With the Pacific 10 Conference season coming to an end, it's time to reward, unofficially of course, the highest levels of excellence, as well as levels not quite so high.

Most Valuable Player € Mark Hendrickson, Washington State. This 6-foot-9, 240-pound senior forward has been the heart and soul of the Cougars this season. Want proof? In the six games Hendrickson missed because of a broken hand in the middle of this season, WSU (15-10, 7-9) went 1-5 and wasted a 7-2 start. With Hendrickson back, the Cougars are 7-3. That is the definition of valuable. The fact that he averages 16.3 points (sixth in the Pac-10) and 9.2 rebounds (second in the Pac-10) probably has something to do with that. UA head coach Lute Olson called him the most difficult player to match up with in the Pac-10 because of his inside presence, outside touch and ability to rebound.

Most Outstanding Player € Ben Davis, Arizona. The only reason this 6-foot-8, 255-pound senior forward, who leads the Pac-10 with 9.7 rebounds a game, didn't win the MVP award, was because his teammates didn't cooperate, winning games against Cincinnati and Washington with Davis saddled with foul trouble.

But Davis is the MOP because he has played every game exactly the same € with a fierce competitiveness and a nose for the ball. Sure, he has a nice touch around the basket. He leads UA with 14.5 points a game. But if your life depended on your team getting the next rebound, Davis would be the man you'd want out there.

Biggest Disappointment € California. To think that at this point in the season a team with Cal's talent (Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jelani Gardner, Tremaine Fowlkes and Ed Gray) would be on the NCAA Tournament bubble would have required an athleticism of the mind, but that's exactly what has happened in Berkeley. Undisciplined? Unmotivated? Who knows, but everyone expected more of this team (the Bears are currently in third place at 17-8 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-10) than they have produced. While we're on the subject, submit Golden Bear head coach Todd Bozeman for Most Overrated Coach. He is certainly passionate and fiery, but just think what UCLA's Jim Harrick or Olson would have done with the Cal team this season. Ooooooh... scary.

Coach of the Year € Bob Bender, Washington. In his third year in Seattle, Bender has turned a conference whipping boy into somewhat of a bully. The Huskies (15-10, 8-8) have their best record in a decade and were seriously challenging for a spot in the NCAA Tournament until a recent slide. Their two performances against Arizona (an 80-79 overtime win in Tucson and a 67-65 loss in Seattle) and wins over Cal and Stanford show how he has turned that program around from 5-22 and 9-18 seasons the last two years. With sophomore forward Mark Sanford and redshirt freshman center Todd MacCulloch around for a while, Bender needs only a point guard to continue his success.

Freshman of the Year € Shareef Adbur-Rahim, California. Yet another freshman phenom of the Jason Kidd variety, Abdur-Rahim is already one of the most dominant players in the conference and the country. The 6-10, 225-pound forward leads the league in scoring with 22.4 points, and is third in rebounding with 8.8. Oregon head coach Jerry Green said Abdur-Rahim is just an NBA player hanging out in college for a while. It's the hope of the rest of the conference he won't hang out here long.

Head-scratcher of the year € Southern Cal's decision to fire head coach Charlie Parker. Maybe no one will ever know the real reason athletic director Mike Garrett decided to fire Parker Feb. 6, but you almost have to hope, for USC's sake, there was more to it than Garrett's statement that he didn't feel the program was moving in the right direction. The team had already surpassed last season's win total (7-21) with their 11-10 start, and the players seemed to like Parker. Now the Trojans will have to go through another rebuilding process, and without a head coach that will certainly hurt USC's recruiting.

Most Outstanding Player, 1999 € Todd MacCulloch, Washington. Yes, he's from Manitoba, of all places, and the 7-0, 270-pound redshirt freshman has a physique borrowed from Oklahoma State's Bryant Reeves, but MacCulloch could be another "Big Country" before he's through.

He's still learning the game, but he has shown accuracy and decent mobility, especially in Sunday's loss to Arizona, where he contributed 13 points and five rebounds, following a 20-point, 20-rebound effort against Arizona State.

If he learns to control his fouls and add some sort of "outside" shot (like from 10 feet away), he could be a monster.

Perhaps UA assistant coach Jessie Evans said it best following the UW game.

"I'd hate to try and defend him two years from now," he said. "I hope I have a head coaching position somewhere else by then."

What if of the year € Joseph Blair, Arizona. This category is kind of a no-brainer. Blair's suspension 15 games into the season will leave questions as to just how good Arizona would have been, and probably allowed UCLA to win the conference title.

First-team All-Pac-10. € Brevin Knight, junior guard, Stanford; Toby Bailey, sophomore guard, UCLA; Mark Hendrickson, senior forward, Washington State; Shareef Adbur-Rahim, freshman forward, Cal; Ben Davis, senior forward, Arizona.

Second-team All-Pac-10 € Reggie Geary, senior guard, Arizona; Ron Riley, senior guard, Arizona State; Ed Gray, junior guard, Cal; Mark Sanford, sophomore forward, Washington; Andy Poppink, senior forward, Stanford.