UC Irvine’s Bay Bomnbers : . . .and Mike Doktorczyk of Mary Star Scores Outside In

There’s a big black-and-blue bruise on the inside of Mike Doktorczyk’s right thigh, and one look at it will tell you that Doktorczyk, UC Irvine’s center, would probably prefer almost anything on the basketball court to banging around underneath the basket for rebounds.

Doktorczyk has the mentality of a 6-foot shooting guard locked inside the body of a 6-9 post player.

Most basketball stat lovers across the country would probably be surprised to find out that the cryptic M. Doktorczyk, Cal-Irvine --who has been listed in the top five in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage most of this season--is actually a hulking, backboard-crashing center, and not the speedy little sharpshooter they might have imagined.

Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan, however, isn’t surprised by Doktorczyk’s 3-point accuracy.

“Most 6-9 guys think they’re outside guys and they’re really not,” Mulligan said. “Mike is a legitimate outside player.”

Which leads to the other side of Doktorczyk’s game--the one inside the paint, where, coincidentally, the senior center caught the nasty thigh bruise Feb. 2 against Cal State Fullerton that has kept him out of practice since.

“I think I’ll always be more comfortable playing outside, facing the basket,” said Doktorczyk, a 1984 graduate of Mary Star of the Sea High School.

Actually, Doktorczyk doesn’t have much choice where he plays. He’s Irvine’s tallest player, so he’s the center. And it’s a position he can play. With a new emphasis on Irvine’s inside game, Doktorczyk is bearing much of the Anteaters’ scoring burden with a team-high average of 15.9 points per game. He’s also leading Irvine in rebounding with eight per game.

Those aren’t bad numbers for a player who, at the beginning of the season, wasn’t even expected to start.

It took a sweeping change in Doktorczyk’s confidence level to earn the starting spot from Mulligan, who had lost faith in Doktorczyk after a disastrous game in Fresno State’s Selland Arena two years ago.

Irvine was ahead by a point in the waning minutes when Doktorczyk, a sophomore starter, threw away an inbounds pass. On the Anteaters’ next trip down court, Doktorczyk tried to make amends and forced a shot that missed badly. Fresno recovered to win the game, and afterwards Mulligan, who had never won a game in Selland Arena, screamed at Doktorczyk for 15 minutes.

“He came down really hard on me, but I should have been able to take it,” Doktorczyk said. “Mulligan wants to see how tough you are, but you’ve got to be mentally tough to take his verbal attacks. I took it personally and lost my confidence.”

After that, Doktorczyk’s playing time faded with his self-esteem. As a reserve the next year, he saw his average drop from seven points per game to five, and he shot only 38% from the floor.

“I was real hesitant,” Doktorczyk said. “I thought that if I missed one shot, I was gonna come out of the game.”

Last summer, Doktorczyk did a lot of soul searching. “I had to tell myself I could play again,” he said. “First I had to prove it to myself. What are you gonna do sitting on the bench your senior year? That would have been a tough pill to swallow.”

Instead of sulking, Doktorczyk hit the weights and bulked up 30 pounds to 235. He fine-tuned his moves inside the key in a summer league against top college players.

When the season began, Doktorczyk was ready. In the Anteaters’ preseason exhibition against the Czech national team, Doktorczyk pulled up from 25 feet and buried a 3-pointer in the opening minutes.

“Mulligan said, ‘That’s no good,’ as soon as I released that shot,” Doktorczyk said. “He didn’t believe I could do it. But I proved it to him.”

Doktorczyk scored 11 points in five minutes against the Czechs, and his playing time swelled after that. He did well in limited time in Irvine’s opener against Georgia State, then started the next game against Texas Christian and grabbed nine rebounds.

“After I proved myself, I knew they were gonna depend on me,” Doktorczyk said, “whereas last year I didn’t feel that way.”

The center played a central role in the Anteaters’ upset of UCLA in December, when he scored 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds. He followed that up with a 23-point performance in a 95-79 loss at UC Santa Barbara.

Doktorczyk’s high-water mark came Jan. 21, when he scored a career-high 28 points against University of the Pacific. He made all 12 shots he took from the field, including four three-pointers, until Pacific shut him down in the second half.

“You only have that feeling so many times in life,” Doktorczyk said. “It was just turn and shoot.”

Or pull up and shoot. Doktorczyk likes to trail Irvine’s fast break and cut loose from several feet behind the 3-point stripe--a shot he feels is well within his range.

“I know I can shoot it from there,” he said. “When you’re coming down the floor with confidence, you feel you can make it every time.”

Few would dispute that. Doktorczyk was the leading 3-point shooter in the nation for much of this year, and only recently relinquished the top spot to teammate Jeff Herdman. He has currently made 58% of his 3-pointers (37 of 64).

Lately, Doktorczyk has had to get used to playing in pain. He got the thigh bruise when he drove into the key and met the knee of Fullerton’s Cedric Ceballos.

He suffered a severe quadriceps contusion, and the more he plays on it, the worse it gets. The bruise has since spread from his thigh to his knee, and the only thing that will heal it is rest--which Mulligan can’t afford to give him now.

The injury didn’t keep Doktorczyk from earning Big West Player of the Week honors Monday.

“He’s a tough guy, and he’s our best player right now,” Mulligan said.

Doktorczyk graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social ecology from Irvine last year. He was a conference scholar-athlete last season and is enrolled in Irvine’s graduate school of management.

“Actually, I hope I don’t get (the graduate degree) for a while,” Doktorczyk said. “I’d like to play in Europe or somewhere first.”