Reggie Gives UCLA, Himself High Marks as Bruins Win Title

The early returns are in, personally delivered by Reggie Miller, who is one of the categories himself--he said he was anyway:

--The best team in the Pacific 10 is UCLA. A preseason pick to finish fourth, the Bruins won their first conference championship in four years Thursday night when they defeated USC, 82-76, at Pauley Pavilion and Arizona lost at Stanford.

--The best player in the Pac-10, no, make that the whole Left Coast is . . . guess who?

“You all know who the best player in the conference is,” Reggie said. “You all know who the top player on the West Coast is.”

Let’s guess. Is it the same guy who scored 36 points against USC, who rainbowed in six three-pointers, and whose initials are R.M.?

Correct. “In the top seven in the nation, I’ll tell you straight up,” Reggie said about himself.

And UCLA?

‘Top 15,” he said.

For now, the Bruins are going to have to settle for being tops in the Pac-10. The title they won was their first in four years and their 27th overall, their 19th in the last 26 years but only their second since 1978-79.

“I said many times before that our team would have better days,” Coach Walt Hazzard said. “This is one of them.”

UCLA, which finished the Pac-10 season at 14-4, had actually clinched the championship early in the second half when Arizona ws beaten by Stanford, 75-73.

UCLA reached the 20-victory level at 20-6, which is the first time the Bruins have had that many wins in the regular season since they were 23-5 in 1982-83.

The Bruins, who were played a lot closer than they probably expected, began the second half with a 9-1 spurt, five of the points by Dave Immel. And when Jack Haley finished the run with a big dunk, UCLA’s lead was 48-32, three minutes deep into the second half.

By that time, Arizona had already bowed out of the conference race, so all that was left was whether the Bruins would back in or what.

They would go in shooting.

Consecutive dunks by Immel and by Miller, both coming after steals by Immel, propelled UCLA to a 68-50 lead. The Trojans weren’t done, though.

With 4:24 to go and UCLA leading, 74-55, Hazzard removed the last of his starters, but he was forced to put Miller and Pooh Richardson right back in after USC scored nine points in just over a minute.

“I’m not going to second-guess myself,” Hazzard said. “I put them in the game and told them to take it home.”

The next time Miller and Richardson left the game, they were gone for good.

Miller made 14 of 23 shots, including 6 of 12 three-point attempts. It was hard to figure out which coach he impressed more, Hazzard or USC’s George Raveling.

Said Hazzard: “When he’s aggressive, he’s one of the greatest shooters in the game.”

Said Raveling: “We probably gave Reggie eight of those shots wide open. That’s like leaving Larry Bird or Michael Jordan wide open for a jumper . . . that’s like tossing a T-bone steak into a lion’s cage. You could see his eyes light up.”

A small voice inside Reggie’s head must have whispered to him to shoot. So Miller did. Reggie was averaging just over 13 shots a game this season, but he put up 14 in the first half alone and scored 20 points.

“Everybody knows my ability,” Reggie said. “I sacrificed 6 points a game (from his scoring average) this year and everyone thinks I had an off-season. Hey, I’ll give up 6 points to win 20 games I’ll do that every time.”

In the first half, Miller made eight field goals, three of them three-pointers, and that was impressive. But he also had five steals in the first half, which took the ball out of the Trojans’ hands just long enough to cost them a chance of getting real close.

By halftime, USC had committed 11 turnovers (they finished with 21 to UCLA’s 19) and trailed, 39-31, because the Bruins had converted 6 of them into 15 points.

It didn’t take Miller long to figure out that the quickest way to get the ball was to steal it himself. He did it three times in the first half, but the last was the one UCLA needed the most.

The Trojans, who threw Derrick Dowell and Chris Munk at the Bruins close to the basket, shut off UCLA’s offense for more than five minutes. USC sniped away to cut a 12-point lead to four, 32-28, on Rich Grande’s jumper.

Dowell’s three-pointer, right after a Miller breakaway, got the Trojans within 34-31, but the Bruins countered with an inside basket by Jack Haley. Immel’s three-pointer at the buzzer closed out the first half, a soft 24-footer made possible when Dowell charged Craig Jackson, the last of USC’s mistakes in the half.

Dowell, as usual, led the Trojans, but this time he wasn’t alone. Dowell finished with 29 points even though he missed 10 of 20 free throws. He also had 13 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. Brad Winslow, who hit 4 three-pointers, made sure Dowell got some help with 20 points.

Raveling said the turnovers hurt but added that UCLA did something with them, too. “It wasn’t so much the turnovers, but the fact that they converted them,” he said. “And Reggie, his shot selection was nearly impeccable.”

So are Reggie’s word selection. Miller’s thoughts turned toward the NCAA tournament, in which UCLA will almost certainly play.

Who would he like UCLA to play. “Vegas . . . Georgetown,” he said. “Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing matchup, me and Reggie (Williams of Georgetown). That would sell a lot of tickets.”

Bruin Notes ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale doesn’t see UCLA getting beyond the round of 16, if the Bruins get that far. The reason? Not enough of an inside game. “They don’t have the right style if they have to play the big strong teams like you find in the Big Ten,” Vitale said. “Those kinds of teams are going to cause them problems. They are a perimeter team with no inside game to speak of. They’ve got to do something inside if those outside shots stop falling.” Vitale also said the Pacific 10 isn’t as good as many other conferences. “It’s not coaching, it’s personnel,” he said. “I guess the Pac-10 is getting better, but I think the fourth and fifth men on teams in this conference couldn’t play as the fourth or fifth men in another conference.”