UCLA’s Richardson Cites Lack of Team Unity in 16-14 Season

Jerome (Pooh) Richardson, UCLA’s All-Pacific 10 guard, said Thursday that internal friction tore last season’s Bruin basketball team apart.

Coach Walt Hazzard was fired after UCLA finished with a 16-14 record and Jim Harrick was hired away from Pepperdine to rebuild the team.

“We got to a point last year where things were pathetic,” Richardson said at the Pac-10 basketball media day at UCLA. “We had guys wide open in the lane going for a layup and you’d just pull up and just jack it up. That doesn’t make any sense. You can’t do that.

“I think if you like your teammates, you can get a lot of things done. You have to like your teammates and you have to like your coach.

“A lot of people say that you don’t have to like me to play with me. I don’t think that’s true because it spreads around your whole team. If you like your teammate then you do things and you care for him. If you don’t like your coach, you have to sit down and have a talk.”

Richardson said the Bruins lost their composure in close games.

“It wasn’t because guys couldn’t make shots. We were never prepared to win the close games. Last year in close games, the reason we didn’t pull ‘em off was because (team unity) was just a show. I don’t think (winning) was our main objective. This year it’s an objective.”

Richardson, however, said the Bruin players would have to share the blame for the lack of team unity and the dismal season with Hazzard. Hazzard wasn’t available for comment.

“It came from some players because they were dissatisfied about how their career was going at UCLA under Coach Hazzard,” Richardson said. “You can just say it was . . . a lack of concentration.

“I know what winning is like. We lost the games like . . . Honestly we could have beat Arizona twice last year. All two times, there and at our place.”