COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL : No. 16 Is No. 1 in Bruins’ Minds : West: UCLA doesn’t want to make history against 11-18 Florida International tonight.

The UCLA Bruins, whose journey this season already has taken them through wrenching defeat, soaring victory and a hard march to the No. 1 ranking, begin their NCAA tournament trek tonight against Florida International, which glossed over the regular season and got here the weird way.

The Bruins (25-2) are overwhelming favorites to move on to the second round, where their quest for their first national title since 1975 is expected to be challenged more seriously.

And, with memories of last year’s first-round flameout against Tulsa still glowing in their minds, the UCLA players, carrying a 13-game winning streak, are not shy about their chances.

“We’re definitely capable of doing it,” senior point guard Tyus Edney said. “It’s not something that’s out of reach or anything like that.”

But first, tonight’s business: 11-18 Florida International, which earned its berth with a wild string of upsets in the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament, qualifying the Golden Panthers as the losingest team to make the field since 1961.

Does FIU, which has no starter taller than 6 feet 7 and played so poorly through February that its coach, Bob Weltlich, announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season, have any chance to stun the Bruins?

History says otherwise. No 16th-seeded team has defeated a region’s top-seeded team, in 43 matchups.

The hard look in the Bruins’ eyes, especially when last year’s first-round flop against Tulsa is mentioned, says even more.

“We’re going to come out like a bunch of wild guys,” sophomore guard Cameron Dollar said. “There’s no sense of fear at all, it’s just anxiousness to get out on the court.

“I’m just so excited to get out and play, I’m not even thinking about being scared or jitterbugs or all that. It’s just, ‘Hey, the time is now.’ ”

Said Weltlich: “We’re not unrealistic, just excited about the opportunity. Anybody can do anything, I think. But the reality is, if a No. 1 seed plays well, it’s very difficult for a 16 seed to win, obviously, since it’s never happened before.”

The last team ranked No. 1 just before the tournament to win the national championship was Duke in 1992. Last year’s No. 1 poll team, North Carolina, lost in the second round to Boston College.

Last season, UCLA began the tournament in disarray, having lost six of its last 13 games, including the regular-season finale at Oregon. After a 14-0 start, as Coach Jim Harrick said, the Bruins were simply trying to stretch out their season, hoping Edney, nursing a sore back, would recover.

Tulsa blew apart those hopes with a 63-point first half that left UCLA in tatters.

“Seems like it just went fast and it was out of our hands so early,” Dollar said. “It was just a struggle, just the whole game.”

This year, UCLA has the longest winning streak in the nation and Edney, by his own account, is at full speed and fully recovered from knee tendinitis. So the Bruins’ leader, Ed O’Bannon, says he has no more use for Tulsa talk.

“Who knows, who cares?” he said. “We don’t even care about that anymore, we’re playing in the tournament this year.”

Would the Bruins like to blow out FIU tonight as a statement?

“I would love to win by a lot,” Charles O’Bannon said. “But in a tournament, that’s going to be pretty hard. They’ve qualified for it, they’re definitely capable of beating some good teams, and you never know.”

Harrick, however, is downplaying any forecasting, while keeping a careful eye on Indiana and Missouri, UCLA’s potential second-round opponents.

“North Carolina last year probably had the best talent in America and they get beat in the second round by a ninth seed,” Harrick said. “We went over and played (Michigan’s) Fab Five two years ago, had them down 19 (but lost). I can name you time after time, experience after experience. . . .

“You think Missouri’s waiting for us? They better be waiting on Indiana. And Indiana better be waiting on Missouri. You can’t be worried about your next opponent, you better be worried about your first.”

But Dollar, the team’s most fiery player, seemed to capture the mood of the team on the eve of the tournament.

“I look at what we have and the weapons we have and I see we’re fully loaded and we’re stacked,” he said. “I’m not even concerned about what anybody else brings to the table.”

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Bruin Notes

Center George Zidek, who has had flu, practiced at the Boise State University arena Thursday and is expected to start tonight. . . . Outgoing Florida International Coach Bob Weltlich was surprised that, as he was preparing his team early this week, FIU Athletic Director Ted Aceto was bringing in candidates to replace him. “I’m getting ready for the tournament (and) they’re bringing in candidates and I’m passing them in the hall,” Weltlich said. “Someone asked me, ‘Was that appropriate?’ And I said, ‘No.’ But I said, ‘Ask me if I care. No.’ ”

How do 6-foot-5 FIU center James Eason, 6-7 James Mazyck and 6-5 Scott Forbes match up against UCLA’s rotating front line of 7-foot Zidek, 6-8 Ed O’Bannon, 6-6 Charles O’Bannon and 6-9 J.R. Henderson? Not well, according to Weltlich. For FIU, which lost by 37 to Navy and 44 to Florida State, to stay remotely in the game, he says, it must play serious man-to-man defense. . . . Weltlich on whether UCLA Coach Jim Harrick should be worried: “I can’t believe he’s on Valium or sweating bullets about this game.”