PACIFIC 10 CONFERENCE BASKETBALL / DAN HAFNER : Coaches’ Crystal Balls Clouded

Before the basketball season began, a poll of conference coaches indicated expectations of a wide-open race in the Pacific 10, with at least three contenders.

Although it was generally agreed that Arizona should be the favorite, the coaches also agreed that UCLA and Oregon State would be contenders in a conference in which there appeared to be no dominant team.

As it turns out, the wide-open race is for second place. Arizona has dominated since slipping past UCLA in the conference opener at Pauley Pavilion in early January.

The Wildcats, shooting for an unprecedented 18-0 conference record, can clinch the title this weekend. By beating Oregon State on Thursday night and Oregon on Saturday, the Wildcats will win the title for the fifth time in the last six years.

Since Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978 to make it the Pac-10, no team has gone unbeaten.

This is only the second time there has been a one-sided race in the Pac-10. In 1987-88, Lute Olson’s Arizona team went 17-1, won by five games, won the conference tournament and reached the Final Four. That team was led by Sean Elliott, now starring in the NBA.

This team is led by Chris Mills, who has given the Wildcats the leadership lacking since Elliott’s departure.

A perceived slight to Mills by the U.S. Basketball Writers is the only thing preventing Olson from enjoying this season completely.

“I just learned that the writers have cut to 12 the remaining candidates for player of the year,” Olson said. “Although he is the leader of the team with the longest winning streak in the nation (17 games) and the No. 4 rated team, Chris isn’t one of them.

“I don’t want to knock any players selected, because they are all good ones. I just know Chris belongs there.

“If a coach was as derelict in his job as the writers’ group is, he would be in deep trouble.

“Chris is our leader. We have won five Pac-10 games on the road when we trailed in double figures. Every time, it was Chris who brought us back to victory. He is among the leaders in every category, and in the Pac-10 he is averaging almost 10 rebounds a game.”

Olson said he was a bit surprised that a team with five newcomers among his top nine players had improved so rapidly.

“There again, Chris is the main reason,” Olson said. “He is tremendously competitive, and it has rubbed off on everyone.”

Olson said there are two things motivating his team. “One, of course, is trying to be the first team to win all 18 games.

“The second is that we have to win every game to be assured of No. 1 seed in our NCAA regional. We don’t get much respect, despite our record.

“For instance, if Michigan loses again, they’ll say, ‘Well, they lost to a Big Ten team.’ But if we lose, they’ll say, ‘Look at the weak team they lost to.’ They just don’t think much of us out West.”

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Those who played in, coached or watched California’s victory over USC, 86-83, in overtime at Berkeley last Thursday night agreed it was one of the outstanding games of the Pac-10 season.

But the thriller took its toll on both teams, probably costing them any chance of finishing second.

USC didn’t have enough left Saturday to make a game of it against weak Stanford.

Although the Bears gave new Coach Todd Bozeman his third consecutive victory, they couldn’t bounce back for UCLA.

Now, if the Bruins can beat USC at home Thursday night, they are in a strong position to finish second.

Pac-10 Notes

Off the court, California Coach Todd Bozeman and his freshman star Jason Kidd look like fraternity brothers. After all, Bozeman is only 10 years older than his star player. . . . The Bears have won six of the last seven games they have played against Washington at Seattle. . . . Kidd leads the conference in steals and assists. Arizona’s Chris Mills has the best three-point shooting percentage, 46.6%.