THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : It’s Clear How They Feel: they Really Want O’Neal

As a salute to Final Four weekend, here’s a list of the pros’ favorite 27 collegians, regardless of class.

They are seniors unless otherwise noted:

1. Shaquille O’Neal, junior, LSU. Clear the traq, here comes Shaq.

LSU Coach Dale Brown says he advised O’Neal to declare for the draft. Translation: Brown knew he was gone and wanted to get on the right side of the issue. As it was, the game’s premier used-car salesman got a bonus year out of O’Neal, then wasted it.

How good will Shaq be?

“This league ain’t ready for this kid,” says Indiana Pacer General Manager Donnie Walsh.

“This is like Wilt (Chamberlain) coming in the league.”

2. Alonzo Mourning, Georgetown.

3. Christian Laettner, Duke.

4. Jim Jackson, junior, Ohio State. Pros are eagerly awaiting his decision.

5. Chris Webber, Michigan, freshman. Power forward of the 21st Century.

6, Rodney Rogers, sophomore, Wake Forest. The next coming of Larry Johnson.

7. Grant Hill, sophomore, Duke. “This kid’s got Julius Erving stuff,” one scout says.

8. Allan Houston, junior, Tennessee.

9. Todd Day, Arkansas.

10. Harold Miner, junior, USC. The tournament took a little twinkle off his halo, but he looks like a lottery pick if he comes out.

11. Walt Williams, Maryland.

12. Jamal Mashburn, sophomore, Kentucky.

13. Tracy Murray, junior, UCLA. Says a scout: “Rangiest jump shooter in a long, long time. Easier projection to an NBA body than Don MacLean.”

14. MacLean, UCLA.

15. Anfernee Hardaway, sophomore, Memphis State.

16. Anthony Peeler, Missouri.

17. Clarence Weatherspoon, Southern Mississippi.

18. Adam Keefe, Stanford.

19. Tom Gugliotta, North Carolina State.

20. LaPhonso Ellis, Notre Dame.

21. Byron Houston, Oklahoma State.

22. Malik Sealy. St. John’s. Preseason lottery projection, slid after so-so senior year.

23. Robert Horry, Alabama.

24. Bryant Stith, Virginia.

25. Jalen Rose, freshman, Michigan. The Wolverines took off after switching this 6-foot-7 swingman to the point. “This guy really shoots it,” a scout said. “He’s done everything for that team. If he’s playing with that much confidence as a freshman, how good might he be?”

26. Hubert Davis, North Carolina.

27. Terry Dehere, junior, Seton Hall.

OLAJUWON VS. ROCKETS:

ACT I:

In Houston, it’s the dawn of a new, cold day.

In the harsh light of reality, the Rockets are sorting their options, such as they are:

--Trading Hakeem: They’re about to discover that no one will give them Shaquille O’Neal for a 29-year-old player they have labeled a malingerer. Nor will anyone surrender David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Brad Daugherty or even Dikembe Mutombo.

It’s not easy to accept fire-sale offers, so the Rockets will consider . . .

--Keeping Hakeem: This isn’t so attractive, either.

He’s mad at them, they’re mad at him--and there’s still the matter of his grievance. Olajuwon wants his $138,000 back--the salary he lost while under suspension after saying he was not fit to play--and no matter what the truth is, his case will be hard to disprove. The Rockets contend additionally that he owes them the remaining $6 million on his contract for violating a clause promising not to ask to renegotiate.

Rocket players support Olajuwon publicly but not effusively. Privately, they’re thought to be split.

The fans are also split; a Houston Post poll found 52% siding with the Rockets, 47% with Olajuwon.

Houston Mayor Robert Lanier came out in defense of Olajuwon.

Olajuwon was applauded when he returned for the Laker game, but the fans maintained an eerie silence during the game.

After caving in during the second half, shell-shocked Rocket players met to regroup from blows such as Larry Smith’s injury in December and the firing of Don Chaney.

