TOP 25

No. School (Record): Comment

1. Duke (27-2): Fierce comeback--but ‘Heels helped.

2. Arizona (26-3): Ready to put up a perfect 18.

3. North Carolina (27-3): Will there be a Duke-NC III?

4. Kansas (31-3): Big 12 is Big 1 and Little 11.

5. Connecticut (26-4): Showed St. John’s who’s Beast.

6. Kentucky (26-4): Proof of committee bias: No home games.

7. Stanford (24-4): Arizona left no question unanswered.

8. Utah (25-2): Waiting to slow down TCU.

9. Purdue (24-6): Spurned the Spartans.

10. Michigan State (20-6): Time to back up regular season.

11. Princeton (25-1): Had us on Penns and needles.

12. Mississippi (21-5): SEC a muddle.

13. TCU (26-4): Rather weak schedule.

14. South Carolina (21-6): Has eye out for Coppin State.

15. Arkansas (22-7): SEC tournament will tell.

16. UCLA (21-7): Rise to occasion now or never.

17. Michigan (21-8): Capable of making dent in postseason.

18. Illinois (21-8): Got piece of Big Ten title.

19. St. John’s (21-8): Felipe Lopez’s first fling at NCAAs.

21. West Virginia (22-8): Got stuck in a Rut(gers).

22. Cincinnati (23-5): Strong-willed team.

23. Maryland (18-9): NCAA seeding will be high.

24. Oklahoma State (21-5): Gave Kansas a game.

25. Temple (20-7): Owls might be best of Atlantic 10.

ARIZONA at UCLA

* When--Saturday. Time--1 p.m. TV--Fox Sports West.

* Story line--Arizona tries to run the Pacific 10 table on its way to another run at the NCAA title. UCLA seniors J.R. Henderson, Toby Bailey and Kris Johnson finally relinquished the Pac-10 title, but they’ll try to keep Miles Simon from celebrating on their court. The first meeting, an 87-75 Arizona victory, was fairly competitive--certainly more than the Arizona-Stanford games.