COLLEGES:

The 2007-08 UC Irvine men’s basketball schedule is one only Willy Loman could love.

Coach Pat Douglass’ Anteaters are 6-0 in games played on their campus this season. But, they have already spent separate stints of 21 and 26 days without playing within Irvine city limits.

UCI, which plays six of its next seven games on the road, will play just one home game (Jan. 26 against UC Riverside) in a 33-day span that began after Saturday’s home win over Cal Polo San Luis Obispo.

Should the ’Eaters (7-9, 2-1 in conference) merely split those next six road dates, including Thursday’s clash at UC Davis, they should still be in position to vie for one of the top two spots in the standings, which would mean a bye into the semifinals of the eight-team Big West Tournament.

But any major slippage — such as only one or two wins in those six league road dates — and the Anteaters could be looking at their second straight losing season, as well as a less-than-exciting stretch run with which to draw the ever-elusive UCI fans for the five home games with which they could complete their regular season (Feb. 23 to March 8).

With wins over preseason conference favorite UC Santa Barbara and 2007 conference and tournament runner-up Cal Poly, the rugged preconference schedule lined up by Douglass (and ranked 45th toughest in the Jan. 11 Sagarin ratings among 328 Division I programs) may be paying dividends.

Meanwhile the strong starts of some other conference teams would indicate their scheduling preference was considerably less challenging.

Conference leader Cal State Northridge (13-5, 4-0) is off to its best start since joining the Division I ranks.

Cal State Fullerton (10-5, 3-1), won its first three conference games for the first time since 1984.

And UCSB was off to its best start in 19 seasons, before stumbling at UCI on Thursday.

 Junior guard Brett Lauer, who scored a career-high 20 points in the 73-69 triumph over Cal Poly, was the Anteaters’ nominee for Conference Player of the Week.

Buy the award went to Long Beach State junior Donovan Morris, who averaged 26 points per game in a loss to Pacific and a win over UC Davis.

 UCI’s meeting Saturday at Pacific will be televised by FSN Prime Ticket at 7 p.m.

 Meanwhile, women’s basketball programs at Vanguard and Orange Coast College face marquee matchups this week.

The Lions (9-2. 5-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference), ranked No. 3 in NAIA Division I, will visit No. 7-ranked Azusa Pacific (13-2, 5-0), Saturday night at 5:30.

Vanguard plays host to San Diego Christian (5-8, 1-4), tonight at 5:30, while APU is at Fresno Pacific (7-9, 0-6) tonight.

OCC (18-2, 2-0 in the Orange Empire Conference), ranked No. 3 in Southern California and No. 5 in the state, visits Fullerton (11-10, 1-1), ranked No. 9 in SoCal and No. 16 in the state, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Coach Mike Thornton’s Pirates are led by reigning conference Player of the Year Courtney Ford. Ford is 48 points shy of surpassing Lisa Schumaker (1,130 points from 1985-87) to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.

 Former Pirates Lance Ortiz and Valerie Katayama are leading their respective teams to big seasons on the four-year level.

Chavez, a 6-foot-1 senior guard at Cal State San Bernardino, is averaging a team-best 12.6 points for the Division II Coyotes (13-1, 6-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.).

The Coyotes, who also include OCC product Reggie Brown (averaging 6.4 points as a junior), are ranked No. 6 in the Division II poll.

Katayama, a 5-5 guard, has led Redlands to a 9-3 record, 2-0 in the Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference. Her 9.3 points per game rank second on the team, as do her 5.2 rebounds per contest. She leads the team in assists with 5.3 per game.

Katayama was first-team All-SCIAC last season, when she averaged a team-leading 12.3 points per game. She was named team MVP as a junior, when her 110 assists ranked sixth in school single-season history.

Redlands will be in Orange County to meet Chapman University on Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. in Orange.

 Adam Rodenberg, a 6-7 junior who left the UCI men’s basketball program with a hernia after starting the first six games and averaging 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds, had surgery last week and has enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa. It remains unclear whether he will attempt to play at the school.

 Luis Tovar, who hit .231 (six for 26) in 22 games last season as a redshirt freshman, has left the UCI baseball program.

An infielder, his lone RBI came in the eighth inning of the Anteaters’ 13-0 win over Wake Forest in the opener of the Round Rock Regional at Dell Diamond last season.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].