COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Never Too Early to Take That Road to the Final 64

At absolutely no charge to the NCAA basketball committee, which will make its tournament seedings and at-large selections on March 13, we offer this midseason cheat sheet of the eight conferences that matter:

PACIFIC 10

SURE THINGS: UCLA, California, Arizona.

PROBABLE: Stanford.

MAYBES: Arizona State, Washington State.

BEST PLAYER: Jason Kidd, Cal guard, aspiring center fielder. Runner-up: Ed O’Bannon of UCLA, who can make his presence known in any game. Kidd, however, can dominate them.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): USC. Hello, NIT . . . if the Trojans are lucky.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Until last week, it was Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson, who has since picked up his game. In truth, there are no real flops in the conference.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Very tough call. Our picks: (1) Todd Bozeman, Cal; (2) Bill Frieder, Arizona State; (3) Jim Harrick, UCLA.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Jim Anderson, Oregon State. Don’t be surprised if you hear Drake Coach Rudy Washington’s name as a possible replacement.

ATLANTIC COAST

SURE THINGS: North Carolina, Duke.

PROBABLES: Virginia, Maryland, Wake Forest.

MAYBES: Georgia Tech, Clemson, Florida State.

BEST PLAYER: Grant Hill, Duke, who edges North Carolina center Eric Montross.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had four quality starters back, started fast and have since become the league’s most inconsistent team.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Martice Moore, Georgia Tech, ACC rookie of the year in 1993 and ACC no-factor in 1994.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Gary Williams, Maryland. The Terrapins already have matched last season’s 12 victories and are on the way to their first NCAA appearance since 1988.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Cliff Ellis, Clemson.

BIG TEN

SURE THINGS: Michigan, Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota.

PROBABLE: Illinois.

MAYBE: Michigan State.

BEST PLAYER: Glenn Robinson, Purdue forward. Runner-up: Alan Henderson, Indiana forward.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Minnesota. Coach Clem Haskins wants respect, but the Golden Gophers aren’t going to get it until they start winning on the road.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Lawrence Funderburke, Ohio State. A 13.7-point average isn’t exactly what the Buckeyes had in mind.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Steve Fisher, Michigan. No Chris Webber. No bench. At one point, no Jimmy King and Juwan Howard because of chickenpox. And last weekend, no King and Ray Jackson because of shoplifting problems. Still, the Wolverines are 16-4 and headed toward a conference title.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Paul Swanson, Northwestern assistant. Or until Ricky Byrdsong returns from his indefinite leave of absence.

BIG EAST

SURE THINGS: Connecticut, Syracuse.

PROBABLES: Boston College, Pittsburgh, Georgetown.

MAYBE: Providence

BEST PLAYER: Donyell Marshall, Connecticut. Marshall leads the conference in scoring average (25.9 points) and blocks (3.2), and is second in rebounding (9.6).

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Miami. No one else is close.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Steve Edwards, Miami. He’s averaging only 9.4 points, nearly seven off his freshman average.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Paul Evans, Pittsburgh. Picked to finish ninth in the conference, the Panthers probably will wind up third, go to the NCAA and make it very difficult for the Pitt administration to fire Evans, who has been in semi-hot water for years.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Miami’s Leonard Hamilton. The Hurricanes won seven conference games last season but are zero for ’94.

SOUTHWEST

SURE THINGS: Texas, Texas A&M.;

PROBABLE: Nobody.

MAYBE: Baylor.

BEST PLAYER: B.J. Tyler, Texas point guard. He leads the conference in scoring, steals and three-pointers and is second in assists. Runner-up: Jerome Lambert, Baylor forward.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Houston. Phi Slamma Jamma has become We Lose A Lotta. The Cougars lost 13 consecutive games until a victory over Rice last Saturday.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Willie Sublett, Baylor forward. Although he averaged 15.1 points as a junior and 12 as a senior, he has lost his starting job--but not his sense of humor. Baylor fans, weary of watching Sublett foul out--he averages 3.4 whistles a game--bring a sign that reads: “Willie, don’t foul.” With each foul, they insert the appropriate number. When it reaches five, they replace it with, “See ya!” Sublett doesn’t mind. He autographed it.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Tony Barone, Texas A&M.;

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Moe Iba, Texas Christian. The Horned Frogs were 6-22 last season and are struggling in ’94. Legendary name or not, he needs some victories.

BIG EIGHT

SURE THINGS: Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma State.

