COACHING MAKES PAC-10 SWEET.

Byline: JON WILNER / College Basketball 

Let me guess. You scanned the East regional matchups, figured Washington was the 64th team invited and eliminated the Huskies in the first round.

Then you looked to the Midwest, where Brevin Knight-less Stanford was matched against College of Charleston, a speedy upset specialist. Down goes the Cardinal.

In the South, you figured UCLA would beat Miami, but without Jelani McCoy, the Bruins couldn't handle mighty Michigan.

Only one Pacific-10 team, Arizona, would escape the first weekend, right? That's what I thought, too. After all, the conference was absolutely, positively not as strong this season as it was in '97, when it sent four teams to the Sweet 16 for the first time ever.

Well, it's happened again. Sixty-four have been sliced to 16, and four Pac-10 entries are alive. That's more than the Atlantic Coast (three), Big East (three) and Big Ten (two). The ACC remains the nation's dominant conference, but the Pac-10's postseason success justifies its place in the second tier, alongside the Big Ten, Big East and SEC.

The league has taken giant strides since the late '80s and early '90s, when Arizona often stood alone. Three factors account for the improvement: coaching, coaching and coaching.

Bob Bender for Lynn Nance at Washington, Ben Braun for Lou Campanelli and Todd Bozeman at Cal, Henry Bibby for Charlie Parker at USC, Jerry Green and Ernie Kent for Don Monson at Oregon - each change is a significant upgrade.

Add maestros Lute Olson and Mike Montgomery, plus a bright young coach like Steve Lavin, and the league's bench talent has never been better. Assuming Arizona State hires a big name - Utah's Rick Majerus and Mississippi's Rob Evans top the wish-list - the quality should improve next season.

Good coaches attract the best players, then prepare the players for the whims of March. Bender's handling of his first-round assignment - traveling across the country to play Thursday at 9 a.m. body time - was masterful. Sure, the Huskies got a break by playing 13th-seed Richmond in the second round, but they had to beat Atlantic 10-champ Xavier to earn that break.

The only problem with hiring good coaches, is keeping them.

A thought on UCLA: Baron Davis' injury makes victory over Kentucky seem all the more improbable, and that's just why it might happen. Tournament forces - more powerful than coaching, talent, size and strategy - are at work. Remember, this offshoot of the Chaos Theory swept N.C. State, Villanova, Kansas, Michigan and Arizona to unexpected titles.

Combine March Madness metaphysics with UCLA's senior-dominated lineup, and anything's possible.

Then again, the Bruins could lose by 25.

Action: Two Fresno State players, Kenny Brunner and Avondre Jones, were arrested Tuesday after allegedly threatening a man with a handgun, poking him with samurai swords and stealing his money and camera.

This, from a program that is in trouble with the FBI for gambling, that was portrayed ignominiously on ``60 Minutes,'' and had eight players, including Jones, miss games because of quitting, suspensions, ineligibility and substance-abuse problems.

Reaction: Samurai swords?

Action: Jim Harrick has Rhode Island two wins from the Final Four.

Reaction: Redemption, March Madness style. If the Rams advance to San Antonio, will Mark Gottfried, Lorenzo Romar and Lavin get the credit?

Action: UCLA freshman forward Travis Reed scores 11 points against Michigan.

Reaction: Good enough for the Wolverines but not good enough for the Pac-10? Reed was UCLA's most poorly used player during the regular season.

Action: Clyde Drexler reportedly will retire from the NBA to coach his former college team, Houston.

Reaction: Disaster-in-waiting. Can't quite picture Clyde the Glide on the recruiting trail and making in-home visits. Besides, his model is ex-Cougar coach Guy Lewis, who couldn't teach a doberman to bark.

Action: The UCLA women's team experiences the worst of southern hospitality in the final 0.8 seconds of its second-round game at Alabama.

Reaction: Despite horrendous circumstances, the Bruins are getting more publicity in defeat than they would have in victory. Every recruit in the country now is aware of coach Kathy Olivier and her program. New doors may open.

Coaching corner: Murray State's Gottfried may be named the new coach at Alabama, his alma mater, by the end of the week. The Crimson Tide approached Bender, but he declined after mentioning the opening to his players. They begged him not to leave.

The early favorites to fill various openings: Tommy Amaker at Michigan, Jeff Jones at Western Kentucky and Ben Howland at Santa Barbara.

For a guy who's lost five consecutive first-round games, Kelvin Sampson sure is popular. Michigan and Virginia have asked for permission to talk to the Oklahoma coach.

And finally: The pre-tournament odds on Valparaiso (1 billion:1), Washington (500 million:1) and Rhode Island (50,000:1) don't seem like such bad bets.

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PHOTO Washington's hiring of Bob Bender helped upgrade the Pac-10.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press