Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

Home-grown Shumpert to play for Wildcats Court date on schedule Uncertain on Olson, prep star rejects UA Ex-Cat loves blogging and his life in Portland Old Cats, new Cats meet for pickup game Brielmaier remains a Cat — as a coach McClellan's outlook goes from awful to 'awe' full No change in Jennings' UA status Bayless has familiar faces in his corner UA, Jennings expect to wait week for test score

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Receptionist

If current thinking holds true, Arizona's swing through Los Angeles this week will be just another fleeting showcase of future NBA players.

At this time next year, speculation will tell you, guys such as USC's O.J. Mayo, UCLA's Kevin Love and Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger will all be gone, earning seven figures to play the game even though none of them are now 20 years old.

All of them are projected as top-15 picks in Draft Express' mock 2008 draft.

But UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill, who spent six years as a head or assistant coach in the league, wonders if everyone hyped so highly is really ready to go, his own players included.

"I think those guys will all be in the NBA," O'Neill said, referring to Love, Mayo, Bayless and Budinger. "But what their effectiveness is and how long they're there. … If you go before you're ready, you're going to get flushed out in two years. That's plain and simple.

"It doesn't matter where you were picked. There's only a two-year requirement (that NBA teams must guarantee first-round picks their salaries). That's all. So I would caution all those guys — our guys, their guys and anybody else in this country — you better not go till you're ready."

O'Neill noted last week that Budinger's developmental "process is going to be slower than many people think it is." The same goes, O'Neill indicated, for almost everybody.

"All those guys you would think would play at the next level, but you can never be too sure. Think about it. The average NBA two-guard is probably 6-6 or 6-7, 225. I don't see many of those guys running around on our floor or anybody else's floor. It's a difficult transition to make."

O'Neill said he has not decided whether he will use a smaller lineup against the perimeter-oriented Trojans. But he had praise for the downsized group featuring Nic Wise at point guard that he has been using more than ever without forward Bret Brielmaier around.

"Our smaller lineup has been our best," O'Neill said. "When we have our small lineup in, we have our most talented group. There's no question about that."

O'Neill said Brielmaier would definitely play Thursday if his sprained right shoulder permits.

"We miss Bret a lot," O'Neill said. "A lot more than we even know."

USC enters Thursday's game having won four straight, including a 72-63 victory at UCLA on Jan. 19 and an overtime victory at Oregon last Saturday.

But O'Neill is not reading a thing into that trend.

"Newspapers do it all the time: Who's hot, who's not, who's this, who's that," O'Neill said. "I never look at things that way. I really don't. I'm used to the fact that if teams play well, all of a sudden they soften up."

So now, with the Trojans returning triumphantly home to the cozy Galen Center, does that help the Wildcats?

"I don't know," O'Neill said.

Despite beating sixth-ranked Washington State 76-64 last week — and having the No. 7 RPI, according to Kenpom.com — Arizona failed to get back into either major Top 25 poll this week.

The Wildcats received the 28th-most votes in The Associated Press media poll and the 26th-most in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, possibly giving the Wildcats another reason to keep working.

"We always have more to prove," Budinger said. "We feel we can play with anybody. We've got games coming up … (in which) we can really prove ourselves. We've just got to go out there and show it."

● The Wooden Award named Budinger to its Top 30 midseason candidate list but did not include Bayless. Being on the midseason list is not mandatory for making the Wooden Award's 10-man all-America team in March nor its Player of the Year award in April.

● Love was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after collecting 42 points and 39 rebounds in the Bruins' wins at Oregon and Oregon State. UA nominated Bayless, who had totals of 49 points and 12 assists in wins over Washington State and Washington.