UC Irvine Notebook / John Weyler : Anteaters, Georgia State Could Run It Up Tonight

It will be more than the beginning of a new season for three of the four basketball teams that make their debuts tonight in the first round of UC Irvine’s Western Digital Freedom Bowl tournament:

- Irvine will break out its fast-break attack.

- Texas Christian will start four junior college transfers.

- And Maryland, a program that has had six players leave in the past 1 1/2 years, will field a team with one highly touted freshman, and three seniors and a junior with limited experience.

The good news for Georgia State is its all-senior lineup. The bad news is that the Crimson Panthers, who compete in the Trans America Athletic Conference, were 9-19 last season with pretty much the same team.

Irvine and Georgia State play at 8 tonight and the Bren Center scoreboard figures to get a workout. A query about the Crimson Panthers’ style elicited this question in response from a Georgia State assistant: “What’s the NCAA record for most points scored by both teams in a game?” (It’s 282. Nevada Las Vegas defeated Utah State, 142-140, in triple overtime on Jan. 2, 1985.)

Maryland, which went 18-13 last season and made it into the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament, plays TCU at 6 p.m.

The most famous--or infamous, if you ask Coach Bob Wade--departee from the Terrapins is 6-foot 10-inch Brian Williams, whom ESPN analyst Dick Vitale says was “1 of the 5 best freshmen in the nation” last season. Williams, who averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds, has transferred to Arizona.

“When your program loses a player, whether it’s a 5-2 midget or a 6-10 Brian Williams, it hurts,” Wade said during a recent telephone interview. “Brian was an important part of our program. He had an outstanding freshman year. But he chose to move on, and we wish him continued success.”

The Terrapins probably would have been ranked in the top 20 with Williams. Without him . . . “We have a unique team,” Wade said. “I’m pleased with our progress. We have leadership from eight or nine different players. We have a lot of upperclassmen. I don’t think we’ll rattle easily.”

Maryland also has Jerrod Mustaf, a 6-10 high school All-American last season at DeMatha High School outside Washington, D.C. He lessens the blow of losing Williams.

TCU Coach Moe Iba combed the South and Southwest after a 9-19 season in 1987-88 and came away with standout junior college players from Mississippi, Arkansas, Arizona and Texas. All four--guards Tony Edmond and Jay Lomas and forwards Kelvin Crawford and Craig Sibley--are expected to start for the Horned Frogs tonight.

Georgia State is led by senior guard James Andrews, who averaged 15 points last season. Everyone in the Crimson Panther lineup, with the exception of guard Leo Hunt, brings in a double-figure scoring average.

The Anteaters’ dedication to fast-break basketball has drawn rave reviews from the players, but nobody is more excited than Coach Bill Mulligan.

“I’ve been with Bill for 9 years as an assistant and 2 as a player and I’ve never seen him more energetic,” assistant Mike Bokosky said. “He used to delegate a lot of things, but now he’s involved in every phase of coaching.

“He’s doing it all--strategy, decisions, discipline, offense, defense and he’s dealing with every player, from the starters down to the walk-ons.”

Mulligan says that a great many people--even some of the experts--think that coaches who advocate an up-tempo game just unlock the gym for practice and then get out of the way.

“The purists see a team that makes 30 passes before shooting and they say, ‘Wow, he’s really coaching,’ ” Mulligan said. “And when you’re running they say, ‘That guy just rolls the ball out there.’

“Well, I think we’re really coaching a lot this year. And it’s tough to do what we’re doing because, once the game starts, you just don’t have that much control.”

The Irvine women’s basketball team debuts Saturday at 3 p.m. against Oregon State in the second game of the 3-team, round-robin competition that makes up the women’s field of the Freedom Bowl tournament.

USF (9-17 last season) plays Oregon State (10-19) at 3 today in the opening round. Irvine (11-16) and USF meet at 1 p.m. Sunday in the finale.

Anteater Notes

Five Irvine athletes received all-Big West honors this week. Water polo players Tom Warde and Tony Bell were first-team selections, and teammate Skylar Putman was named to the second team. Warde led the conference in scoring with 100 goals. Bell scored 59 and Putman 50. Midfielder Darren Bedolla, who led the soccer team with 16 points (5 goals and 6 assists), was a first-team pick. Middle blocker Kris Roberts, who finished her career at Irvine with 10 school records including 1,018 career kills, was a first-team women’s volleyball selection. . . . The women’s volleyball team, which finished 19-11 with the best won-loss percentage in school history (.633), will find out Sunday if it will receive an NCAA tournament berth. . . . The water polo team, ranked sixth in the country, opens play in the NCAA championships at Long Beach’s Belmont Plaza pool tonight at 6 against third-ranked USC. Irvine is 0-3 against the Trojans this year. USC has beaten the Anteaters by 3 goals twice and 2 goals once. . . . Assistant Coach Mike Bokosky, when asked if he had seen a body-fat percentage test on center Ricky Butler (6-7 and at least 270 pounds): “No, but I’ve seen him with his shirt off.”

The basketball team has 14 scholarship players on the roster, but only 12 can travel because of NCAA regulations. That means the coaching staff will have to decide which two will stay home, and nobody is looking forward to informing those players of the decision. The first trip, to Las Vegas then Chicago and on to Virginia, figures to be especially painful. Nos. 13 and 14 on the depth chart right now are freshman Elgin Rogers and redshirt freshman Don May. Rogers is from Gary, Ind., and May is from Palos Hills, Ill. . . . Injury Report: Point guard Rod Palmer has a sore ankle. Guard Etop Udo-Ema has a deep thigh bruise. Forward Jeff Herdman has a nagging toe injury, and Rob Doktorczyk has sore knees. All have missed some practice, but all are expected to be available tonight.