Kenny Smith said it was worse than his seasons in Sacramento.

Vern Maxwell said it was worse than his Spur team that lost 61 games.

“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “It could be true, we’ve had some problems.

“But that team the other night (the Lakers) has gone through more and they’ve ended up doing all right.”

FACES AND FIGURES

Death rattles of the Bad Boys: After a 5-0 West Coast trip, the Pistons returned home and went 2-6. . . . Tireless Dennis Rodman showed up late for a game and Coach Chuck Daly played him for only 10 minutes, in which Rodman took three rebounds, causing his average to dive from 19.2 to 18.8. The Pistons said it was flu. A day later, Rodman said he just hadn’t felt like playing, adding: “The only thing that matters to me is happiness.”

Daly was noncommittal on a USA Today column suggesting he would leave for the Spurs’ job. Piston officials think the source of the column was Daly. . . . Counting down his 76er career: After the last defeat on their 0-4 West Coast trip, Charles Barkley wrote “April 19” on the blackboard. “There it is,” he said, laughing. “That’s the start of the golf season.” On a more serious note, he vowed never to give up hope of making the playoffs, announcing: “I’m a Barkley. I’m from the old school.”

Confessions of a former inmate: Bull Coach Phil Jackson, one-time Knick forward and hippie, continuing to discover the virtues of the managerial class after getting a $2.5-million, three-year extension: “The bosses have to be compensated or they’ll be trampled by the inmates in the asylum.”

A Portland Oregonian poll of writers in the 27 league cities had Michael Jordan getting 22 first-place votes for MVP. Sending Jordan yet another message to rein in his shooting iron, Jackson said his choice would have been Clyde Drexler. . . . That’s not all Mike had to rein in. Commissioner David Stern had him in for a chat about that $165,000 in checks to various North Carolina shady characters. Jordan emerged a new man, acknowledging finally he had made a mistake. “No one’s perfect,” he said, in a rare concession, “Michael Jordan, you or anyone else.” . . . Jordan, on his $1,000-a-hole golf game: “It wasn’t hard to find someone to get a game. But my handicap is going up from now on.”

First-round upset alert: After last week’s 122-103 clubbing at Seattle, Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan ripped his bench: “The thing that bothers me is our second team coming off the bench, I just don’t think they’re digging down deep enough. But I know they show up the same day as the rest of the guys to pick up their checks and they don’t turn their backs to do it.”

SuperSonic swingman Nate McMillan: “You see a lot of small forwards all of a sudden running the offense, but the Jazz don’t do that. John Stockton is such a big part of their success, it makes them easier to handle if you can take the ball out of his hands.” . . . Robert Parish, 38, on his late-season funk: “I can’t blame it on old age.”

Boy Toys: Amway magnate Rick DeVos, new owner of the Orlando Magic, rearranged the front office, taking basketball operations from General Manager Pat Williams and putting them under Robert Vander Weide, 34, who has no prior experience in running a sports team. Vander Weide is DeVos’ son-in-law. . . . DeVos seized a break in the schedule to take the team to corporate headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., where everyone was to tour a hospital, the Amway plant and have dinner at DeVos’ home. Magic players, who would just as soon have toured the North Pole as Michigan in March, had player-rep Jeff Turner call the Players Assn. to see if they could duck out. They couldn’t.

What’s a Duckworth now? Kevin Duckworth has fallen to No. 6 among the Portland Trail Blazers in scoring and Cliff Robinson often plays center in crunch time. “I’m miserable,” Duckworth says. “ Last year’s success, I was part of that. This year I feel like I’m not. It’s been consistent on their part, taking away my minutes. Then they expect me to smile and be happy about it. That’s a bunch of bull.” . . . Celtic forward Ed Pinckney, told on Wednesday--April Fool’s Day--that his college coach, Rollie Massimino, had taken the UNLV job: “No way am I falling for this.”