FOR BRUINS, BEST MAY BE YET TO COME.

Byline: Karen Crouse

What goes around comes around, and so Steve Lavin ought to be prepared later this week to hear some desperate coach wax paradoxical about how his team, despite being a higher seed than UCLA, really should be considered the underdog.

Lavin, the Bruins' fourth-year head coach, stooped to that strategy last year, declaring No. 12-seeded Detroit Mercy formidable to the point of being a frontrunner against fifth-seeded UCLA.

Detroit Mercy proceeded to go out and prove Lavin right, of course, sending UCLA home with an ugly first-round loss.

The difference is, if the Bruins do happen to meet a higher seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament later this week, the opposing coach can speak as Lavin did a year ago and chances are it'll be construed as the god-honest truth and not some shameful psychological ploy.

The Bruins, the seventh-place team in the Pacific-10 just over a week ago, have won their past six games and are headed into the postseason with such a hale wind at their backs, they could easily enough sail into the second round of the NCAA Tournament or beyond.

If that sounds farcical, consider:

Starting point guard Earl Watson played only nine minutes of the second half Saturday and the Bruins still were able to dish out 11 assists in that time to Washington's six.

JaRon Rush, the player all the other Bruins plug into for energy, appeared in only four of the final 20 minutes and yet the Bruins managed to pad their 20-point halftime lead.

Watson and Rush combined for 25 of UCLA's 47 points in the first half. And zero of the team's 43 points in the second half.

Their offense simply wasn't needed, not with Billy Knight collecting all seven of his points in the second half and Dan Gadzuric, Matt Barnes, Ryan Bailey, Ray Young and Rico Hines coming off the bench to contribute 21 points in the final 20 minutes.

And, not since New Year's Eve in Times Square have so many petty thieves congregated in one place. Nine of the 12 Bruins who played pilfered the ball from a Washington player. UCLA finished with 19 steals, its highest total this season in conference play.

After an effort like that, it's no wonder the Bruins are eyeing bigger heists. They are quietly confident they can steal a game or two from higher seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

``I don't think a lot of teams want to play us in the first round,'' said Watson, who is averaging 2.3 assists for every turnover during the six-game winning streak. ``A lot of teams are going to look at us as a team that's seeded lower than it should be.''

The coach of whichever team draws a first-round date with UCLA today probably shouldn't rush to call Huskies coach Bob Bender for guidance.

He's liable to steer them straight to the drug store aisle in which the Maalox is shelved.

Understand: Bender knows a thing or two about stealing a win or two in the tournament. Two years ago his 11th-seeded Huskies upset No. 6 Xavier in the first round on their way to the Sweet Sixteen.

It takes a thief to recognize one. So when Bender said he'd hate to meet up with UCLA this week, that should be everybody else's cue to tack up Most Not Wanted posters featuring the Bruins' mugs on their locker room doors today, then pray the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee passes over them when filling in UCLA's bracket.

Forget its 19-11 record, its recent productivity is what makes UCLA so scary.

Against the Huskies, the Bruins shot 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. That's just about right, considering that in cobbling together their six- game winning streak the Bruins have made 42 of 95 3-pointers.

In that time, both the Bruins' big men, Gadzuric and Jerome Moiso, have averaged double figures in scoring (10.5 ppg. and 11.3 ppg., respectively).

They're stretching defenses like taffy and it's oh-so-sweet for all the Bruins used to hearing how one-dimensional their offense is.

It's not a Jason Kapono 3-pointer and a cloud of dust anymore.

``This team has been able to execute the half-court offense, which has been a big knock on our program for a long time,'' Watson said.

``This team still has to get better,'' he added. ``But right now we feel like we have a lot of momentum.''

It's enough to make you wonder, for once, if UCLA's best really is yet to come.