For Arizona, Obscurity Is a Bane and a Boon

If you get past Arizona Coach Lute Olson’s anger with everything from the Pacific 10 Conference’s publicity department to the injustices of college football’s bowl championship series, you’ll realize that he really is pleased with his team.

After the Wildcats had beaten California in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament Thursday, Olson stepped back on his soapbox and into his traditional role as defender of Western basketball.

He wondered why Stanford’s Chris Hernandez isn’t talked about as one of the best guards in the country, or Arizona’s Salim Stoudamire isn’t acknowledged as the nation’s top three-point shooter. He placed much of the blame on the Pac-10’s publicity department and implied that the conference was hurt by a TV contract that puts the games on Fox Sports Net instead of ESPN.

He’s been speaking out on the West’s behalf for more than 15 years, and will continue to do so, “as long as I have to, to make sure that our players and our league get the national recognition that they deserve,” Olson said. “And they’re not. I don’t know what the problem is, all I’m saying is, we can’t keep letting this happen and sit back and let this happen.”

That said, when it comes to his Wildcats, he said, “this year, though, I’m sort of happy that we’ve been where we are.”

That would be 26-5, No. 8 in the Associated Press rankings and barely mentioned when the folks behind the studio desks go on TV to discuss NCAA tournament seedings and teams to watch.

“All the publicity we need is from 15 players in here and the coaches,” guard Hassan Adams said in the Arizona locker room. “It’s on us to go out and play. We keep getting Ws and they’re going to have to do something.”

With Stoudamire making three-pointers and Channing Frye giving them a presence in the middle, the Wildcats have the senior leadership that’s so helpful in March. They have athleticism and depth.

“I think we have the whole package,” Stoudamire said.

If they can win the tournament for a conference rated fourth in the Ratings Percentage Index and if a Kentucky or Louisville makes an early conference tournament exit, the Wildcats could make a claim to one of the four teams seeded No. 1 in the NCAA tournament.

Even if they come in seeded second, they look to be a team that will advance at least as far as the regional final.

“I like our position,” Olson said. “I think we’ve been sort of under the radar screen all year long.

“If you take a look at Pac-10 play, 15-3 ... there aren’t a whole lot of losses there. We picked up two of our [nonconference] losses in the first five games. I think this team has consistently gotten better. And I don’t think we’re over yet with that. I really believe that every guy in there is looking at it like, ‘What can we do better tomorrow night than we did this afternoon?’ ”

He broke into an occasional smile as he said it, that look coaches get when they know they have something. He even managed to crack a few smiles on the bench during Arizona’s 88-63 rout of California.

But he doesn’t want the word spread too far, too fast. So he made like James Bond’s Aston-Martin and sent out the smokescreen.

He turned a question about the league’s TV contract into a forum on all things basketball -- and football too.

“Something is wrong that has to be fixed,” Olson said. “And if that means a change in TV contract or a change at what’s being done at the Pac-10 level, I don’t know. But something is haywire, and it needs to be fixed.

“Cal not being in the BCS in football, it’s a tragedy. There’s no way in the world that Cal should not have been in the BCS. I don’t know if it gets down to politicking, or if it gets down to whether our teams aren’t being seen enough or what. But it needs to be fixed.

“We can’t just say, ‘Oh, that’s just the way it is.’ I know we have the time [zone] problem. But this is more than a time problem. And it needs to be fixed. And I know right now that we have [athletic directors] that are working on some things in regard to the TV contract. There is still a year left with Fox, but we need to have a Big Wednesday.”

He suggested moving the rivalry games, such as UCLA-USC and Washington-Washington State

“Why don’t we take that Saturday game and stick it on Wednesday night and have it actually be a national game?” Olson said. “That’s the biggest problem right now, with Fox, is you may say it’s a national game, but it’s not a national game.

“We had recruits down in Houston that wanted to watch our Washington game, and they got to watch the SMU women against the Texas Tech women. That’s fine. But it’s not fine as far as exposure for the Pac-10. Whatever the problem is, it needs to be fixed.

“Right now I think, publicity-wise, we’re a second-rate conference. And that’s not right. There are too many great players in this league.”

Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen took issue with Olson’s comments.

“He’s entitled to express his opinion,” Hansen said. “I don’t agree with him. I think we have worked hard to get out our message.... .

“Fox has been a great partner. They understand where we are and what we are. They’re not exactly a neighborhood operation.”

All of what Olson is saying makes for good copy, but it obscures the real issue. This is a good team. The best way to tell is that they’re still gunning hard to win three games this weekend, despite Olson’s misgivings about the conference tournament. He doesn’t like how it means another trip, more missed classes and greater injury risk from fatigue. But the Wildcats won’t give the halfhearted efforts they’ve displayed in the past, when Olson looked as if he had already checked out of the team hotel.

“He really wants to win this,” Adams said. “With his thoughts on how the Pac-10 is, he wants to win this.”

Something tells me we haven’t heard the last from Olson and the Wildcats this March.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.