UC Irvine Notebook / John Weyler : Rod Palmer Is Being Asked to Limber Up His Trigger Finger

Rod Palmer will be the guy on the trigger of UC Irvine’s run-and-shoot offense this season, but the junior point guard admits he might be a little slow on the draw in the early going. After all, he hasn’t played much in the past couple of years.

Nice choice for a starting point guard in a system that often resembles semi-organized chaos, huh?

Isn’t this sort of like going to the starting line of the Indy 500 with a car you haven’t tried to start for a few months?

“It’s been 2 years since I’ve played in game situations,” said Palmer, who sat on the bench for the better part of 2 seasons at UCLA and didn’t play at all last year. “The summer leagues keep your game in tune to an extent . . . but it’s not really the same.”

But Coach Bill Mulligan is convinced the 6-foot 4-inch Palmer--one of the most sought-after guards in the nation after averaging 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists at Dominguez High School--is just the man for the job.

And if a recent scrimmage is any indication, Mulligan might be right. Palmer displayed a great deal of poise--not to mention quickness, a good instinct about when to pass, defensive savvy and a nice shooting touch.

“Rod’s a big-time player,” Mulligan said while the players took a breather between halves. “So far, he’s everything we hoped he’d be.”

Palmer played in 46 games for UCLA during the 1985-86 and ‘86-87 seasons, but averaged just 1 point and half an assist as a sophomore.

“I played a lot early as a freshman, but my playing time tailed off at the end of that season,” Palmer said. “Still, I was confident because I thought I was playing real well by the end of my freshman year.

“Then, in my sophomore year, I played 15 minutes against North Carolina. The next game was a blowout against Pepperdine, but I played just 1 minute. When I asked why, the coaches answered around the question more than they answered the question.”

So Palmer left UCLA and went to Compton College, but he didn’t play basketball because he wanted to retain 2 years of Division I eligibility. He decided to attend Irvine because he liked Mulligan’s style--both on and off the court--and because he wanted to stay in the Southland.

“When they told me what the style of play was going to be this year here, that made the decision easy,” Palmer said. “I’m looking forward to this year. I think we’ve got a nice cast. I think we’ll surprise some people.”

Most of the players love the idea of playing basketball at the speed of light, but they’re not all that crazy about paying the price in practice.

Palmer, for one, believes the conditioning will pay dividends.

“The coaches have been running our butts off since Sept. 12 . . . sprints, miles, two-a-days,” he said. “They’re getting us ready. We’re dragging and the coaches are saying, ‘See, this is how the other team will feel in the last 5 or 10 minutes.’ ”

The running game is going to cause some problems for Mulligan as well. He has been a proponent of fast-break basketball most of his career, but knows it means the coach loses some control over what happens on the court.

It also places a greater burden on the point guard, who must make a lot of split-second decisions.

Mulligan, who has had a history of stormy relationships with his point guards, doesn’t anticipate problems with Palmer, though.

“He’s really bright, a class act,” Mulligan said. “And he’s mature. He can pass and he can shoot, too.”

The key questions, of course, is will he give it up and put it up at the right times.

Palmer doesn’t think it’s too surprising that Mulligan has had trouble with his people on the point.

“It’s not unusual for a coach to get upset with a point guard when he isn’t making the correct choices,” Palmer said, smiling. “I feel I can run the squad adequately. And I really like playing point in this situation because you get the ball and a lot of freedom (to shoot), too.”

The Anteaters open their Big West Conference schedule Dec. 15 at Nevada Las Vegas. The game is being played 3 weeks before the normal beginning of conference play because of the Runnin’ Rebels television commitments.

Is there an advantage to playing UNLV--which has a host of talented transfers including 3 of the top JC players in the nation--before they really jell?

“There’s no advantage to playing them at all,” Mulligan said.

Just think how the rest of the conference feels. Irvine has beaten UNLV 3 times in the past 7 games. The Rebels’ conference record is 97-9.

Anteater Notes

The men’s tennis team was working out on a warm fall afternoon recently and most of the players were shirtless. “Look at the muscles on these chests around here,” Coach Greg Patton said. “We’re doing a lot of weights, which is great, but these guys are spending all their time on the bench press trying to please the girls.” . . . The Anteater “blue” basketball team, composed of mostly the first-string players, scored 77 points in the first 16-minute half against the “white” squad in a recent scrimmage. Coach Bill Mulligan hopes to lead the country in scoring this season and if his team can maintain that pace against real opponents, they figure to average 192 1/2 points a game. That should do it. . . . Wednesday, Mulligan announced his starting lineup for the exhibition game against Athletes in Action at 7:30 Tuesday night in the Bren Center: Guards Rod Palmer and Kevin Floyd; center Ricky Butler, and forwards Jeff Herdman and either Mike Labat or Rob Doktorczyk.

Where Are They Now Department: Three former Irvine basketball players who quit the team after playing supporting roles last season are attempting to revive their athletic careers. Center Ed Johansen is playing basketball at Biola University. Guard Chris Cresswell is a redshirt at Nebraska and forward Steve Florentine is expected to start for Irvine’s volleyball team. Florentine, a 6-foot 7-inch junior, says he’s having the time of his life in early practices. “Volleyball’s a great, great game,” he said. “This is really fun.” . . . Irvine’s swimming teams open the 1988-89 season Friday. The men play host to UC Riverside while the women play host to UC Riverside and University of San Diego in a tri-meet. The men’s team is paced by Brian Pajer, who redshirted last season after winning conference titles in both breaststroke events as a freshman. . . . Golf Coach Steve Ainsley on the on-campus golf course that is supposedly part of Irvine’s master plan: “I think we might see a driving range built in the next year or two, but the golf course . . . I’ll believe it when I tee it.”