The Phonz Bringing Happy Days to South Bend : Freshman Forward Ellis, Who Almost Chose UCLA, Starring for Notre Dame

At a press conference to announce his choice of college, LaPhonso Ellis of Lincoln High in East St. Louis, Ill., placed on a table in front of him, for dramatic effect, letters of intent from Illinois, UCLA and Notre Dame.

Illinois had recruited him since he was in the eighth grade.

UCLA was the alma mater of a close friend, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who also is from East St. Louis.

Ellis, though, picked up the letter from Notre Dame. And from the moment he signed it, superlatives began to flow from the mouth of Irish Coach Digger Phelps.

Ayyyyyyy, Phelps told the world, the Phonz would bring happy days, indeed, to South Bend, Ind.

Ellis, Phelps said, would do for Notre Dame what Patrick Ewing did for Georgetown. “He’s definitely the kind of player who can get you to the Final Four.”

That’s quite a burden, but so far the 18-year-old Ellis has held up pretty well under it.

Eight games into his freshman season, the 6-foot 9-inch, 238-pound forward leads the Irish in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage as Notre Dame (6-2) prepares to play UCLA (9-3) today at 11:30 a.m. in a nationally televised game at Pauley Pavilion.

Thumbs up for the Phonz.

“As he develops as a player and gains game experience, learning the finesse of the game and learning the concepts of the game, he’ll be the best we’ve ever had at the position,” Phelps said. “We’ve never had one this good. Probably, (John) Shumate was close as far as being an impact player.”

Ironically, it was the lure of playing for Shumate, a former All-American and captain of the Notre Dame team that ended UCLA’s record 88-game winning streak in 1974, that drew Ellis to Notre Dame. But Shumate, a former Irish assistant, left to take over as head coach at Southern Methodist.

Ellis was undeterred.

“I figured that if he played 7 years in the pros after playing under Coach Phelps, I wouldn’t lose that much with Coach Shumate gone,” he said.

Ellis said he came very close to signing with UCLA after a high school career in which he twice led Lincoln to the Illinois state championship, averaging 23 points and 19 rebounds as a senior.

Citing the “Kareem Era” as inspiration, although he wasn’t born until a year after the former Lew Alcindor had graduated, Ellis said he grew up rooting for UCLA.

But Ellis said he sensed a “tension” in the program as he was recruited and was certain that former Bruin Coach Walt Hazzard would soon be gone. “I was unhappy because he’s a close friend,” Ellis said of Hazzard’s dismissal last spring. “But somehow I knew it was going to happen.”

At the time, though, Ellis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was turned off to UCLA because he had heard that Trevor Wilson was a Hazzard favorite.

“The way I understood it was that he was his boy,” Ellis said. “I would have had to beat him out for a spot. That’s not a problem because I feel I can beat him out, but why go somewhere where you have to fight someone for a job when you can go somewhere that they are counting on you?”

Ellis has no regrets.

“There’s a lot of tradition here,” Ellis said Friday after a practice at Pauley Pavilion. “You look around and see the banners. I would have loved to have come to play for a school like this, but I’m pretty happy where I am.”

And Notre Dame, of course, is happy to have him. Phelps reportedly promised that he would be a starter as a freshman, a pledge he is said to have made only twice previously--to David Rivers and Adrian Dantley.

Although Ellis started the season on the bench, he didn’t stay there long, moving into the starting lineup after scoring 27 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in a season-opening 92-72 victory over St. Bonaventure.

“After 4 years, he’ll be a pro and any one of us would be very happy to be his agent,” the Bonnies’ coach, Ron DeCarli, said afterward.

Then, in his first start, Ellis had 12 points and 16 rebounds in an 81-65 victory over Kentucky.

“I had not seen Ellis play before we faced him, but I heard an awful lot of good things about him,” said Kentucky Coach Eddie Sutton. “They’re all true.”

Ellis has led Notre Dame in scoring three times, and in rebounding four. He has made 62.2% of his shots and is averaging 16.1 points and 11.3 rebounds.

His defense needs some work, but Ellis and Phelps both believe that it will improve with time.

Ellis’ goal is to be an All-American in his sophomore season.

Failing that, “I’ll settle for my junior year,” he said.

Bruin Notes

The game is sold out. . . . UCLA’s 67-66 victory over USC Thursday night was its 100th against the Trojans. . . . UCLA leads the series against Notre Dame, 22-14, but has only an 11-10 record since John Wooden retired in 1975.