points. “It’s fine with me,” he said. “Coming off the bench, I’m not really worried about, am I passing too much, shooting too much? I just go out there and play. Even though I’m not starting, I’m one of the guys who have a major influence on the game.” . . . New Mexico State’s 81-73 first-round victory over No. 24 DePaul was its first of the season over a nationally ranked opponent.