A LOOK AT THE UCLA, USC BASKETBALL TEAMS : Bruins Get a Booster Shot: Miller’s Range Is From Three-Point Area

Something new will be in the air this season in Pacific 10 basketball--the three-point shot.

Of course, UCLA’s Reggie Miller will need no instruction, since he is accustomed to filling the air with basketballs fired from long range. Often from very long range.

So just what is the Reggie range?

“About 25 to 30 feet,” he said.

If that’s true, the Bruins may improve mightily on their 9-9 Pac-10 record (15-14 overall) of last season.

Coach Walt Hazzard, who said he has given Miller the green light on long balls, is eager to see what kind of shooter Reggie will be from beyond the stripe 19 feet 9 inches away from the basket.

Based on Miller’s .556 shooting average and his 25.9-points-a-game scoring last season, Hazzard believes Reggie will do fine.

“Some of the shots Reggie takes, and some of the shots he makes, I’ve never seen before,” Hazzard said. “From where he shoots, I don’t think it makes any difference if there’s a stripe on the floor.”

Miller and four other Bruin starters are all returning to a team that has suddenly grown bigger and stronger, if also a little younger, from one season to the next. There are four freshman Bruins this season and three of them are big men.

Hazzard’s new recruits are 6-10 center Greg Foster, 6-8 forward Trevor Wilson and 6-10 forward Kevin Walker.

Foster, from Skyline High School in Oakland, was considered the No. 2 prep center in the West and one of the 10 best in the nation a year ago. He averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks a game in his senior year.

Wilson was All-City at Cleveland High in Reseda and scored 27 points with 20 rebounds in a loss to Crenshaw in the City championship game.

Walker is projected as a power forward. A fine shooter, Walker averaged 27.3 points a game as a senior at Brea-Olinda High School in Orange County. The Pac-10 coaches voted Walker one of the conference’s top four freshmen.

But even the returnees up front are bigger than they used to be.

Miller, who last season played with 177 pounds spread lightly over his 6-7 frame, is up to 189 as a senior.

Incumbent starting center Jack Haley, a 6-10 senior, worked out with weights this summer and gained 23 pounds, bulking up to 243.

“He is no tin man,” Hazzard said. “He is not the hole in the middle of the doughnut anymore, either.”

Hazzard said he is set with his starters in the front line right now, but he suggested that the freshman newcomers have a chance to be there.

“The veterans are going to have to work to maintain their starting positions,” Hazzard said. “The freshmen will push the veterans from Day 1. The sparks are going to fly at practice every day.

“We got bumped around a little bit last year because of our size. Now, if you bump us, you’re going to really bump into something. You might even ricochet.”

The backcourt seems in safe hands, mainly those of point guard Jerome (Pooh) Richardson.

Hazzard will entrust his offense to sophomore Richardson and he expects him to look for his shot more often than he did last season.

Last season, Richardson started the final 24 games and finished with averages of 10.6 points, 6.2 assists and even 4.5 rebounds a game. He led the Pac-10 in assists as a freshman.

Other starters are 6-1 senior guard Montel Hatcher and 6-8 strong forward Craig Jackson.

The Bruins began practice with Miller as their acknowledged star, a shooting star who could very well become the nation’s biggest beneficiary of the new three-point rule.

“They said 19-9, and I clapped,” Miller said. “I did somersaults and cartwheels. I’ve got a whole year with it. It looks real to me and I’m sure not complaining about it.”

Neither is Hazzard.

“The shot is not that difficult a shot from 19-9 away,” he said. “There are a lot of 20-foot shooters in this country. I’m just glad we got the rule before we lost Reggie Miller.”

If the Bruins are serious about their inside game being improved, then Miller’s outside shooting ought to open up the middle.

Haley believes that Miller is a cinch shooting from behind the line. “He’ll eat it up,” Haley said. “You can add 10 points a game to him.”

Bruin Notes Coach Walt Hazzard said junior forward Kevin Butler will probably red-shirt this season. . . . In his third season as UCLA coach, Hazzard’s staff again consists of assistants Jack Hirsch and Andre McCarter, part-time aide Kris Jason, volunteer coach Sidney Wicks and graduate assistant Frank Ryan. . . . Hazzard, on his tough practice sessions: “The players are all concerned I am going to kill them. That is my intention.” . . . Hazzard said the Bruins have two goals this season. They are to regain national respect for the conference and for the UCLA program. Asked to explain, Hazzard said both the Pac-10 and UCLA have been stung by criticism the last year or two. “A lot of people in the national media have attached negatives to us, trying to diminish our image.” . . . The Bruins have a 27-game schedule, not counting an intrasquad game, an exhibition against the Norwegian National team or the Pac-10 tournament. UCLA has nonconference games against Santa Clara, North Carolina, Pepperdine, St. John’s, Temple, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Notre Dame and Louisville. All but the St. John’s and Temple games will be played at Pauley Pavilion. The first Pac-10 postseason tournament will also be played at Pauley, March 5-8. Only the tournament winner will get an automatic NCAA berth.