UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : May Scoring Points With Coach, Not Fans

Listening to Don May talk about his abilities as a basketball player is, for the first 15 or 20 minutes or so, a humorous experience, something from the Woody Allen school of ego slaughter.

“I’m the worst athlete on the team,” said May, a 6-foot-8 backup center at UC Irvine. “There’s not even a doubt about that. . . .

“If I wasn’t tall, there’s no way anyone would have me playing basketball. . . .

“You could find 40 people at this school who are better basketball players than me. Really. . . . “

As May says these things--in a matter-of-fact, almost apologetic manner--you initially chuckle, as he does, but then you start to wonder.

Is this just a 19-year-old kid with a severe case of self-doubt? Or is May really as bad as he says?

And, if the latter is true, what’s he doing playing for Irvine anyway?

It’s a question often asked--by Irvine boosters among others--of Anteater Coach Bill Mulligan. But Mulligan defends May on all accounts.

Aside from Rod Palmer, the team’s workaholic, May has the Anteaters’ most inspirational work ethic. Or at least Mulligan hopes it proves inspirational.

“If our two redshirt freshmen (Rick Swanwick and Jeff Von Lutzow) had his work ethic, they could be tremendous,” Mulligan said.

Mulligan also says May always does what is asked of him--a popular attribute of any coach.

“A lot of guys follow their game plan,” Mulligan said. “He follows our game plan.”

Monday night against Stanford, May’s game plan was to help guard Adam Keefe, the much-heralded 6-9 sophomore forward and former all-everything at Woodbridge High School.

Although Keefe scored 20 points--14 in the second half--in the 70-57 Stanford victory, May managed two steals, once stripping the ball from Keefe.

“I was just trying to play hard,” May said. “Adam Keefe is strong and smart. That’s a tough combination to deal with. I tried as hard as I could, what more can I say?”

Mulligan points to one more thing--May is a fine student.

May, a Big West Conference scholar-athlete who has a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average, will receive his undergraduate degree in economics in June, after three years in college.

Next fall, May will begin work toward a master’s in business administration, no doubt completing it before his athletic eligibility runs out after the 1991 season.

Of course, May’s performance in the classroom is not important to May’s courtside critics, of which, he says, there are many. Monday when Mulligan gave May the signal to enter the game, several people sitting behind the Irvine bench booed.

“I got booed last year, but it was the mocking, cheering kind,” May said. “Actually, it was fun. . . .

But now?

“Well, after the game (Monday) night, Coach (Mulligan) had a lot of people approach him and ask why he plays me,” May said. “It kind of bores me. I’m sick of all these people who think they’re coaches. I mean, don’t boo me . It’s Coach Mulligan’s fault that he couldn’t recruit a player better than me. Boo him , not me.”

Mulligan recruited May, on a recommendation of a friend, out of Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. May, whom Mulligan considered a long-term project, was redshirted his freshman year in 1987. But last year, he received some playing time, a total of 89 minutes--”garbage time,” May said--in 13 games.

Although May’s 1988 statistics were anything but spectacular--he took only six shots from the field, scoring on three, and had a season-high of three points against Utah State--he earned the highest mark on the team Saturday in the season opener against the University of San Francisco.

That mark came not on points--he scored only one--but on Mulligan’s overall plus-minus system of grading, one that considers the finer intricacies of the game.

“He busts his tail,” Mulligan said. “Sure, he has some physical limitations. He has to get stronger and stay in the weight room. But he’s smart. Right now he plays on intelligence and hard work. I think by next year, he’ll be a very good player.”

Bob Olson, Irvine’s sports information director, said: “He’s a late bloomer, that’s what he is. He’s not like a geeky-looking guy. He’s got a good build. If he keeps working in the weight room, next year he should be a lot stronger. And he has a killer instinct.”

When May is told of these remarks, he grins and grimaces. On one hand, he seems to enjoy putting down his abilities--perhaps to soften the blow of others’ criticism--but a moment later, he is vehemently defending the amount of playing time he receives.

“I’m sure there are some people on this team who think they can play ahead of me,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that at all. I like playing. A lot. And I’m fighting for every minute I can get.”

No matter what he thinks of his own abilities.

Along with his work ethic, May adds another dimension to the Anteaters: a sense of humor. Last year, he was a leader of the Anteaters’ bench antics.

Most of the antics, he says, were based on superstitions, so carrying them out successfully were imperative for victory. Well, at least that was the idea.

They included:

--Choosing one player to touch Mulligan’s head during each timeout.

--Trying to push assistant coach Mike Hess over and on top of Mulligan during timeout huddles.

--And, during Irvine free throws, a player was to rub the head of the player to his right, shake a towel with his left hand, and if the free throw was made, everyone threw their towels as high as possible.

“It worked,” May said. “We shot 80% (from the foul line).”

May said this season the antics have stopped. “I sit too close to Coach now,” he said.

The result? In two games, the Anteaters are 0-2 and have made less than 55% of their free throws.

Anteater Notes

Although the Stanford game was not a good one for Irvine’s basketball team, halftime was happy time for the water polo team. It was honored with a special presentation because of its victory at the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships Sunday at Indianapolis. Led by Dan Smoot’s five goals, Irvine won the national championship--its third overall--with a 9-8 overtime victory over two-time defending champion California, which entered the tournament as the top-ranked team. In the final season poll this week, Irvine, which finished 27-6 overall, was named the nation’s top-ranked team. . . . Also honored at halftime were Brigid Stirling and Buffy Rabbitt, who gained All-American honors at the NCAA cross-country championships two weeks ago. As a season-capper, Stirling and Rabbitt competed at The Athletic Congress national championships last Saturday, finishing 25th and 26th, respectively.