Plenty of Help Needed for a Title

Capturing a share of the Pacific 10 Conference regular-season championship is unlikely for UCLA, and not because the Bruins haven’t won two games in a weekend for nearly two months.

They would need a big assist from USC, which is busy with its own title quest and not inclined to do its neighbor any favors.

For UCLA (10-6), USC (11-5) and Oregon (12-4) to finish in a knot at 12-6, the Bruins must beat Oregon State and Oregon, and the Trojans would have to defeat Oregon and lose to lowly Oregon State (4-12).

But that’s not all. California (11-5) and Stanford (10-6) visit Arizona (11-5) and Arizona State (7-9). A sweep by either Cal or Arizona eliminates UCLA.

The only practical value of winning the regular-season title is gaining a No. 1 seed in the Pac-10 tournament and drawing the No. 8-seeded team, probably Washington (10-17, 4-13). The No. 2-seeded team will play No. 7 Arizona State and Nos. 3 through 6 are assured of tough draws.

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Casey Jacobsen isn’t a senior, but he felt like one during Stanford’s senior day ceremony that preceded the game against UCLA on Saturday.

As his teammates were introduced, he looked around Maples Pavilion, knowing that in all likelihood he too was about to play his last home game.

Jacobsen, an all-state player at Glendora High and the leading scorer in the Pacific 10 Conference with a 22.6 average, is expected to make himself available for the NBA draft. “I tried to treat the games this weekend as though they were my last so I don’t regret anything,” he said. “It had been going through my mind a lot lately, not just before the game.”