COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The Pacific 10 Conference tournament is like a lot of court dramas being played out across the country this weekend.

Some schools are already in the NCAA tournament, some are trying to jack up their seeding, some can’t afford to lose and others will lose and have to sweat brackets into Selection Sunday.

USC played with the appropriate desperation; Arizona felt perspiration, while Washington (with a win over Stanford) and UCLA (with a win over Washington State) proved why they were already in the field of 65.

After Thursday’s first game, first- (and only-?) year Arizona Coach Russ Pennell stood in the catacombs of Staples Center following his team’s 12-point quarterfinal loss to arch-rival Arizona State.

The defeat probably/likely/maybe ended Wildcats’ amazing streak of 24 consecutive tournaments.

Arizona is 19-13, its bid prospects seemingly on a respirator.

“We’ll see,” Pennell, a folded final stat sheet in his hand, said as he walked toward the Arizona team bus. “We had our shot.”

Arizona led by two at the half, 34-32, but lost the second half by 14. The effort could not have impressed the NCAA selection committee, already assembled and crunching numbers in Indianapolis.

Arizona State Coach Herb Sendek, who has now defeated Arizona three times this year, lobbied Arizona’s NCAA cause after the game.

That wouldn’t happen in the mean old days of bitter rivalries.

Chase Budinger, Arizona’s junior forward, was hoping history might repeat itself.

Last year, with a 19-14 record, the Wildcats sweated out Selection Sunday before being awarded their 24th straight appearance.

“Last year we were kind of in the same situation,” Budinger said.

But that was last year.

Working in Arizona’s favor: the Wildcats have defeated four regular-season conference champions this year: Kansas (Big 12), Weber State (Big Sky), Gonzaga (West Coast) and Washington (Pac-10).

Two huge losses, though, Arizona may come to regret: a one-point home defeat to Alabama-Birmingham and a one-point loss at USC on Jan. 17. Both losses involved bonehead fouls in the closing seconds that may have cost Arizona two wins it absolutely could use now.

It helps that bubble teams such as Providence and Miami lost in conference tournament games Thursday.

How much, though? As Pennell said, “we’ll see.”

USC is on a different mission. The promise of the regular season had already broken down, mostly because of injuries, inconsistency and the inability to close out games and make free throws.

Losers of three of their final five regular-season games, the Trojans probably have to win the Pac-10 tournament to earn an NCAA bid.

You’ve got to have hope, right?

USC and UCLA, in their game notes, were the only two Pac-10 schools to list this year’s NCAA tournament dates at the end of their 2008-09 season results.

UCLA has won 11 national titles and has advanced to the last three Final Fours. Why was USC so optimistic?

We found out in Thursday’s third game, when USC held off a furious second-half rally to outlast California, 79-75.

It was unlike a lot of Trojans games this year because USC did not blow a double-digit lead and Daniel Hackett made four free throws in the final four seconds after Cal had climbed from 18 points down in the first half to tie the score at 75-75.

Cal is already in the NCAA tournament, but USC played as if it had to win three straight games to get there.

“Every play, every second, every minute counts,” said USC junior guard Dwight Lewis, who made only four of his 18 shots but hit a big baseline three-pointer in the final minute.

Sophomore guard Marcus Simmons, a defensive specialist assigned to slow down super-shot Cal guard Jerome Randle, sat in the locker room afterward with huge ice packs on his left knee and ankle.

Randle got his 18 points, but Simmons made him work for all six of his baskets.

“We’ve got to win this tournament to get an NCAA bid,” Simmons said. “At the end it was desperation.”

USC’s Tim Floyd, as a good coach should, almost got vertigo from spinning his team’s NCAA case. The Trojans improved to 19-12 with the victory, but there are some holes in their resume.

Floyd tried to pump up the Pac-10, which lost 12 players to last year’s NBA draft. “We’ve replaced them with more draft picks,” he said.

USC, remember, played Oklahoma to a one-point loss in Norman on Dec 4. Trojans, one by one, are making their way back from medical centers and training rooms.

“We’re a pretty good sixth-place team,” Floyd said. “This is the first time we’ve been healthy since the Oklahoma game. We’re a pretty good basketball team.”

Good enough for the NCAA tournament? That’s one victory down in the Pac-10 tourney, but how many to go?

“I don’t know if we need two or three,” guard Daniel Hackett said. “I know we need the next one.”

The next one is tonight, against UCLA, which swept the Trojans in conference play and most recently ran the Trojans off the court at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 4.

As UCLA and Washington State warmed up for Thursday’s late game, Lewis sat on his stool and pondered USC’s next assignment.

“I want UCLA to win,” Lewis said.

UCLA did.

“I want another shot.”

He’ll get one.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com