Bennett gets miserable season as retirement gift.

Byline: INSIDE THE PAC-10 By Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Washington State was once 9-3 but is now 11-16. The Cougars began the Pac-10 schedule 2-1 but finished 4-14.

No team has struggled like WSU, which has lost 13 of its past 15 games entering Wednesday's matchup with Oregon in the Pac-10 tournament. It's not exactly the way Dick Bennett wanted to go into retirement.

`It's been a real disappointing experience with this group,' Bennett said. `They seem to have tuned me out a long time ago because anyone that knows what I think is important knows how I regard taking care of the ball and playing smart basketball, and we do neither.

`They have done this all year. They have slowly eroded to the point where at the end of the year, we're possibly playing our worst basketball.'

Yes, this is all possibly a trap for the Ducks, who should feel confident after their 30-point rout of the Cougars last month in Eugene. But WSU still scares teams every once in a while, like Arizona last week. The Cougars did beat Washington twice - which cost the Huskies the Pac-10 title - and there were five losses by two points this season, which ended up leaving WSU 10th in the league.

`I clearly think we've earned that,' Bennett said of the cellar. `Take all the close games you want and throw them out the window. When we needed to perform, we were unable to.'

Do they have one more big effort in them? WSU's Kyle Weaver said that in a loss at Arizona State on Saturday, `We were kind of dull. No life.'

There is the theory that the Cougars will want to give it their all Wednesday, to keep Bennett coaching for at least an extra day.

`We just need to go out and show him how much we've improved, and how much we've learned from him,' WSU point guard Derrick Low said. `Show him that this whole season wasn't a waste.'

Tough times in Tucson

Arizona hasn't finished a season with only 18 wins since 1987. The Wildcats hadn't lost on Senior Day, their final home game, since 1995. And now UA goes into the Pac-10 tournament without all-leaguer Hassan Adams, who was suspended for a drunken driving arrest early Sunday morning.

`The alleged incident magnifies the problems Lute Olson has had with this mix of players,' Tucson Citizen columnist Corky Simpson opined. `Too much `me' and not enough `team' in only a few athletes can wreck a team.

`A new crisis seemed to storm UA's beach every week this season,' Simpson continued. `And there were times a fan might wish Olson would shoo off all the `athleticism' and recruit the entire Bulgarian national team. At least those guys might know how to rebound better and make an inbounds pass under pressure.'

While obviously not pleased with how the weekend went, Olson is taking the high road with his team, reminding reporters that UA's 11-7 mark in the Pac-10 is the same as it was in 1997, when Arizona went from fifth in the league to winning the national title.

`There's this difference,' Simpson countered in his Monday column. `The 1996-97 team ... came together in spite of its struggles.'

Of the current edition of Arizona basketball, Simpson wrote, `What a strange team. ... They leap and frisk across the hardwoods in the style of (and with more swagger than) Olympic acrobats. But athleticism, while fun to watch, doesn't win championships.'

The last loss

Arizona could have claimed a tie for second place and the second seed in the Pac-10 tournament by beating Washington on Saturday. And the Wildcats did lead by 12 in the second half at home.

`How in the devil does that get away from us?' UA associate head coach Jim Rosborough wondered aloud. `I was sick to my stomach. It was a game we should have had.'

The three-point loss to Washington was only the fourth by five points or fewer this season for Arizona. But if the 10 losses weren't all close ones, they did mount up, Rosborough contended.

`If we were sitting there with five losses instead of 10, I don't think we would have lost the (Washington) game,' Rosborough said. `Instead we had 10 and every one of them knocks away at you a little.'

Enough that Arizona's string of 21 consecutive NCAA appearances is in danger? That could be decided Thursday afternoon, when the Wildcats attempt to defeat Stanford for a third time this season ... without Hassan Adams.

Stanford woes

Not that Stanford exactly goes into its Pac-10 tournament opener on a high note, having suffered a 75-54 thumping by UCLA. What a Senior Day for the Cardinal, too.

`We just really got thoroughly outplayed,' Stanford senior Dan Grunfeld said. `I know that's not the way we wanted our last game to go at Maples (Pavilion).'

And it was that one-sided. The Bruins led by 15 at halftime, and never by fewer than nine in the second half.

`They're better than us at every position,' Stanford's Chris Hernandez said.

Beat Arizona, and who would Stanford play Friday night in the Pac-10 semifinals? Uh, UCLA, assuming the Bruins can beat either Arizona State or Oregon State on Thursday.

Look at future

Jeff Pendergraph wasn't the Pac-10 freshman of the year - UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was deservedly named for that honor - but here's a nod to the Arizona State rookie as likely to be the best of these first-year players before he's done.

The 6-10 Pendergraph, recall, was out of action - including all conditioning - until late November after undergoing surgery to remove a benign tumor in his left leg. From that late beginning of college basketball, he came on to shoot 51.5 percent in league games, and ended up averaging 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds.

He was especially impressive in the second half of the league season, with a current streak of eight consecutive games in double figures for points, and over the past five games has averaged 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds.

RATING THE PAC-10

MEN'S BASKETBALL

1. Washington: Dawgs want ...? Swept UO, swept by WSU

2. UCLA: Consecutive frosh of year: Farmar and Mbah a Moute

3. California: Finished with league's fewest turnovers at 11.9

4. Stanford: Bruins gave them worst home loss in 13 years

5. USC: Pruitt, Young first Troy teammates all-league since '92

6. Arizona: Minus Adams, we think less; what will NCAA do?

7. OSU: Cuic averaged 20 points in two losses to Sun Devils

8. Oregon: Ducks 7-6 in Pac-10 tournaments; 5-2 at Staples

9. ASU: Went 4-4 down the stretch and that's after 1-9 start

10. WSU: Have lost 18 of past 19 to Ducks, including past 10