COLLEGE BASKETBALL : COACHES, PLAYERS, TEAMS, TRENDS TO WATCH IN THE 1985-86 SEASON : THE QUESTION OF WHO IS NO. 1 IN L.A. : UCLA Is Talking Small but Fast and Isn’t Pooh-Poohing Richardson

Jack Haley stood in the middle of the court at Pauley Pavilion, arms crossed, head held high, looking at reporters who had gathered to torment him like so many Lilliputians.

How many of them would study his 6-10 muscular frame, believe the reports of his intense cram course in basketball over the summer, enjoy visiting with just a heck of a nice guy, and then go ahead and say that UCLA has no big man?

Most of them. Because it’s true.

UCLA is going into this basketball season with just one player over 6-8: Jack Haley.

Haley didn’t even play basketball at Huntington Beach High School. He didn’t play in his first year at Golden West Junior College. He did try his hand at the game in the 1983-84 season, and then he transferred to UCLA.

Last season, playing behind Brad Wright, Haley averaged 5 minutes a game, 1.0 points and 1.7 rebounds.

Over the summer, Haley continued to work with weights, made the trip to Australia with the Pac-10 team and played in the local summer leagues with some big-name pros.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard says that Haley is 100% improved--which isn’t a real strong compliment.

Hazzard, a student of UCLA basketball history, reminds everyone: “A year ago we were told we didn’t have a big man and Brad Wright turned out to be a pretty good one.”

Wright did come through for the Bruins.

Hazzard’s first year as the UCLA head coach got off to a shaky start, but the team rallied to finish with a 16-12 regular-season record, and although that wasn’t good enough to get into the NCAA tournament, UCLA went on to win the NIT title, finishing with a record of 21-12.

But Wright, forward Gary Maloncon and guard Nigel Miguel, who played key roles in that big finish, were seniors. And although Wright might not have been the most talented of the group, he looks to be the most difficult to replace.

Hazzard had announced that Carl Pitts would be helping at center, but it was later announced that Pitts had not met academic requirements. He is now at Cal State Fullerton.

UCLA has signed two very promising big men (6-11 Kevin Walker from Brea and 6-10 Greg Foster from Oakland) in the early signing period, which signals well for next year.

But for now, the Bruins will not be trying to slug it out with too many teams. They’ll have to move, dance, glide and slip some punches.

When it comes to finesse players, UCLA has some beauties, starting with 6-7 junior Reggie Miller, who was the Bruins’ leading scorer and the Most Valuable Player in the NIT last season, and guard Pooh Richardson, who is, truly, one of the premier freshmen in the country.

Miller will start alongside 6-8 Craig Jackson, who was on the Pac-10 all-freshman team last season.

Richardson started the Bruins’ two exhibition games along with junior point guard Corey Gaines, while junior shooting guard Montel Hatcher was recovering from a pulled leg muscle. Richardson is not guaranteed a starting spot for the opener at North Carolina on Sunday, but it’s only a matter of time.

Hazzard said, “There will be sparks flying in the backcourt with that kind of competition, and I love it.”

As for Richardson, Hazzard said: “Pooh is an impact player. . . . Pooh Richardson is a gem. He was a great catch for us. . . . Pooh Richardson will probably control the ball for us. He was born to lead a team.”

Richardson is ready to go now. There’s no lack of confidence or freshman jitters. After the intrasquad game, in which he put on a show, Richardson was asked if he had been nervous playing in Pauley Pavilion for the first time.

He seemed puzzled by the question, and he looked to Miller for some sort of clue as to why he might be asked that. Finally, he said, “Why would anyone be nervous about an intrasquad game?”

Miller told him, “You’ll be nervous when we get to North Carolina.” To which Richardson replied, “You’ll be nervous if you miss another one of my passes!”

Richardson is capable of running a team at a fast pace, and that’s the plan for this season.

Hazzard is planning to use a lot of man-to-man, full-court pressure and to do a lot of running when the ball gets into Bruin hands. It will be up-tempo all the way, which means that the Bruins will have to use eight or nine players on a regular basis. Hazzard said, “This is the John Wooden system, and it works.”

Besides using the three guards, Hazzard will use 6-7, 230-pound sophomore Kelvin Butler, 6-7 1/2 freshman Charles Rochelin and 6-5 sophomore Jerald Jones.

Butler will push Jackson at the forward spot and also back up Haley.

