Victory Would Be Boost to Seeding

No. 12 UCLA can claim second place in the Pacific 10 Conference with a win today at No. 13 Arizona, but there may be bigger implications.

The Bruins, surely destined to be shipped out of the West when the tournament pairings are announced Sunday, are hoping that closing the regular season on a high note will make them a third-seeded team.

But a win that would give them their first Pac-10 road sweep of the season could still also land them at No. 4. And a loss might mean a No. 5 or 6.

“It’s just so difficult to know what the committee’s going to do,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “I have not even allowed myself to speculate and get my expectations set and then face the disappointment if that doesn’t happen.”

Added guard Baron Davis: “I don’t even want to guess. Hopefully we’ll get a three, or a four at the worst, with a win at Arizona.”

A victory will mean the Bruins would have closed with eight wins in their last 10 games, important because the selection committee uses that block as one of the determining factors for pairings. One of the losses was a terrible performance at California, but another, a four-point loss at Stanford, was one of UCLA’s best performances.

Today

at Arizona

12:30 PST

Channel 7

* Site--McKale Center.

* Radio--KOGO (600).

* Records--Bruins 22-7, 12-5; Wildcats 21-6, 12-5.

* Update--Two Bruin starters, Baron Davis and JaRon Rush, are playing hurt, and reserve Brandon Loyd is sick. Davis was struggling Friday to put weight on a sore right toe, an injury suffered about 30 seconds after hitting the winning three-point basket the night before at Arizona State. Rush has been bothered the last two weeks because of a sore back, though he said it is unrelated to a similar injury that plagued him through much of the early season. Both are expected to play today. Loyd made three of six three-point shots against Arizona State despite a bad cold, sore throat and sinus problems.