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Pac-10 Notes

UCLA forward JaRon Rush's suspension of 29 games was reduced to nine on Monday, which makes him available to play Saturday against top-ranked Stanford.

Rush, who allegedly took $6,525 from Myron Piggie, a coach in Kansas City, was suspended by the NCAA on Feb. 1 for the equivalent of one season.

He has been ordered to repay the $6,525, and the money will go to charity.

The NCAA also had suspended Rush for 15 games this season for receiving $200 from a sports agent during the 1998-99 season.

Rush was initially suspended by UCLA on Dec. 10, while it investigated if the sophomore violated NCAA rules.

Rush had played in three games at the beginning of the season before UCLA suspended him, averaging 7.3 points per game. He averaged 11.4 points per game as a freshman.

The final game of Rush's suspension will be Thursday night when the Bruins face California.

UCLA head coach Steve Lavin did say that Rush is in good shape and should be able to contribute to the Bruins run at earning a bid in the NCAA Tournament.

A run in the NCAA Tournament may have just gotten a bit tougher for the Oregon Ducks.

Senior forward A.D. Smith will have to undergo surgery to repair his fractured left cheekbone, an injury he suffered just four minutes into Saturday night's 80-77 win at USC.

Smith is expected to miss the final three games of the regular season, but could return for the post-season.

The surgery, which was performed yesterday, is necessary because it moved Smith's cheekbone back into place.

Smith is Oregon's leading rebounder (5.9 per game) and second-leading scorer (15.3 per game).

The injury, which will be reevaluated in two weeks, marks the end of Smith's streak of 58 consecutive starts.

It just doesn't get any easier for the Washington State Cougars.

The Cougars (6-19) did win its first conference game of the year against the Cal Bears, 81-78 in overtime on Saturday, but it was without senior guard Jan-Michael Thomas.

Thomas, WSU's third-leading scorer at 12.6 points per game suffered a season-ending knee injury during practice on Feb. 22.

He damaged the medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee and will undergo reconstructive surgery next month.

If that wasn't enough, the Cougars played a rare non-conference Monday night game at Texas-Pan American and lost 55-52.

It was Texas-Pan American's 12th win of the season, one more than the school's combined total for the past three seasons.

With the new polls being released Monday, it came as no surprise that the Pac-10 now boasts two of the top three teams in the nation.

Stanford (24-1) stayed No. 1, receiving all 70 first-place votes from the Associated Press, while Arizona (24-4) moved up a spot to No. 3 after Duke lost to St. John's.

Stanford was the first unanimous No. 1 since North Carolina on Dec. 22, 1997.

Stanford also received 30 of 31 first-place votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Cincinnati received the other first-place vote.