Rochelin, too, can play both spots. Considered one of the top players in Canada last year, Rochelin has really impressed the Bruin coaches with his preseason play. “He’s been a very pleasant surprise for us,” Hazzard said. “He has a jump shot, he’s a good defensive player, and he rebounds. . . . He has a legitimate 40-inch vertical jump. He can get a whole hand above the box over the rim. That’s getting up there.

“When Andre (McCarter) recruited him, he said he could be our best athlete, and from what we’ve seen, that’s not too far off.”

Bruin Notes UCLA’s opener at North Carolina Sunday will be televised by ESPN and by the local CBS station (Ch. 2) through Lorimar Productions at 7 p.m. in North Carolina, 4 p.m. here. . . . After that tough opener, the Bruins will be home for the holidays for nine straight games at Pauley. . . . UCLA enters the season with an eight-game winning streak, the longest in the country. But Coach Walt Hazzard admits, “I don’t think it’s going to last long.” . . . Junior guard Dave Immel has decided to redshirt this season. Hazzard stresses that it was the player’s decision and that Immel wants, finally, to rehabilitate his left knee, which has given him trouble for several years.

UCLA FACTS & FIGURES

ROSTER

RETURNEES

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL PPG RPG FG% FT%

42 Kevlin Butler F 6-7 230 So. 1.8 1.2 .636 .727 44 Jeff Dunlap F-G 6-5 175 Sr. 0.6 0.0 .250 .500 11 Corey Gaines G 6-4 183 Jr. 4.0 1.2 .490 .633 15 Jack Haley C 6-10 220 Jr. 1.0 1.7 .409 .412 12 Montel Hatcher G 6-1 1/2 176 Jr. 8.4 2.0 .468 .737 52 Craig Jackson F 6-8 204 So. 4.4 3.7 .392 .609 22 Jerald Jones F 6-5 214 So. 1.1 0.4 .292 .833 31 Reggie Miller F 6-7 177 Jr. 15.2 4.3 .553 .804 20 Darryl Morris G 6-3 177 So. 0.5 0.3 .286 .000

NO HOMETOWN (Previous School)

42 Riverside (North HS) 44 N. Hollywood (N. Hollywood HS) 11 Los Angeles (St. Bernard) 15 Seal Beach (Golden West JC) 12 Venice (Santa Monica HS) 52 Denver (Montebello HS) 22 Vallejo (Vallejo HS) 31 Riverside (Riverside Poly HS) 20 Carson (Carson HS)

NEWCOMERS, REDSHIRTS

NO PLAYER POS HT WT CL HOMETOWN (Previous School)

21 Rod Palmer G 6-3 185 Fr. Compton (Dominguez HS) 24 Jerome Richardson G 6-1 170 Fr. Philadelphia (Ben Franklin HS) 45 Charles Rochelin F 6-7 1/2 206 Fr. Toronto (Eastern Commerce)

COACH: Walt Hazzard, 2nd season, 21-12

1984-85 RESULTS

RECORD: 21-12 overall, 12-6 in Pacific 10, Tied for Third

Result Record **UCLA 87, Idaho 58 1-0 **Santa Clara 68, UCLA 60 1-1 DePaul 80, UCLA 61 1-2 Memphis State 86, UCLA 70 1-3 **UCLA 98, U.S. International 50 2-3 BYU 89, UCLA 81 2-4 St. John’s 88, UCLA 69 2-5 **UCLA 69, Oral Roberts 61 3-5 Oregon State 59, UCLA 49 3-6 **UCLA 67, Oregon 59 (2 OT) 4-6 **UCLA 75, Washington State 48 5-6 UCLA 64, Arizona State 61 6-6 Arizona 53, UCLA 52 6-7 **UCLA 63, Washington 51 7-7 **UCLA 80, California 69 8-7 **UCLA 100, Stanford 71 9-7 USC 78, UCLA 77 (2 OT) 9-8 **Notre Dame 53, UCLA 52 9-9 Washington State 66, UCLA 58 (OT) 9-10 Washington 67, UCLA 61 9-11 **UCLA 69, Arizona State 65 10-11 UCLA 72, Stanford 66 11-11 UCLA 53, California 48 12-11 **UCLA 75, Louisville 65 13-11 **USC 80, UCLA 78 (4 OT) 13-12 **UCLA 58, Arizona 54 14-12 **UCLA 59, Oregon State 51 15-12 UCLA 72, Oregon 69 16-12 THE NIT **UCLA 78, Montana 47 17-12 **UCLA 82, Nebraska 63 18-12 **UCLA 53, Fresno State 43 19-12 UCLA 75, Louisville 66 20-12 UCLA 65, Indiana 62 21-12 ** home game