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Even UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland likes his team’s NCAA Tournament chances

Asked about UCLA’s NCAA Tournament hopes after Sunday’s victory at Notre Dame, Arron Afflalo glanced at UCLA coach Ben Howland before flashing a sheepish grin. “I have to wait until after we get to the 18-win mark to talk about that,” the freshman guard said. But even the tight-lipped Howland had already acknowledged that the Bruins had taken a giant step toward earning a tournament berth with their victory over the Fighting Irish. UCLA (16-9, 9-7 Pac-10) lowered its RPI seven spots to No. 30 in the nation and inched closer to its 18th win, which the Bruins believe would be enough to punch their ticket to the NCAAs. If UCLA wins its final two regular season games at home against the Oregon schools this week, it will finish 11-7 in the Pac-10 and no worse than fourth in the conference standings. All but one of the last 62 Pac-10 teams to finish with 11 conference wins advanced to the NCAA Tournament. “If we get these two home games, we should be in pretty good shape,” senior Dijon Thompson said. The way the Bruins have played recently, there’s no question they’re aiming for a sweep. UCLA, which has won three of its last four games, hasn’t lost to a team below it in the conference standings since falling to California at home in late January. “We’re playing our best basketball right now,” Howland said. “That’s what you want to be doing this time of year in February and March.”

FREE THROW WOES: Though UCLA missed 9 of 17 second-half free throw attempts Sunday against Notre Dame, Howland said afterward that he believed it was an aberration. Thompson, in particular, struggled from the line, going 5-for-11 including a pair of key misses after Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey was whistled for a technical foul midway through the second half. UCLA is shooting 71.4 percent as a team from the free-throw line this season.

DRIBBLERS: UCLA received one vote in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll ... Arizona coach Lute Olson is still tied with John Wooden for all-time wins in the Pac-10 at 304 after the Wildcats lost to Washington on Saturday.