COLLEGE BASKETBALL WEST PREVIEW : HOOPS RISING, RESPECTABLE AGAIN IN THE WEST.

Byline: Tim Dahlberg Associated Press 

It wasn't long ago that the college basketball landscape in the West was pretty much barren, save for perennial powers UNLV and Arizona.

Even UCLA was in the dumps, leaving little to pick from in the rest of the region when it came time to fill the NCAA postseason tournament.

But times have changed, and for the better, in a region that can now hold its own with six teams ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll.

``Basketball in the West is definitely on the rise, there's no question about that,'' Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian said. ``More and more of the top kids are staying out here. And we've always been able to go back East and get kids.''

Tarkanian, of course, built the UNLV teams that dominated college basketball in the early 1990s, a time when the Runnin' Rebels and Arizona were generally the only two teams to get a mention nationwide.

Now, in just his second year at Fresno State, he's brought the Bulldogs to a No. 14 preseason ranking with the expectation of more to come.

``I think we've got some talent, but a year from now we have a chance to be really good with the talent we'll have then,'' Tarkanian said.

Fresno State had just two winning seasons in a decade when Tarkanian took over last season to lead the Bulldogs to a 22-11 record and into the NIT quarterfinals.

Returning are Fresno State's top five scorers and top six rebounders, including outside shooting threat Dominick Young.

Guard Chris Herren transferred from Boston College to play for Tarkanian and joins Terrance Roberson, a three-time Parade Magazine All-American in high school. Roberson, a 6-foot-7 forward, sat out last season because of academic problems.

``I think we're a much more talented team than we were a year ago,'' Tarkanian said. ``There are some real quality people in that group of newcomers.''

Though Tarkanian gets most of the attention, Fresno State can't even claim to be the pick to win its own conference. The preseason favorite in the Western Athletic Conference is Utah, which reached the final 16 of the NCAA tournament last season.

The Utes lost guards Brandon Jessie and Mark Rydalch, but more important, forward Keith Van Horn, a preseason All-American, decided to stick around for his senior year instead of declaring for the NBA draft. He was Utah's only player averaging double figures last season with 21.4 points a game.

But the talent doesn't end there in the newly expanded WAC, which will feature two eight-team divisions this year.

At New Mexico, Kenny Thomas, Clayton Shields and Charles Smith lead a squad coming off a school-record 28 wins, a WAC tournament title and a first-round victory in the NCAA tournament.

And UNLV (10-16 last season) is showing some signs of a turnaround under second-year coach Bill Bayno, whose recruiting skills have some Runnin' Rebels fans anticipating a return to past glories.

``We're better off than a year ago and we're getting better,'' said Bayno, whose offense figures to be run by freshman point guard Mark Dickel from New Zealand. ``But you can't set these kids up for failure with expectations that are too high.''

In the Pacific-10 Conference, UCLA is again the team to beat even with the sudden forced departure of coach Jim Harrick.

From rookie coach Steve Lavin on down, the Bruins will be closely watched to see if the egos and immaturity that brought them down last season in a first-round NCAA-tournament loss to Princeton don't surface again.

``We have all our personnel that's the same, it's just a different person at the helm,'' forward Charles O'Bannon said. ``As long as we listen to whatever coach Lavin has to say and go by what he's learned, I think we'll be successful.''

UCLA returns its top six players from a team that went 23-8 last season and lost to Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament a year after winning the national title.

No. 18 Stanford and No. 19 Arizona are the key threats to UCLA three-peating as Pac-10 champions for the first time since Oregon State won conference titles from 1980-82.

Preseason All-American point guard Brevin Knight teams with 7-foot-1 center Tim Young to help Stanford (20-9 last season) overcome the loss of four starters who accounted for half the offense and rebounds.

Arizona (26-7 last season) replaced five seniors with a recruiting class regarded as one of the most talented in the country.

Guard Miles Simon is the top returning scorer at 13.2 points a game and forward Michael Dickerson averaged 18.7 points during the NCAA tournament.

``How we go this year is going to depend on Michael and Miles,'' coach Lute Olson said. ``They're going to provide what Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire provided three years ago.''

Guard Mike Bibby is the most heralded of Olson's recruits. The son of USC coach Henry Bibby could be the first freshman to start in Tucson since Sean Elliott in 1985.

The West Coast Conference lost its premier player when Santa Clara's Steve Nash went to the NBA. His absence, along with Brendan Graves', means the Broncos won't win the regular-season title again.

Portland (19-11 last season) has four starters back from a team that surprisingly won the WCC tournament.

The Big West picked up new members Boise State, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Idaho and North Texas, prompting the conference to split into Western and Eastern divisions with six teams each.

The Big Sky lost Boise State and Idaho to the Big West, but Montana is around to defend its championship.

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Photo

Photo: Jerry Tarkanian, whose UNLV teams used be best in the West, is working his magic at Fresno State.

Associated Press