Need to keep a low profile?

Do you:

(A) Enter a witness protection program.

(B) Play in the Pac-10.

Courtesy of the UCLA dynasty of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Pacific 10 Conference is the leader in NCAA titles, but that foundation has crumbled, because of television in general, and ESPN in particular.

Four decades ago, Lew Alcindor was a high school senior in New York, about to become the centerpiece in the Bruins’ run of 10 titles in 12 years. If the man you know as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was coming up today, would he have headed to Los Angeles?

The West Coast kid is fed Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East highlights on SportsCenter, while the Pac-10 isn’t on the East Coast kid’s radar.

Maryland gets Ekene Ibekwe out of Los Angeles. Roy Williams moves from Kansas University to North Carolina, but keeps mining the West Coast for his freshman class of Marvin Williams and Quentin Thomas. Boston College’s breakout season is fueled by three Californians.

Nate Robinson, the dynamic 5-foot-9 guard for No. 15 Washington, grew up in Seattle and is the son of a one-time Rose Bowl MVP, but he fantasized about going East.

“Allen Iverson was my favorite basketball player, so I wanted to play at Georgetown,” Robinson said. “Deion Sanders and Peter Warrick made me want to play football for Florida State. When I watch SportsCenter, all I see is the East Coast, but the guys on this side can play with anyone. How come Dick Vitale doesn’t pay us any attention?”

The Pac-10 grew tired of holding up its games for a late-night slot on ESPN and took a TV contract with Fox, where its games are seen haphazardly on the East Coast. Ben Howland’s years at Pittsburgh might help him re-establish UCLA’s broad recruiting profile, but for now, Arizona is the Pac-10’s only program with a national profile.

Second only to the ACC in replicas of the RPI, the Pac-10 still is paying for being absent from last season’s Sweet 16. The ACC has nine of the 30 midseason candidates for a national player-of-the-year award, and North Carolina’s three match the total of Pac-10 players on the list.

“Just like Fox is going to pump up our conference, it’s only natural that ESPN is going to do the same for the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and Big 12, because they’ve got to get the (ratings) numbers,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. “Still, something’s not right. Duke has earned everything it gets in terms of national recognition, but you’re talking about (J.J.) Redick having to make something like 55 straight threes to match (Salim) Stoudamire.”

Duke’s Redick is a remarkable shooter, but Arizona’s Stoudamire has made 46.0 percent of his career threes, near the NCAA record. Robinson and Arizona State’s Ike Diogu are similarly great college players who get lost in the time-zone shuffle.

That player-of-the-year award is named for John Wooden, who might not have become a UCLA legend had he come along in the era of Big Monday and GameDay, which will ignore the Arizona at Washington game Feb. 26 to pump up Louisville at Memphis.