BRACING HIMSELF

It was the defining moment of this impressive comeback season for Cedric Bozeman.

It wasn’t a basket-rattling dunk and or a game-altering three-pointer or a crowd-cheering pass.

In fact, there was no crowd around. Just UCLA Coach Ben Howland and Bozeman. The coach simply told his player to take off the brace on his right knee before heading onto the court for practice.

And that was the moment.

With that simple act, Bozeman freed himself from a season of agony and frustration, freed himself to again cruise down the court, fight through screens and attack the basket with his old abandon.

“I asked him to take it off because I felt it had become a mental thing,” said Howland.

Bozeman had been coddling that knee since Nov. 4, 2004, when it collapsed on him.

Until that moment, Bozeman had been looking forward to what he figured would be a triumphant conclusion to his college basketball career.

There was no reason to think otherwise.

The starting point guard in his three previous seasons in Westwood, Bozeman was coming off a junior year in which he had led the Pacific 10 Conference in assists.

Yes, there was a hot young point guard named Jordan Farmar breathing down his back, but Bozeman figured he could hold him off.

Then, in practice, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament.

“He never gets excited,” said Rudy Bozeman, Cedric’s father. “When he got hurt, he called me and calmly said, ‘Dad, I’m not going to play in our first game. I’m not going to play the whole season.’ My heart dropped.”

Father and son have always been close and that bond helped keep Bozeman on the court. Because his father is a county probation officer, Bozeman had a glimpse of the seamier side of life. Enough of a glimpse to know he wanted no part of it.

“That would be a slap in the face to him if I ever got in trouble,” Cedric said, “so I was never tempted.”

Six days after tearing the ligament, Cedric had his knee surgically repaired. His season was over. Was his career at UCLA finished as well?

Bozeman insists he never considered that possibility, even though he couldn’t be sure the explosiveness that fueled his game would return, and even though Farmar did such a good job of taking over on the point last season that he was chosen Pac-10 freshman of the year.

“I always felt I was going to come back,” Bozeman said. “I owed that to my teammates. I owed it to myself.”

His father was equally confident.

“I was 110% sure he would come back,” Rudy said. “My kid is special.”

There were times, however, when Cedric didn’t feel special.

“I came to most of the games,” he said, “but the toughest part was to not be connected to my teammates, not being able to be part of practice.”

The seemingly endless hours of rehabilitation were also tough.

“I asked myself, ‘Do I really want to do this again?’ ” he said. “I didn’t like waking up every day aching.”

Mind games helped.

“I put myself in the frame of mind of being out there,” he said. “If I couldn’t serve a purpose physically, I could at least put myself out there mentally.”

When it came time to be out there physically as well heading into this season, Bozeman was playing a different type of mind game, one that proved a hindrance.

Although his doctors were telling him he could shed the brace, Bozeman worried about the soundness of his knee. Would it be able to take the strain of twisting and turning on the court? Did it have the strength to support him as he came down after leaping for a rebound?

The brace had become his security blanket.

“I am not going to sit here and tell you that the first time out, I didn’t think about it,” Bozeman said. “There was a mental block. But it was time to get some trust back about my limb.

“After I took the brace off, I remember I went around somebody and dunked. That helped me lighten up, put me over the top. I knew then I was going to be OK.”

Once he returned to the lineup, Bozeman found that it was a different team than the one he had left, with different needs.

With Farmar and fellow guard Arron Afflalo more experienced heading into their sophomore seasons and a quick elusive freshman in Darren Collison to back them up, UCLA was strong in the backcourt. The 6-foot-6 Bozeman was needed more in the frontcourt, where injuries to Alfred Aboya, Michael Fey, Lorenzo Mata and swingman Josh Shipp left the Bruins vulnerable.

However, it is Bozeman who has stayed injury free. And Howland has taken advantage of that to use him everywhere on the court, front and back. He has played both guard positions and both forward spots.

And played them well. Bozeman is third on the team in scoring (11.6 points), third in rebounding (4.4), and tied for second in steals (1.1).

“Ced has been a real positive for us,” Howland said. “He’s playing good defense, rebounding well, is a very good passer, and poses a matchup problem for guards. And he can go around people. I am happy for him. He has been through so much. It’s great to see him get some reward.”

Bozeman still gets asked about the knee, but he can shrug it off now.

“I’m not thinking about it,” he said. “I’ve put all that behind me.

“And I’m through with that brace.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Happy return

Cedric Bozeman has started all eight games for the 7-1 Bruins:

*--* Points 11.6 Field goal % 556 (35 for 63) 3-Point % 529 (9 for 17) Free throw % 778 (14 for 18) Rebounds 4.4

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