COLLEGE BASKETBALL / CHRIS DUFRESNE : Shooters Get Left Out in the Cold

Based on shooting percentages posted by Purdue (clink) and Maryland (clank) at The Pond of Anaheim last weekend, they may hand out hard hats on press row at next year’s John R. Wooden Classic.

College basketball in December isn’t always pretty, and there are stat sheets to prove it.

Fear not, though, as this early-season slumber will eventually work its way into March madness. Until then, beware of foul tips hit into the stands.

Impressions so far:

--UCLA is one point guard away from contending again for a national title. Unfortunately, his name is Jacque Vaughn, and he plays for Kansas.

--Georgia Tech guard Stephon Marbury, the most ballyhooed incoming freshman in recent times, is not ready for the NBA. But he will be shortly after Christmas.

--Santa Clara (6-1), which has cracked the top 25 rankings for the first time since 1972, can do for college basketball this season what Northwestern did for football.

--That recent battle of college’s top centers, Marcus Camby of Massachusetts against Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, was a dud. Elvin Hayes against Lew Alcindor today would have been more exciting. Here’s hoping Camby and Duncan get a rematch in the NCAA tournament.

--Kentucky has the best 10 players in the country, but Coach Rick Pitino can play only five at a time. A bigger problem than you’d think.

--Maybe Jerry Tarkanian’s Fresno State Bulldogs, 3-4 after Tuesday’s loss to Santa Clara, won’t win the national championship this season. .

BIGGEST MISREAD TO DATE

The Atlantic Coast Conference is toast.

Wasn’t it in Street and Smith’s that the “ACC could be standing on the edge of a season like the one experienced by the Big Ten a year ago”?

This was no compliment, given the Big Ten folded up the big tent in last year’s NCAA tournament, with only one team, Purdue, advancing beyond the first round.

Well, through Tuesday, the ACC teams were 39-13 in nonconference games.

“I don’t think any coach ever mentioned the ACC being down, and we’re the ones who know best,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose Blue Devils have made nice transition from a 13-18 finish last season to a 5-2 start. “The ACC always has been, and will be, one of the best leagues.”

The theory was not baseless. The conference did lose 11 of its top 15 players, eight of whom were first-round NBA picks.

Apparently, those first-rounders were just squeezing playing time from future first-rounders.

Add ACC toast: North Carolina would be on the skids after losing two superstar sophomores, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.

Some thought Coach Dean Smith’s record of 20-plus victory seasons would be ended at 25. Get this: The Tar Heels were picked to finish fourth in the ACC preseason poll. This was news, considering North Carolina has not finished lower than third since 1964.

A Carolina collapse? Not gonna happen.

The Tar Heels (6-1) have already beaten the tar out of Vanderbilt, Michigan, Tulane and Stanford. Their only loss was to No. 2 Villanova.

North Carolina has done it with veteran leadership from guards Dante Calabria and Jeff McInnis, improved play from 7-2 center Serge Zwikker, and beyond-belief production from freshman forward Antawn Jamison, averaging 14.1 points and 8.6 rebounds.

The team dragging the ACC down at present is preseason favorite Maryland (3-3), though the Terrapins are quick to remind that the losses have come against UMass, Kentucky and UCLA.

“Our league, what it does, because of the competition, it makes you better by March,” Maryland Coach Gary Williams said before his team went out and shot 24% against UCLA.

Last year, the conference received only four invitations to the NCAA tournament.

“We could have six teams this year,” Williams said. “In fact, I’m going to lobby for that.”

MISREAD II

Arizona.

You almost wanted to pass around a hat for Coach Lute Olson at last month’s Pacific 10 Conference media day. After ranking in the top 25 for 141 consecutive weeks, the Wildcats began the season without star guard Damon Stoudamire and unranked in preseason polls.

Talk about snubs? Sure, Stoudamire was all-world, but Arizona had five players back from last year’s 23-8 team. Wasn’t that worth anything?

So driven, Arizona has come screaming out of the blocks. Whacking Georgetown en route to the Preseason NIT title was key to a start that now finds Arizona 7-0 and ranked No. 4.

Some contend the Wildcats are a better team without the ball-hogging Stoudamire.

Reggie Geary, the former Mater Dei star, has stepped in at point guard and averaged eight assists, helping to pad the scoring averages of those around him: Joseph Blair (16.7 points), Ben Davis (14), Miles Simon (15.6) and Michael Dickerson (11.9).

HONOR THY CONTRACT

If Rick Neuheisel doubts he made the right ethical decision to honor his five-year commitment to Colorado even if it meant turning down a chance to become football coach at his alma mater, he need only be reminded of the same high road once taken by John R. Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach.

Three days before Terry Donahue announced his retirement as UCLA’s football coach, and four days before Neuheisel turned down an offer to replace him, Wooden related to reporters the time he was offered a chance to leave UCLA to become head coach at Purdue, his alma mater.

After his second season in Westwood, Wooden had become disenchanted with Bruin promises of building a new arena and was seriously considering the Purdue offer.

But when the coach was reminded he had signed a three-year contract with UCLA, Wooden knew he had to fulfill his obligation.

“They got to my pride, I guess,” Wooden said. “I don’t like jumping contracts. I say, finish the contract.”

Wooden stuck around, of course, and eventually got his new arena, not to mention a few banners to hang in it.

“After we got Pauley Pavilion, you couldn’t pry me away,” Wooden said.

MORE WIZARD

After watching Purdue and Maryland stink up his Wooden Classic, maybe Wooden was right when he made this pre-tournament assessment of the modern game.

“TV has made actors out of players, coaches and officials,” Wooden said. “There’s far more showmanship. If I wanted showmanship, I’d go see the Globetrotters.”

Wooden still doesn’t like the dunk rule and, well, don’t get him started on baggy shorts.

Wooden says it is a misnomer that the dunk was outlawed in the 1960s because one of his players, Alcindor, was dominating the collegiate game.

“It was not aimed at him,” Wooden said of Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “He thought it was, still does, but I told him it would only make him better. I guaranteed him, once he got in the pros, he’d have no trouble dunking.”

LOOSE ENDS

Rusty LaRue, who plays football, basketball and baseball for Wake Forest, recently explained how he found the time for three sports while maintaining a marriage and a regular spot on the dean’s list. “I don’t get much sleep,” he said, “but I don’t need a whole lot. I’ve never needed a whole lot.” . . .

Maryland’s Williams, who missed part of last season recovering from pneumonia, said he is back to full strength. “I haven’t been sick yet this year,” Williams said. And then he coughed. Twice. . . .

Add Williams: One reason he wanted to play in the Wooden Classic was to expose his players to college basketball history.

“Some of our guys don’t know who Dr. J is,” Williams said. “Seriously. I want them to meet Coach Wooden. It’s hard to grasp that someone could win all those championships. For them to see [Bill] Walton walking around, it’s good for them.” . . .

One longtime observer of Big Ten basketball said he had never seen the conference more ordinary from top to bottom. This was before Purdue shot 27% from the field against Villanova. “We’re in trouble if we don’t get our act together,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. . . .

Santa Clara, 22nd in the Associated Press poll, and 23rd in the USA Today/CNN coaches’ poll, was last ranked Dec. 18, 1972, when the Broncos spent one week at No. 20 before falling out. . . .

X-rays on Kansas guard Jacque Vaughn’s wrist were negative, and he is expected to start in the top-ranked Jayhawks’ Saturday night game against Indiana.