Early Tipoff Saturday Irks Arizona Coach

USC won’t play Arizona until Saturday, but the game already is under the skin of Wildcat Coach Lute Olson.

Not the game itself, but the starting time. CBS will televise it nationally at 11 a.m.

“That is a raw deal,” Olson said Tuesday. “I have a hard time figuring why teams in the Pacific time zone are playing at that time. It would seem to me you would start the earlier games out East and work your way across the country.

“I’m surprised by it and I think our conference should not stand for any games starting before noon or 1 p.m., and that television know that. It’s unfair to the fans and the teams. You don’t get the same quality of game at 11 a.m. that you would at 1 or 2 p.m.”

USC’s Coach Henry Bibby had another viewpoint.

“We just have to be ready to play,” he said. “There’s no perfect scenario for teams to play when they want to. There’s a lot of money involved in basketball and that’s the way the Pac-10 is supported.

“So I don’t have a problem with it. But our focus is on Arizona State this Thursday. We’ll deal with the 11 a.m. start on Saturday.”