Wildcats find a room in conference penthouse.

Byline: PAC-10 NOTEBOOK By Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Don't look now, but here comes Arizona. Well, actually, there goes Arizona, since the Wildcats play five of their final seven Pac-10 games on the road, beginning with this week's trip to Los Angeles.

But how bad can a few nights in a rented room really be? Against Stanford, it apparently helped the Wildcats, who went away from their usual pregame preparation and spent Friday night in a hotel, a week after UA coach Lute Olson said letting players be on their own the night before a Saturday noon game against Washington State contributed to the loss to the Cougars.

It was an 11 a.m. tip-off against Stanford, which had beaten Arizona in five of the previous six games. So being in a hotel the night before apparently worked, with Olson saying the weekend wins over first California and then the Cardinal were the best back-to-back performances of the season for his team.

What Olson didn't like were the implications he should have used the hotel the week before and could have thus avoided the loss to WSU. That was amplified by a Tucson radio talk show in which a caller claimed that Arizona players were out until the wee hours of the morning before losing to the Cougars.

`So many rumors go around,' Olson said. `As soon as I can learn something from you guys and the talk shows, I'll start doing it. It's good that everyone has an opinion. That's what keeps people reading papers and listening to the radio and watching TV. But they're not going to affect us.

`We know what we're doing and we've been doing it for close to 50 years, and I don't need any advice.'

Boy, wait until Olson finds out about the Internet, and message boards.

At least talk radio screens its callers.

In the meantime, Arizona's next win will be Olson's 300th in the Pac-10, with UCLA's legendary John Wooden holding the conference record at 304. Just a crazy thought, but if Olson surpasses Wooden this season, or at least pulls even with him, would it be that final accomplishment in an illustrious career? And lead to retirement?

Did Lute forget?

After his tirade about radio talk shows, Olson was asked if he ever listened to sports call-in shows.

`No. What's the fun in that?' Olson responded. `That would be like walking into my bank, talking with the president and telling him how he should run his bank. Or go to the chemistry department and tell them how to run that.'

Maybe it's just talk radio in Tucson that Olson ignores.

There was that time a decade ago when he heard callers to a Portland radio station allege that Damon Stoudamire had made an obscene gesture to fans the previous night during a game at McArthur Court. Listening on his car radio as he drove to Portland to watch a recruit on a Friday, Olson decided to respond.

Instead of `Ed in Beaverton' it was `Luke on a cell phone,' as the screener mistakenly typed on the screen for the show's host. No, it was `Lute' as in Olson, calling in.

`Yes, he did. Absolutely,' said Mike Parker, now the OSU broadcaster but then the host of an afternoon show in Portland.

Laughing at the recollection, Parker said Olson identified himself and then went into a defense of Stoudamire.

Cardinal: Don't double Ike?

Yes, Stanford really did think that was the correct defensive strategy against Arizona State, to play Ike Diogu straight up.

And Cardinal coach Trent Johnson still felt that way after Diogu put up a career-high 39 points on Stanford.

`Contrary to what everyone seems to think, Arizona State is not a one-man team,' Johnson said.

Close, though. Stanford's Rob Little, who shared the defensive assignment on Diogu with Matt Haryasz, said the Stanford thought process was `we'll let him get his 20 or 25 and stop everyone else from scoring. That's what hurt us last time.'

In ASU's win at Stanford in January, it was 35 points from Steve Moore, Serge Angounou and Allen Morill that made the difference offensively for the Sun Devils.

Those three combined for seven in the rematch, but Diogu's 39 made up for it.

On the other hand, California went with double teams and a zone and everything it could, and Diogu put up 35 on the Bears.

`I thought we did a good job,' Cal coach Ben Braun said.

Plus, Cal did win. That's the third time in the past two seasons that Diogu has scored more than 30 on the Bears and ASU still lost. For the record, ASU is otherwise 6-1 when Diogu scores 30 in a game.

Another second guess

In the week's other coaching decision to ponder, what was WSU doing letting UCLA's Dijon Thompson get off that three-pointer to tie the score at the end of regulation? Two Cougars were back in the key ... to what? Stop a drive? Grab the rebound after time expired?

The Cougars had expanded their lead to three on a pair of free throws with 6.2 seconds left. Granted, players should realize the situation and know a three-pointer is the only shot they need to defend, but maybe it was a situation for a timeout, to remind those freshmen.

No, said WSU coach Dick Bennett, because UCLA was out of timeouts and so he didn't want to give the Bruins the opportunity to set something up. What could they have come up with better than Thompson's open shot on the wing?

Recruit report

Arizona and Washington had to enjoy the prep results in Seattle on Friday evening.

Arizona signee Marcus Williams led his Roosevelt team to an 81-61 victory with 48 points and 12 rebounds. He made 18-of-22 field goals, and it came against a Franklin team ranked third in the state.

Across town, Washington signee Martell Webster scored 46 points as Seattle Prep won easily. Webster was 14-of-19 from the field, including 8-of-12 on three-pointers. Webster, who is expected to at least consider going to the NBA instead of the Huskies, also has a teammate being looked at by recruiters in 6-11 junior Spencer Hawes, the nephew of former Husky player and assistant coach Steve Hawes.

Warning for Ducks

As if Oregon needed a reminder of what Washington can do - and what can undo the Ducks - check out a couple of statistics in UCLA's loss to the Huskies, which will explain why Washington had 22 more field-goal attempts than the Bruins.

The Bruins committed 23 turnovers against Washington's aggressive defenders, which led to 31 points for the Huskies. (Shades of the Ducks having 22 turnovers in Seattle, and 21 against OSU the other night.)

`They force you to be impatient,' UCLA's Arron Afflalo said. `They make you put (the basketball) on the floor before you get a five-second call. ... Our philosophy was to be a little more patient, get some good shots, but it's kind of tough when a team is pressuring you out so far.'

Then there were Washington's 22 - that's no misprint, twenty-two - offensive rebounds against UCLA. (And it seemed like 14 offensive rebounds by OSU against Oregon was a bunch.) Do the Bruins know the concept of blocking out?

`It's very difficult because they basically have a full head of steam and it's almost impossible to stop four guys coming in there,' Thompson said. `You have to try and be a little more physical.'

RATING THE PAC-10

MEN'S BASKETBALL

1. Washington: Not faring as well in court as it is on the court

2. Arizona: Stoudamire top scorer in five of past seven games

3. UCLA: Thompson for player of year? A case could be made

4. WSU: Average result in its 11 Pac-10 games: a 60-59 victory

5. Stanford: Since Kidd left after '93, not a loss to Cal at home

6. California: Shot 68 percent in second half at ASU, 60 overall

7. ASU: Sixth-man Kevin Kruger averages 12.7 in league games

8. OSU: If only the Beavers could never leave home: 8-1 at Gill

9. Oregon: Let the Ducks' spot in the standings speak for itself

10. USC: Top scorer Stewart says "Everybody's just given up.'