By Steve Rivera, Special to SI.com
Call it the "play-in" game.
That's what it may be when UCLA hosts Washington on Saturday as each team attempts to get into next week's Pac-10 Conference tournament.
The Bruins and Huskies enter the weekend tied for eighth place in conference play with two games left. Both are 4-12 in the Pac-10.
And how appropriate is it that it's the last game of the conference regular season? It's down-to-the-wire action at the bottom the league race.
"For us, it's kind of like championship week," said Steve Lavin, who's in his last days as UCLA's head coach because his team is 7-18 overall.
"If we can have success this weekend, we can have an opportunity to do well in the conference tournament. And if you do well in the conference tournament, you have a chance to be part of the NCAA tournament. We'll approach each game with the attitude that it's almost like a postseason game."
The conference tournament allows only the top eight teams in. Last year, Washington barely got in, finishing eighth under former head coach Bob Bender. Under first-year coach Lorenzo Romar, the Huskies (9-16) might not make it.
"We've had our ups and downs," said Romar. "You come in with a lot of excitement and hope you'll do a lot better than you did before. That hasn't been the case in terms of wins and losses. I still feel we've made a lot of progress in terms of playing with a purpose. As we grow and develop, we'll be a much better team."
It may be next year and beyond. Washington has played with a young lineup (four freshmen and a sophomore as starters) for parts of the season, struggling to win close games and at times playing without that aforementioned purpose.
"Our pattern has been that we play very well at home and not very good on the road," said Romar, whose team is 0-7 in conference road games. "We have a young team that hasn't been able to respond to different environments that a road trip presents."
And despite UCLA's well-documented problems at home this season, something has to give. While the Bruins have won just one game at Pauley Pavilion in conference play and three overall, Washington hasn't won in Los Angeles since the 1986-87 season. Adding to the pressure is that the game pits two longtime friends against each other. Romar and Lavin were assistants under Jim Harrick at UCLA.
"We would have hoped it wouldn't come down to that," said Romar. "But it looks like that's what it's coming down to. I'm sure it'll be an emotional day for the Bruins, being senior day. I'm sure they'll want to make the tournament.
"It's a case where you wish you weren't playing against them because you definitely want to pull for them to make it in."
Just not at your expense.
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Being a McDonald's All-American doesn't necessarily mean major
college success, although Arizona's Hassan Adams is doing everything
to make it happen.
After starting the season as one of the team's stars, he had become more of a role player for the Wildcats. More recently, he's been able to contribute some offense and show he's improved on the defensive end.
Over the weekend against the Bay Area schools, Adams, a 6-foot-4 guard from
Los Angeles, played 31 minutes and scored 11 points. In a big win against
Stanford, he had eight points, two steals and three rebounds.
"The thing we're happy with with Hassan is that he's much more alert
[defensively] than what he was at the beginning of the season," Arizona
coach Lute Olson said. "You learn at this level you'd better be in
people's faces once they catch the ball."
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HOT: Arizona's Salim Stoudamire
In Arizona's past two games, he went 14-for-24, including 7-for-12 from the
field. He's scored in double figures eight consecutive times.
NOT: Arizona
State
The Sun Devils have lost three in a row, their worst stretch of the season.
HOT: Washington
State
The Cougars earned this spot by winning two consecutive games in league play
for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
NOT: USC
The tumble continues, as the Trojans have lost six consecutive conference
games for the first time since 1999.
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All he needed to do was hang on for another five weeks and he might have
picked up an NCAA national championship ring. Instead, Arizona sophomore
Dennis Latimore unexpectedly quit the team.
He still hasn't said why, and there's no word on what he plans to do, but he has returned to school and will finish out the year at Arizona.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson said the team will miss him "because he was a good kid" but that the team's depth is not hurt by Latimore's departure.
Before leaving, Latimore had played just six minutes in two blowout games.
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 Washington State's Marcus Moore
He returned after a 10-game absence to score 23 points in 26 minutes in
the Cougars' 98-76 win over Washington. Moore was out after having foot surgery in
early mid-January.
California's Amit Tamir
He scored 20 points and had eight rebounds in an 80-72 win over Arizona
State. At one point he went 5-for-5 from the 3-point line.
Oregon's Luke Ridnour
He had 21 points and eight assists in a 79-48 blowout of visiting UCLA.
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No. 23 California at No.17 Stanford: It's the battle for the No. 2 seed in
the conference race. The winner of this game wouldn't play Arizona until
the Pac-10 tournament championship game if all get there. Cal
knocked off Stanford 72-59 at Haas Pavilion earlier this season, but the Bears have a difficult time at Maples Pavilion, having not won there in a decade.
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UCLA sophomore guard Cedric Bozeman is out for the rest of the
season with a shoulder injury. He had hoped to return last weekend after
getting hurt two weeks ago. ... Washington State might as well be called the CIA. It was very secretive about the return of junior guard Marcus Moore, who played against rival Washington last weekend. He practiced only about an hour last week before deciding he was ready to play after having foot surgery just five weeks earlier. ... All indications are that Oregon's junior guard Luke Ridnour has decided to leave for the NBA after this season. In his last home game this season, he was treated to an ovation usually reserved for outgoing seniors. However, Oregon coach Ernie Kent said no discussions have taken place regarding Ridnour's future. ... Arizona became one of only three teams to go undefeated (9-0) on the road in Pac-10 history. Oregon State (1981) and Stanford (2001) were the others. ... Arizona senior guard Jason Gardner moved into fourth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,874. He's 51 points shy of the third spot. ... With a 20-6 record, Cal has posted its third consecutive 20-win seson, a school first. It's the school's fourth 20-win season in five years. ... At 20-7, Oregon has posted its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since the 1936-37 season. ... Washington guard Nate Robinson's 268 points this season are the sixth most for a Huskies freshman.
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