Claire Pollard could see it coming.

But Pollard took off running as soon as the conspirators came into view and absorbed only a small splashing. After winning six Big Ten titles in a row, she’s used to avoiding that orange cooler.

“I am. I think I’ve mastered that by now,” Pollard said. “Nobody wants to walk around in wet clothes all day.”

“We probably got more of it on ourselves than we did on her,” sophomore No. 1 singles player Cristelle Grier said.

You can’t blame NU players for not giving their coach a more thorough drenching. Football teams often douse unsuspecting coaches in the waning minutes of a sure victory. And even though NU led in every match Sunday against the overmatched Buckeyes, this isn’t a team that takes any victory for granted.

A lot has happened in the six years since the last time a team not wearing purple hoisted a conference tourney trophy. In the spring of 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were beginning their home run race, “Seinfeld” aired its final episode, and Gary Barnett was still the NU football coach.

NU’s five seniors (honored Sunday Jitim Young-style with their pictures on popsicle sticks) were still sophomores in high school. The women’s tennis team has racked up six conference titles to just four — three by men’s golf and the football team’s shared title in 2000 — by the rest of NU’s programs since 1998.

Even though an NU Big Ten title has become as much a rite of spring as April showers and May flowers, don’t make the mistake of thinking all the championships have come easy. The Big Ten may not be as strong as the Atlantic Coast or Southeastern Conference, but it has improved nearly every season of Pollard’s tenure, with a new slate of teams hungry to knock the Cats off their perch.

The seemingly routine titles are actually the product of a routine. Pollard preaches the “one match at a time” philosophy and breeds team closeness with some unorthodox techniques — she required the team to eat all meals together this past week.

NU can cross a main goal off its list after Sunday, but like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, they’re saving the toughest one for last — the NCAA tournament.

Last season’s tourney run was stifled by the NCAA, who decided after seven months of play that Grier and Ruth Barnes were actually ineligible. The duo was reinstated before singles play, but only after NU was knocked out of the team bracket in the first round.

Now the Cats have their whole squad ready and will likely host a regional in trying to return to the Sweet Sixteen — or go even further in the tournament

If that happens, NU players should be ready with the Gatorade again. But they’ll need to be a little quicker if they want to catch Pollard when she’s not looking.