COULD PAC-10 TOURNAMENT POSSIBLY BOUNCE BACK?

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

The Pacific-10 Conference will be meeting this weekend in San Francisco to discuss several important issues - including the renewal of the postseason basketball tournament which was canceled in 1990 after four unsuccessful years.

Football coaches will pay close attention to the meetings as well, hoping for a yes vote on year-round training-table meals. Also, school presidents are expected to adopt a league-wide policy on eligibility requirements.

Basketball-tournament supporters hope the issue will be resolved this weekend, so plans can be made for a March 1998 revival. If a vote is postponed until the May meetings, then the tournament probably won't begin until 1999.

The Pac-10, Big Ten and Ivy League are the only conferences without a postseason playoff. But the Big Ten is expected to adopt a tournament soon, said Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen, who supports the tournament's return but does not have a vote.

``You can't be out on an island by yourself,'' he said, ``or people will begin to wonder.''

Last spring the league formed a 10-person study committee that included men's coaches, women's coaches, faculty representatives, athletic directors and senior women's administrators. It eventually selected an eight-team format for men and women, with both tournaments held at the same site on the same weekend. (There has never been a women's tournament.)

The site will be determined by bidding. While the neutral-arena options were limited for the original tournament, the league now can choose from pristine structures like America West in Phoenix, the Pond in Anaheim, the San Jose Arena, ARCO Arena in Sacramento, the Rose Garden in Portland and the Key Arena in Seattle.

``We'd love to have Paul Allen and Jerry Colangelo start bidding against each other,'' Hansen said.

The men's coaches prefer Phoenix - reasoning that with the weather, golfing and spring-training sites, it's a destination for something other than basketball.

``But other people feel that a place like Portland, which may not be as attractive at that time of year, will embrace a tournament more than Phoenix, which would have so much going on,'' assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said.

The tournament's future might depend on the number of votes needed for passage. If the presidents decide it's a constitutional issue, Hansen must have eight votes. If it's merely a scheduling issue, then only six. ``Right now, I think we have between six and eight votes in favor of the tournament,'' he said.

UCLA and Stanford are against the revival. USC is noncommittal. Arizona State, Cal and the Northwest schools are said to be in favor. Arizona may be the swing vote.

Opponents have several concerns:

The tournament would swallow what is now the last weekend of the regular season and force teams to spend a December weekend playing conference games.

Pac-10 schools currently play 27 games, not including preseason tournaments. But NCAA rules mandate that teams with postseason tournaments play just 26 games. For the Arizonas and UCLAs, that one game means hundreds of thousands in lost revenue.

The biggest concern - especially with the five quarter-system schools: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Stanford and UCLA - is missed class time.

Combined with the final weekend of the regular season and the opening round of the NCAAs, a Pac-10 tournament could necessitate three-straight travel weekends during winter-quarter exams. And if the Bruins or Cardinal reached the Sweet 16, for example, they'd be on the road for a solid month.

``The quarter schools are really impacted,'' Hansen said.

Hansen has no feel for the outcome of training-table legislation. Currently, schools provide athletes with one meal per day during the season and none during the offseason.

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