COLLEGES:

If you had asked UC Irvine men’s basketball coach Pat Douglass at the beginning of the season if he’d take three wins this season at the Anaheim Convention Center, he probably would have passed.

But after four defeats in four tries at the glorified television studio in which the Anteaters will ultimately make or break their season in the Big West Conferernce Tournament in March, Douglass would now love to earn the two or three wins necessary to propel the Anteaters to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.

The opposing coaches in UCI’s three Anaheim Classic defeats all praised the offensive schemes created by Douglass, though most found defensive solutions that seemed to reduce the Anateaters’ gears to a slow grind.

The victorious coaches also pointed to the ‘Eaters’ 70-51 trouncing of visiting Utah State on Nov. 17 at the Bren Events Center, as an indicator that Douglass’ squad has to have something going for it to rout the Western Athletic Conference preseason favorite.

But obviously the Anteaters have yet to supply the requisite consistency to sustain even the most optimistic UCI rooters’ postseason dreams.

?The dearth of spectators on hand for the Anaheim Classic — attendance numbers given by tournament officials were clearly enhanced, sometimes at least doubled — brought to mind the Siena basketball team of 1989.

Due to a measles outbreak on campus in February, the Saints played close to 10 games in empty arenas that season, including a first-round win over Colgate in the North Atlantic Conference Touranment, in which only players, coaches and media were admitted at the Hartford Coliseum.

?Tournament officials remain optimistic and the coaches I heard were all enthusiastic about the future of the event generated by ESPN regional television.

But it is hard to envision a scenario in which the tournament would even halfway fill the ACC’s 7,500 seats at a time of year in which football at all levels, holiday shopping, and family get-togethers are the alternatives to two hours of South Alabama against Chattanooga, or even UCI against San Diego.

There were just more than 100 people in the seats immediately following the national anthem before the UCI-USD clash for seventh place Sunday afternoon.

?Potseason dreams did not materialize for the UCI men’s water polo team, though Coach Marc Hunt’s Anteaters went out in a pool of glory by winning the first two games of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at Cal.

UCI (14-11) lost, 10-6, to USC (18-2) in Sunday’s MPSF title game and lost out to Cal (26-4), in the quest for the lone at-large berth into the four-team NCAA Championships, despite having upset the Bears, 13-12, in Saturday’s MPSF semifinal.

UCI senior two-meter man Tim Hutten, who scored 12 goals in three tournament games, was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Hutten finished the season with 75 goals in 20 games, 3.75 per game, which led all MPSF players.

In addition, senior driver Colin Mello, senior goalkeeper Matt Garcia and freshman driver Brandon Johnson all represented the ‘Eaters on the nine-player all-tournament team.

?The UCI women’s volleyball team also failed to earn an NCAA Tournament berth, after losing its season finale against Temple Saturday.

UCI finished 21-11, bettered only by the 2003 squad’s 23 wins in school single-season history.

With 22 digs against Temple, Devon Sutherland moved past Kelly Wing atop the school’s career dig list with 1,302.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.