COLLEGE BASKETBALL / BIG WEST CONFERENCE MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Minus UNLV, It’s Anybody’s Guess

Recipe for obtaining parity in a postseason basketball tournament:

--Take an undefeated regular-season champion, seventh-ranked in the country and a perennial national contender, and ban it from competing.

--Cut the 2-24 last-place team and toss in the remaining eight teams with a combined record of 71-73 against each other.

--Mix in three days at a seaside resort center, with a healthy dose of exposure on cable television.

--Put one, and probably only one, NCAA tournament berth up for grabs.

With Big West Conference regular-season champion Nevada Las Vegas absent as a result of NCAA sanctions, the conference’s 17th postseason tournament figures to be wide open.

Selecting a favorite was not easy for Big West coaches during a telephone conference this week.

“The parity is unbelievable,� Cal State Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg said.

The 49ers, led by all-conference swingman Lucious Harris, would as soon play on the other side of town. Long Beach has lost five of its last six games in the downtown arena, but out the eastside of town in the cozy University Gymnasium, it has won 14 in a row.

“We don’t practice (at the Arena), so any advantage in being in Long Beach is for the access of our fans there,� Greenberg said. “It’s a road game for us.�

Fullerton Coach John Sneed, in the final year of a three-year contract that is not expected to be renewed, called the Long Beach Arena “almost a neutral site.�

The Titans need all the help they can get. Two starters, guard Joe Small and the team’s leading scorer, Agee Ward, have not played in 13 days. Ward has been suffering from back spasms, and Small is recovering from flu. Junior center Sean Williams missed the Titans’ final regular-season game with flu.

It there is a slight favorite in the coaches’ minds, it’s top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, led by conference player of the year Lucius Davis and freshman of the year Doug Muse.

However, Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm, whose team finished second behind UNLV (26-2, 18-0) during the regular season, said he is not so sure there is a favorite.

“We’re the No. 1-seeded team, and anybody in their right mind would pick us to win it, but New Mexico State and Long Beach are playing well, as well as, University of the Pacific.�

Irvine beat out last-place San Jose State (2-24, 1-17) for the eighth spot in the tournament and couldn’t have asked for a better first-round opponent than Santa Barbara, despite the disparity in records. Irvine’s losses to the Gauchos were by two and six points.

“Because of the way the two teams play, it is a very competitive game,� said first-year Coach Rod Baker of Irvine. “We match up well.�

Two Irvine starters have been bothered by tendinitis in their knees, including leading scorer Jeff Von Lutzow.

Utah State opened Big West play by winning five of its first seven games but split its final 10. It is led by all-conference guard Kendall Youngblood, who averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds a game.

Pacific is the most improved team in the conference. However, the Tigers, led by all-conference guard Dell Demps, are 2-13 outside of Stockton.

Fresno State, which has lost four in a row, is led by guards Carl Ray Harris and Wilbert Hooker.

The prize is an automatic NCAA berth, probably the only spot a Big West team will get in the tournament. “I know we’re only going to get one. My boss is on the (NCAA selection) committee,� Fresno State Coach Gary Colson said of the Big West.

The Big West semifinals will be Saturday night at 7 and 9. The final is set for Sunday at 12:30 p.m.