Loud slamming sounds and profanity could be heard from the room until UCLA coach Ben Howland emerged from behind the curtain and told the locker room attendant to close the door.

It was quite impossible to determine which team was the Pacific-10 Conference regular-season champions and which placed seventh. Which was ranked No. 2 in the nation and assured of a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and which needs a minor miracle to even reach the tournament.

Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, which starts Wednesday, could be one of the most exciting ever.

"It's going to be crazy," Washington forward Jon Brockman said.

The conference is experiencing one of its greatest seasons in terms of parity and depth. At least five teams are expected to reach the NCAA Tournament, and Stanford appears to be a strong bubble team and could be the sixth selection. This would be most since six reached the tournament in 2002.

The Bruins left Seattle with a hole in their hearts after losing their fourth game of the season. That's four losses too many for team leader Afflalo, who has taken each defeat this season as if it were an elimination game.

I don't want to lose anymore this season," he said.

Second-seed Washington State and third-seeded USC have never won a conference tournament. Fourth-seeded Oregon's performance this week could be the difference between a No. 5 seed and a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona, the Pac-10's fifth seed, has underachieved all season and is still fine tuning its defense. Sixth-seeded Stanford needs a strong showing to get in.

While UCLA is the obvious favorite, the possibility exists for any of these teams to win the tournament.

The Huskies, previously ranked in the Top 25 and considered a probable tournament team, went through a rough stretch during the middle of the season.

"If they play like they did today they definitely have a shot," Howland said. "The tough part is that they have to win four games in four days, which is hard to do. But if anybody can do it, maybe they can."

UW could draw inspiration from Oregon's short run last season. The Ducks, a seventh seed last year, defeated No. 10 WSU in the first round then upset second-seed Washington 84-73 to reach the semifinals where they lost 91-87 to Cal in double overtime.

"When you're playing with no hope you're going to do whatever you can," he said. "They got us last year, and we have to be like that."

The field still must contend with an upset UCLA team, that does not view the conference tournament as merely a tune-up to the big dance.

"We're trying to protect our seeding, trying to protect everything we do," Afflalo said. "And to have this happen is not good. It could help. It could hurt. I don't know. Hopefully it helps."