By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

He is now a man on the inside, a voice in the corridors of power in college basketball.

He is Karl Benson, Western Athletic Conference commissioner, and one of the 10 Wisemen, aka the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. They will meet in hermetically sealed secrecy this weekend to choose the field in the most lucrative and visible event in NCAA history.

So, Karl, now that you've studied reams of Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) numbers and weighed "quality wins" against "bad losses," what will it take for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team to earn an at-large berth in the tournament?

"It is too soon to say," Benson said.

Twenty-four wins? Twenty-five...

"All that's premature."

Tell us, then, do you see two berths for the WAC in the tourney?

"Hard to say."

How important is the RPI going to be this year?

"It is only one of the factors we consider."

And, so it goes, Benson running a deliberate four-corner offense Dean Smith would be proud of around any and all inquiries dealing with issues before the committee. Mum is the word no matter what the question when committee business is concerned.

In any of his previous seven years as head of the WAC, Benson could be heard citing, chapter and verse, the conference's postseason basketball credentials. Wherever two or more reporters gathered, he'd praise to the heavens the merits of any conference member that had even the most remote chance of being considered.

So, this version of Benson is taking some getting used to. Not only for reporters trying to take the pulse of the committee but also for the schools and coaches in Tulsa this week attempting to get a fix on where they stand.

It has been three years since anyone in the WAC had a seat on this most influential of committees. Not since New Mexico athletic director Rudy Davalos bolted to the Mountain West Conference, taking his vote with him, has anyone in the WAC had a say in who goes to the Big Dance or how they are seeded.

So coveted is the ballot, one of just three currently held by a conference commissioner, that when Benson's name was put up for nomination a year ago, it was accompanied by protest from several Mountain West schools who wanted the position for one of their own.

That Benson succeeded in being seated was seen as a measure of regard for both the WAC and the man who has guided it through critical times.

What he does with the vote remains to be seen. But the betting is that come Selection Sunday, UH won't be disappointed.