PROBABLES: Oklahoma, Nebraska.

MAYBE: Kansas State.

BEST PLAYER: Melvin Booker, Missouri guard. The Tigers recruited Booker as something of an afterthought. Four years later, he is a solid star.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Nebraska. Even with four starters back, the Cornhuskers have lost to Appalachian State and, before Wednesday’s victory over Kansas State, had lost four consecutive conference games.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Anthony Beane, Kansas State guard. Known for his clutch play a season ago, Beane is a mess in ’94. The ugly numbers: 29.7% shooting, and 88 assists vs. 67 turnovers.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Mr. Personable, Missouri’s Norm Stewart.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Joe Harrington, Colorado. Hanging on . . . barely.

SOUTHEASTERN

SURE THINGS: Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky.

PROBABLES: Alabama, Mississippi State.

MAYBE: Louisiana State.

BEST PLAYER: Corliss Williamson, Arkansas forward. “One of the best players in the paint, pound for pound, inch for inch, in college basketball,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said. Runner-up: Wesley Person, Auburn swingman.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Georgia. All five starters returned and Bulldogs have a 10-11 record to show for it.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): Jason Caffey, Alabama forward. An all-SEC selection last season, Caffey can’t be found among the league’s top 20 scorers or top 10 rebounders. He also can’t be found in the lineup. Alabama recently suspended him for academic “irregularities.”

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Lon Kruger, Florida. America now knows what his peers realized for years: Kruger, whose Gators are 19-3, is one of the best in the business.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Tennessee’s Wade Houston and maybe Auburn’s Tommy Joe Eagles. The rumored Tennessee replacement list includes Marquette’s Kevin O’Neill, Western Kentucky’s Ralph Willard, Massachusetts’ John Calipari and Cincinnati’s Bob Huggins.

GREAT MIDWEST

SURE THINGS: Marquette, Alabama Birmingham, St. Louis, Cincinnati.

PROBABLE: None.

MAYBE: DePaul.

BEST PLAYER: David Vaughn, Memphis State forward. Runner-up: Erwin Claggett, St. Louis guard.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (TEAM): Memphis State. Still, it has too much talent to miss the tournament.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT (PLAYER): A tie between Deuce Ford, Memphis State freshman guard, and Chip Hare, Dayton forward.

COACH OF THE HALF-SEASON: Charlie Spoonhour, St. Louis. The Billikens were picked to finish sixth in the seven-team conference. Instead, they’re 19-1 and ranked 17th in the country. Runner-up: UAB’s Gene Bartow.

COACH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON: Jim O’Brien, Dayton. The Flyers are bombing.

THE SPIN DOCTOR

Earth to Texas Tech Coach James Dickey, come in, please.

Only a few days removed from the postgame melee that saw Tech fans confront visiting Texas A&M; players, Dickey now says the incident “has been completely blown out of proportion.”

Let’s see: Texas A&M; players had to jump chairs to escape the first wave of the Tech crowd. Then, without a security escort, they had to run a gantlet of more angry Tech fans, some hurling debris, to say nothing of profanity and racial slurs. Then, as the Aggie players tried to make their way through the tunnel, several Tech fans got into a shouting and shoving match with A&M; Coach Barone and Barone’s son, Tony Jr. That’s when Aggie forward Joe Wilbert decked one of the fans. After that, the Aggies ran for their lives.

Dickey is right: Sounds as if a few Red Raider fans simply were having some good, clean fun.

The ugly scene has made the ESPN and CNN rounds, prompting this response from Dickey, who might want to invest in a pair of glasses: “(Raycom’s) angles of the camera were quite different from some other shots. Unfortunately, that’s the feed that got out.”

Meanwhile, Barone Sr. knows what he saw. “I think that our players were scared,” he said. “Yeah, it was a scary situation.”

THE LAST WORD

Kentucky’s Pitino, on the Wildcats’ victory over Massachusetts at East Rutherford, N.J. on Sunday: “They announced (a crowd of) 18,000 and change--18,000 for UMass and change for Kentucky.”

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. North Carolina 19-3 2. Duke 17-2 3. Arkansas 17-2 4. Louisville 18-2 5. Kansas 20-3 6. Kentucky 18-4 7. Connecticut 20-2 8. UCLA 15-2 9. Missouri 17-2 10. Michigan 16-4

Waiting list: Temple (16-3), Indiana (14-5), California (15-4), Purdue (19-3), Massachusetts (17-4)