PACIFIC 10 CONFERENCE BASKETBALL / DAN HAFNER : Cougars Might Rebuild Right Into Tournament

Maybe he won’t be Pacific-10 Conference coach of the year, but Kevin Eastman has done a remarkable job in his first season at Washington State.

The Cougars had lost popular coach Kelvin Sampson and three of his top four players from a team that lost in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last spring. With mostly inexperienced players, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

But Eastman, who turned a loser at North Carolina Wilmington into a winner in his four seasons, had other ideas. He has developed his youngsters into a potential powerhouse.

Outside Pullman, there has been little recognition of the Cougars. But Friel Court fans have seen them win 12 of their last 13 games there--the only loss to UCLA. A weak nonconference schedule and an inability to win on the road kept Eastman’s team in virtual obscurity.

Then last week, the Cougars won twice in Oregon and suddenly they are in a five-team fight for second place in the Pac-10 and might make the NCAA tournament. Most impressive was the way they manhandled nationally ranked Oregon at Eugene on Saturday night.

With junior transfer Shamon Antrum leading the way, the Cougars, 14-8 overall and 8-5 in the Pac-10, jumped in front, 17-2, and the Ducks were never in the game, losing, 76-59. Antrum had 27 points. Although they have beaten Stanford and Oregon twice, the Cougars received only one vote in the Associated Press poll.

Their only game this week is Saturday night at Washington. After that they have two games at home against the Arizona schools and finish up at Stanford and California. Four victories in those five games would put the Cougars on solid ground.

Eastman has gone with a nucleus of two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen. Sophomores Isaac Fontaine and Donminic Ellison were the leaders, but lately, Antrum, a transfer from Dixie College in Utah, and Mark Hendrickson moved to the forefront. Hendrickson, a 6-foot-9 forward, is shooting 63.7% from the field and is No. 2 in the league in rebounding behind USC’s Jaha Wilson.

Antrum’s hot streak has put the Cougars in position to make their run at a tournament berth. In the two previous games before making 12 of 16 shots against Oregon, Antrum had 29 points and 24.

“I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t win on the road,” Eastman said. “This kind of victory should make us forget all about the road trouble. We beat one of the toughest teams in the conference.

“I was really proud of our outside guys on defense. They showed great discipline, staying put and making sure the Ducks didn’t get any unmolested three-pointers (the Ducks made only two of 21 attempts).”

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Now that UCLA has survived a string of four tough games to virtually wrap up the conference title, the battle is really developing for second place. Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon and Washington State all have a shot at the No. 2 spot--essentially an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Of the five in the hunt, the toughest schedule belongs to Oregon, which must play three of the other contenders for second place, plus UCLA.

The first test comes tonight at Arizona. If the Ducks (15-6, 7-5) lose both games in Arizona, they might not get their first NCAA tournament bid in 34 years.

Oregon was No. 19 in the nation before last week. The Ducks had bounced back from three losses in a row to beat Arizona State, then overwhelm Oregon State.

Coach Jerry Green was looking for a letdown last Thursday against lowly Washington. The Ducks won, 88-63. The letdown came Saturday night.

“The way we played was a surprise to me,” Green said. “It was the worst basketball game we’ve played all year, and I think Washington State had a lot to do with that.”

Pacific 10 Notes

The league has a 69-24 record over nonconference opponents, including a 4-0 record against the Atlantic Coast Conference, but it has trouble getting recognition. Stanford overwhelmed California in its only game last week, but it dropped from 17th to 19th in the polls.