CARDINAL HAS PERFECT CHANCE.

Stanford flexed when needed. It played hard. Shared the basketball. Showed a strong game inside and out. A tough defense, versatile offense.

Unbeaten Stanford is the No.1 team in the nation, and make absolutely no mistake, the Pacific-10 Conference's best chance at capturing the NCAA Tournament in years.

The tournament and the Pac-10 have not made for a happy couple in recent times. Even the City by the Bay could not have figured out a way to successfully bring these two together.

In the tournament, the Pac-10 has a reputation for pump-and-run teams. Pump them and they run.

Tourney time means physical play. It means having an inside presence. Means bodies on the floor, blood on the lip, lines drawn.

And Pac-10 teams making a hurried exit.

But this Cardinal team is different from most Pac-10 squads that entered the tourney in recent years. Stanford is not only one of the most marvelously balanced teams in the country, it has a physical edge.

``We're real physical,'' center Rob Little said.

It's a big part of why Stanford is not only 23-0, but with a real chance to end the Pac-10 season as the conference's first unbeaten team since it expanded to 10 teams in 1978-79.

``If you'd asked me a month ago I would have said, 'What are you talking about?' '' Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. ``Right now we have two weekends left.''

Two weekends after disposing of UCLA 73-60 Saturday at lifeless Pauley Pavilion. Four games to end the regular season unbeaten. To make some history.

Their victory Saturday captured the conference title, so it's hardly a reach to set an unbeaten regular season as the next goal.

``The pressure's not on us to win anymore,'' Little said. ``We've won the Pac-10, but I think it's a personal goal of everyone to go out and go undefeated. Why not? We've gone this far, why not?''

And if Stanford gets through the Pac-10 tournament unbeaten, why not set the next goal as being the first team since Indiana in 1976 to capture the NCAA title unbeaten?

Stanford is good enough to pull it off. Far from a lock, but right now it really is the best team in the country.

Stanford has five players who average in double figures. Ten players who average at least 10 minutes per game.

They have three players who consistently drop 3-pointers. Power inside with Little and Justin Davis (expected back in two weeks). An all-world player in Josh Childress.

They're deep, talented and play hard. They hustled more than the Bruins on Saturday, particularly in the first half when they broke out to a 19-point lead.

They've proved they can come from behind to win - a 19-point, second- half deficit at Oregon, 13-point deficit at USC - and from ahead. UCLA went on a 14-2 run to open the second half and cut the Cardinal's lead to seven, but Stanford stayed poised and pushed its lead back to as many as 18 points.

``They're good, but they can be beat,'' UCLA's Dijon Thompson said. ``You've gotta be making your shots and hope (Matt) Lottich is missing and contain Childress, because you ain't gonna stop him. It starts down low containing Little, and then you have a chance to win the game.''

Otherwise, a regular pushover.

Little (6-foot-10, 265 pounds) is an answer for East Coast muscle teams that believe they can push West Coast teams around inside. But Lottich and Chris Hernandez are tough and scrappy on the perimeter, too. The Cardinal plays smart, and with attitude.

And why this Stanford team should be given an excellent chance of capturing only the Pac-10's third NCAA title since John Wooden retired in 1975.

``The tournament is the last thing on my mind.''

Modesty is a tough sell these days. Stanford is clearly a team that can do real damage in the tournament. A Pac-10 team deep and tough.

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With sharpshooters such as Matt Lottich, and muscle underneath, Stanford could win the NCAA title this year with a perfect record.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer