College Notes / Alan Drooz : Westhead Gets Laughs and Wins From ‘Loyola Circus’

Coach Paul Westhead seemed to delight in making circus references to his Loyola Marymount basketball team last week at the NCAA regionals in Salt Lake City, but the origin of the circus imagery remains as mysterious as a clown’s face behind the makeup.

Westhead grinningly made repeated remarks about circuses, Flying Wallendas and getting shot out of cannons, apparently picking up on quotes from an Associated Press story attributed to Wyoming Coach Benny Dees referring to Loyola’s team as a “circus act.”

The parents of a Loyola player, who saw no humor in the remarks, said at half time: “Tell Dees to take his players and join a circus.”

But after his team lost to Loyola, Dees was quick to disassociate himself from the quotes. “I never said that,” he claimed at a press conference. “I think they have a great style of play. This is a well-coached team. They’re anything but a circus act.”

The next day, North Carolina Coach Dean Smith was told a coach had referred to the Lions as a circus act. He responded quickly: “I didn’t say that. Everyone on that team knows what he’s doing. They do have a method in--I won’t say madness.”

But Westhead seemed to relish the image of his team playing like five guys in a Marx Brothers movie. Before the North Carolina game he described his mission as “taking the logical and trying to make it zany.”

After the 123-97 whipping by the Tar Heels, Westhead’s opening statements included: “We weren’t the Wallendas today. We didn’t get shot out of a cannon. In fact, we couldn’t find the cannon.”

Judging from media reaction in Salt Lake, the Lions were nearly America’s newest darling--had they beaten North Carolina. As it was, they were clearly the favorites at the Western regional, leading the tournament in one-liners and interviews.

As many as five players would sit in on press conferences--along with Westhead--and always delighted their audience. Westhead was in nearly constant demand. In a one-hour span Friday night, the eve of the North Carolina game, Loyola sports information director Barry Zepel fielded calls from USA Today, a sports radio show in New York City, Channel 5 in Los Angeles and then took guard Bo Kimble to the arena for a live remote interview on Channel 9.

Hank Gathers told one press conference that playing for Westhead “is like an amusement park . . . so many rides to get on, so many things to do.”

Someone asked Westhead about the constant Cinderella references to his team. “I’m a little old for Cinderella,” he replied. “But I’m good looking, so what the heck.”

If Loyola players were worried about North Carolina the day before the game, it didn’t show. High-scoring guard Bo Kimble, who jammed his left thumb against Wyoming and could barely make a fist, said: “We’re gonna spank them bad. I think we’ll win by 20 points,15 at least. I don’t think it will be close. This is the game I’ve lived for--North Carolina on national TV.”

Marcellus Lee, the team’s 6-10 free spirit, gave this review of North Carolina All-American J. R. Reid after watching him against North Texas State: “I’m not impressed. The main difference between us is he has experience.”

Loyola senior Corey Gaines probably earned himself a selection in the pro draft with his fine season, after three spotty ones at UCLA. Before playing against him, Dean Smith said: “He played at UCLA, then they brought in Pooh Richardson. If anybody selected between them now, you’d take Gaines.”

Gaines finished the season averaging 17.4 points, 8.7 assists. He shot 52% from the field and 51% from three-point range. Westhead described him as the perfect player for his running system, in which the point guard handles the ball almost exclusively.

“Corey is ideal for the system,” Westhead said. “He’s 6-4, has great wheels. His speed and the way he handles the ball on the run are ideal.”

Westhead had a final testimonial as well for four-year starter Mike Yoest, who finished his career with 1,601 points, fourth all-time at Loyola. He’s also seventh in career rebounding with 707. He finished the season averaging 17.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, shot 56% from the floor and led the team in free-throw shooting, 81%. “More talented athletes have a tendency to turn on and off,” Westhead said. “Mike Yoest hasn’t turned off in a practice or game in his career.”

Dean Smith said of Yoest: “You hardly hear about him. But he basically won the (Wyoming) game.”

Senior Mark Armstrong described Loyola’s plan to defend Wyoming’s trash-talking All-American Fennis Dembo: “We decided before the game we would not talk to Fennis Dembo. We would not go for his charades out there or give him a chance to get fired up.”

It must have worked. Dembo, Wyoming’s career scoring leader, finished with only 14 points and fouled out. Later, Kimble said of the player described as the biggest hot dog in college ball: “He was a very classy guy.”

College Notes

Cal State Dominguez Hills’ baseball team is off to its slowest start ever in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., at 0-6. The Toros are traditionally slow starters--in the last eight years they are 14-26 after the first five games--but they may have dug themselves too deep a hole this time. They are 9-15 overall going into today’s 7 p.m. game at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They also play at Cal Poly at 1 p.m. Saturday . . . The Dominguez Hills women’s softball team, ranked in the nation’s top 20, will be one of five ranked teams in the Northridge Tournament today through Sunday. The Lady Toros (11-12) beat third-ranked Mankato State of Minnesota on Tuesday. They will play Northridge at 1:30 and Chico State at 3 p.m. today . . . Entering the week, Dominguez Hills infielder Ruben Jauregui led the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. in hitting at .429, and Lenny Hokanson led in triples with six . . . Toros catcher Mike McCarthy, batting .294 overall, is hitting .500 in CCAA games, 9 for 18 . . . Loyola Marymount outfielder Brian Turang was named WCAC player of the week, In four conference games last week, the junior went 11 for 18 with 2 homers, 2 doubles, 7 runs and 10 runs batted in . . . Former North Torrance High tennis star Debbie Higa is teaming with All-American Edna Olivarez at Cal State Los Angeles to form the nation’s seventh-ranked Division II doubles team. Higa is a sophomore . . . Westchester High products are helping Cal State L. A.’s baseball team. Shortstop/outfielder Mica Lewis is batting a team-high .393 (fourth in the CCAA), and outfielder Dave Elder hit a two-out, two-run ninth inning single against UC Riverside to win a 10-9 game last week . . . St. Mary’s College point guard David Carter finished his junior year with 406 career assists. The Crenshaw High graduate is two behind the school record. Carter has started 58 straight games for the Gaels.