NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : UCLA, Murray put Kansas on Ice : Bruins: Wilson provides the levity that Murray needs before converting crucial one-and-one situation.

Funny guy, that Trevor Wilson. He tells the World’s Most Dangerous Joke--the one that leaves Tracy Murray in stitches, the Kansas Jayhawks in tears and the UCLA Bruins in the NCAA’s round of 16--and he won’t tell anybody what it is.

“Just a little inside joke,” Wilson says. “Something I’d rather not repeat.”

Hmmmm.

X-rated, right?

“No,” Wilson says.

A threat?

“No.”

What then?

America won’t be able to sleep.

“Sorry,” Wilson says. “It’s just something humorous that’s been going on between Tracy and (me) for the past year. It’s something that really wouldn’t interest you.”

Try us.

Wilson wouldn’t budge, even as reporters backed him against a wall; and Murray was mum, so for now, the punch line will have to suffice.

After listening to Wilson’s mystery joke, Murray, a sweaty-palmed freshman, stepped to the free throw line with nine seconds left and UCLA down by one and sank the shots that upset the No. 2-seeded Jayhawks, 71-70, Sunday afternoon in the NCAA East Regionals.

The situation was no laughing matter. The Omni had become a vacuum-packed drum, the tension of the moment sucking all the air out of the arena. Kansas Coach Roy Williams heightened the drama by calling back-to-back timeouts between Kevin Pritchard’s foul of Murray and the front end of Murray’s one-and-one.

“I knew what he was trying to do,” Murray said. “ ‘Freeze The Freshman.’ ”

Wilson, UCLA’s senior forward, knew, too. The joke was his idea of anti-freeze.

So Wilson walked up to Murray, whispered in his ear and Murray walked to the free throw line laughing.

“I know what kind of player and what kind of person Tracy Murray is,” Wilson said. “I know he performs best when he’s loose.”

The voice of experience was just the voice Murray needed to hear. “I was feeling pressure,” Murray said. “I was a little scared. But Trevor got me to smile. He got me to relax.”

Down went Murray’s free throws and down went Kansas, but not before one last mad dash down the court.

This time, Wilson let his legs do the talking. When Kansas inbounded the ball to forward Rick Calloway, Wilson was in his face, forcing Calloway outside and hounding him down the sideline until Calloway stopped and threw a hurried jump shot at the basket.

The ball caromed off the back of the rim and landed in the hands of Jayhawk guard Jeff Gueldner. As the last second dropped off the clock, Gueldner dropped to the floor, a bad angle for any desperation shot.

The result was an air ball.

The next sound Kansas heard was the final buzzer to a 30-5 season in which the Jayhawks spent four weeks as No. 1.

A long season of blood and sweat had disintegrated into tears.

Williams addressed the media with watery eyes and cracking voice. Alongside him sat Pritchard, sobbing, his head buried in a towel.

“This season, we played so well for so long that at times, this team made me feel totally inadequate as a coach,” Williams waxed. “If I’m lucky enough to coach another 30 years, I will never be as lucky as I have been in having this team.”

Given his turn behind the mike, UCLA Coach Jim Harrick gave thanks for “a magnificent win” over “a magnificent team.” Harrick was clearly excited. The other day, he had lauded this meeting of Jayhawks and Bruins as “a matchup of two very, very traditionalized teams, no question about it.”

No question about it, Harrick needs to be educationalized that there’s no such word. But his drift was catchable. Dr. James Naismith brought his peach baskets from Springfield, Mass., to Kansas, and Wilt and Jo Jo White and Danny Manning played there. UCLA, of course, is UCLA, which made this victory all the more meaningful to a senior like Wilson.

For the past few years, UCLA hasn’t been UCLA.

“We live with the Wooden tradition each and every day,” Wilson said. “Every time we practice, we look up and see the 10 (championship) banners. There is a lot of pressure. This win today relieves a lot of that pressure.

“The fans in Los Angeles want perfection and they want a winner. That’s tough to live up to, but we all made that commitment when we signed up with UCLA.”

This time last month, the Bruins were plunged in a five-game losing streak, the longest at UCLA in 42 years. Wilson had a hand in that, too.

This time last month, Wilson had a hand in a brace. His sprained right wrist put a strain on his teammates, who suddenly had no senior leader to look to when a clutch basket or rebound was needed.

Wilson never went anywhere. His game, however, went south like a stone. “I couldn’t shoot and I couldn’t rebound,’ he said.

Two rounds into the NCAA tournament, the wrist is back to “80 to 85%,” according to Wilson. Sunday, that was well enough to score 18 points, pull down 12 rebounds, force four Kansas turnovers and generally terrorize the Jayhawks from start to finish.

“At 6-7 or 6-8, from baseline to baseline, Trevor Wilson may be the fastest player in America,” Williams said. “He has tremendous athletic ability. He hurt us a great deal with his penetration, and he hit some big outside shots early that really got them going.

“When UCLA hit that losing stretch at the same time Trevor hurt his wrist, believe me, it was no coincidence.”

Harrick believes. Reluctantly, but he believes.

“I didn’t want us to be a team that has to depend on one guy,” Harrick said, “but it’s ended up that way.”

Wilson even supplies the entertainment. A one-liner here, two game-winning free throws by a freshman there.

Funny stuff. Wilson may not be talking--a trade secret’s a trade secret--but he and the Bruins are laughing all the way to the East Regional semifinals.