If Palmer Had Chance, He’d Take It Again

The philosophical question has vexed mankind through the ages, or at least since the adoption of the intercollegiate transfer rule.

Is it nobler for one to sit on the bench and win . . . or play 35 minutes a night and lose?

Rod Palmer, psychology major at UC Irvine, has his answer.

“I’m sure anybody who has a competitive spirit would rather play and not win than sit and watch other guys win,” Palmer has concluded after extensive research. “Sure, there are the accolades you get as a team. But I’d rather get the chance to play.”

Palmer could’ve been a contender. He could’ve been a UCLA Bruin. For two seasons, he was.

But Palmer wanted more from his Pauley Pavilion experience than a season ticket on the floor, so he traded his blue shirt for a red shirt and a trip to Irvine, which had always seemed such a nice place to visit.

Who would’ve guessed the place was about to be re-zoned into the black hole?

Palmer now starts at point guard for a team that last won a game last decade. Dec. 16, 1989 is the date now etched in history--the night Irvine last left a basketball court as a winner. Since then, two months and 14 games have passed. The school record for most consecutive defeats has fallen. Irvine is 2-19 overall, 0-for-its-past-14 and, with six games left on the schedule, stands a great chance of going 0-20.

The Anteaters have become the Can’t-eaters.

Around Irvine, it’s past the point of crying. Bob Olson, the school’s sports information director, passes the time by scouring the NCAA standings, looking for anyone in worse shape than Irvine.

“Davidson!” Olson exclaims with glee. “They’re 2-20.”

The other day on the team bus, Coach Bill Mulligan was flipping through USA Today, which ranks all 293 Division I basketball teams, and announced that the Eaters had checked in at No. 221.

“I guess that means we’re not going to (the) NIT,” Olson told him.

Palmer says he catches flak everywhere he goes.

“I’m embarrassed to show my face around,” he says. “I get it at school, I get it at home. My friends tell me we should just phone the games in. They say, ‘How about UCLA doing so good this year and you doing so bad up there?’ ”

Palmer should stop hanging around guys who talk like sportswriters.

“I’d do it the same way again,” he insists. “I have no regrets. You have to live with the decisions you make. I’m living with it. I’m trying to deal with it.”

Palmer had been a prep All-American at Dominguez High in Compton, playing on a team so rich with talent that a junior forward named Cedric Ceballos was relegated to the junior varsity. Palmer had Virginia Coach Terry Holland visit his home. He took recruiting trips to Clemson and SMU.

He opted for UCLA because he wanted to stay close to his family.

He was less keen about staying so close to the Bruin bench.

“My freshman year I played a lot,” says Palmer, who appeared in 25 games that season. “But the next year, Dave Immel was coming off a redshirt season. With Pooh (Richardson), Immel and Montel Hatcher, I was going to be the fourth guard.

“I kind of thought, coming out of high school, that I’d be starting by my junior year. Those plans fell through. My sophomore year, my playing time dwindled and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better, so I tried to look elsewhere.”

Irvine assistant Ernie Carr was Palmer’s head coach at Dominguez. He describes that sophomore season as “probably the worst experience of Rod’s life. He wasn’t playing much and he became so frustrated his grades suffered because of it.”

That’s one way of putting it. Palmer was declared academically ineligible and wound up enrolling at Compton College, where he spent a redshirt year trying to regain his eligibility. He could have returned to UCLA, he could have transferred to Cal State Long Beach or San Diego State--Palmer talked to coaches at both schools--but in the end, he cast his lot with Irvine.

Thanks a lot.

Palmer started 27 games as a junior and averaged 15.1 points. This season, Palmer moved to point guard, missed three games with a knee sprain, encountered double-teaming defenses upon his return and appeared in a dozen different starting lineups. His scoring average has dipped to 10.8 and his field goal percentage to 35.1%, but he remains the only Anteater to start all 12 of Irvine’s conference games.

So, at least he’s playing.

Carr, however, wonders if Palmer couldn’t have had it all with a little better planning.

“Maybe he’d have been better off redshirting his sophomore year at UCLA, “ Carr says. “He’d have probably started in the same backcourt with Pooh last season. This would be his senior year and he’d have made them a lot deeper and that much stronger.”

Palmer prefers to look at the positives Irvine has provided. Yes, he claims, there have been some.

“I would like to play basketball some place after college,” Palmer says, “and if I do, it will probably be as a point guard. Here, Coach Mulligan gave me a great opportunity to play point guard.

“Even though we’re not having a good season, I’ve learned to concentrate on getting the other guys shots and getting the ball to them when they’re open.

“I think that’s going to help me in the long run.”

In the short run, Palmer gives thanks for his psychology major--”Believe me, it’s helped me deal with this season,” he says--and tries to ease the pain in front of the piano. There’s a piano in the Commons where the Anteaters eat their pregame meals and occasionally, Palmer will pull up a stool and put on a supper show.

And what does Palmer play?

“A little jazz and a little blues,” he says.

The blues would only figure. At Irvine, it’s what passes for mood music this year.