COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : Bruins Can Find Their First Foe : West regional: They learned a lesson last year and have a pretty good idea where Florida International is.

Florida International, in all its 18-loss glory, got measured respect, Dick Vitale got shredded and, though nobody would talk too much about it, a potential marquee matchup with Indiana loomed in the not-too-distant future for UCLA on Sunday.

In another departure from last year’s March of mistakes, the Bruins played diplomats after discovering that their first-round NCAA Tournament opponent will be Florida International, the losingest team to make the NCAA field since 1961.

Top-ranked UCLA, which finished the regular season with 13 consecutive victories, is top-seeded in the West Regional and will play the 11-18 Golden Panthers, who won the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament, Friday in Boise, Ida.

Last year, first-round opponent Tulsa was offended when Bruin players were quoted as saying they didn’t know where the school was, and, whether or not the slight had any effect, Tulsa proceeded to defeat UCLA.

This year, the Bruins refused to even speculate about a potential glamour second-round game against the winner of the Indiana-Missouri matchup.

“To be honest with you, Florida International kind of jumped out in my mind,” senior forward Ed O’Bannon said. “It’s our first game, and to go any further, we have to win that game.

“I think that’s a difference. Like last year, we looked past teams. (The team was thinking about) Oklahoma State in the second round, Arkansas in the third round. . . . That’s what we were looking at. Tulsa, we overlooked that. But not this year.”

Assistant coach Mark Gottfried acknowledged that there was an emphasis on not offending any opposing teams.

“Our players are pretty intelligent to begin with, and we’ve turned it into a fun thing for our players this year,” Gottfried said. “We were going to make sure we knew who we were playing.”

UCLA was not surprised to be paired with the Golden Panthers, who started the season 5-17 and whose coach, Bob Weltlich, a Bob Knight disciple, has already announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season.

Florida International, which lost by 48 points to Florida State and by 33 to Alabama early in the season, won two of its last three regular-season conference games to qualify for the conference tournament, then beat Stetson, Southeastern Louisiana and Mercer to clinch its first NCAA berth.

“We have a tough game, I’m sure, with Florida International,” forward Charles O’Bannon said. “They’re happy to be in the tournament, for one, and two, they’re definitely going to come out. They have nothing to lose. We’re definitely not looking ahead.”

Said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick: “They’ve got four seniors and a junior that start--and that’s probably the reason they won their conference and were better at the end of the season than they were at the beginning.”

But, however careful the Bruins were when speaking about Florida International and the road ahead, they were ready to snarl when they heard that Vitale declared on the air Sunday that they were ripe to be beaten in the tournament.

“I hope he keeps on saying what he’s saying about our team,” Ed O’Bannon said. “We use what he says as motivation. It’s great. (ESPN’s) Clarke Kellogg, he said the same thing. We feed off of that type of thing.

“Those guys are on the East Coast, and they have no idea what we do over here each day. We don’t pay any attention to Dick Vitale. If we did, we’d be 0-27 or whatever.

“I mean, that’s why he’s announcing games instead of coaching.”

Said guard Toby Bailey: “I think that’s just something that most people would say about a team in our position: No. 1, we’ve had a winning streak and I think you might say we’re ready to lose, we’re going to let up, we haven’t lost in a while.

“But I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think this is a different team.”

If UCLA does win, the NCAA selection committee has set up a juicy scenario: play the winner of the Missouri-Indiana game, and Indiana is the hotter of the two.

Indiana, with Knight, squashed the Bruins three years ago, the last time UCLA was the West’s top-seeded team, in the regional finals and avenged an early season loss to UCLA that year. No Bruin team under Harrick has gone further in the tournament.

“I do believe that we have the toughest second game of any No. 1 seed,” Gottfried said. “I think that’s kind of interesting, being the No. 1 team in the country. Missouri at one time was at the top--I’m not sure what their highest ranking was this year, but most of the season they were in the top 20. And Indiana is obviously capable.

“As I look around at the other eighth- and ninth-seeded teams, we certainly have the toughest second game, if we can get past the first.”

No matter the eventual pairings, Bruin players expressed only eagerness for the games ahead.

“I think right now we’re confident,” Ed O’Bannon said. “We won our last game going into the tournament, so that’s a difference.

“Last year, I don’t think we understood or we were ready mentally or anything. It was just kind of a blind thing. It was almost like we wanted to just hurry up and end the season so we could start over again.”

Said guard Cameron Dollar: “All I know is that I’m eagerly awaiting the first-round game. That’s all I’m concerned about. I wish it was sooner. I wish we played tomorrow.”

Bruin notes

In discussions that could result in a job offer as early as today, UCLA assistant Lorenzo Romar is scheduled to meet with Nevada Las Vegas Interim President Kenny Guinn today in Las Vegas. According to UNLV officials, Romar, who had an introductory meeting with them last Friday, is--along with Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy--one of two final candidates for the Runnin’ Rebel job. Romar also is a leading candidate for the Oregon State vacancy.

Coach Jim Harrick said the team will practice today and Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion, then fly to Boise on Wednesday afternoon. . . . UCLA’s allotment of tickets for its tournament games is available only to its season-ticket holders.