These Two Teams Have Guards Up : UCLA: Darrick Martin nearly ended up playing for Duke, but he now feels at home with the Bruins.

If the call had come a day or two earlier, Darrick Martin might still be playing in the NCAA East Regional at the Meadowlands, but probably not for UCLA.

And Bobby Hurley, Duke’s highly touted freshman point guard, might not be making a triumphant return to the area where, only a year ago, he led St. Anthony’s High of Jersey City to an unbeaten season and the mythical high school national championship.

A prep All-American at St. Anthony High in Long Beach, Martin turned down offers from Duke and Arizona in the fall of 1987 to sign with UCLA, he said, because he wanted to stay close to his home in Compton.

One day later, Martin’s father was offered a transfer by his company to Charlotte, N.C., which is only about a three-hour drive from the Duke campus at Durham.

Martin and his parents, Jesse and Pam, had been especially impressed by Duke and its highly regarded coach, Mike Krzyzewski.

“A class act,” Martin said of the Blue Devil program.

So, if he had delayed his decision a day or two, Martin might have wound up at the point in Krzyzewski’s starting lineup.

And Hurley, a year younger, might have gone elsewhere.

“At times, I wonder how I would have fit in at Duke,” said Martin, who never had the heart to tell Krzyzewski about his father’s opportunity to transfer. “But I’ve been happy at UCLA.”

Never more so than this week.

The Bruins (22-10) will play Duke (26-8) Thursday night, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s East Regional final.

And the Martin-Hurley matchup will be closely watched.

Martin, who struggled at times this season as the replacement for Pooh Richardson, played one of his best all-around games Sunday in a 71-70 victory over Kansas.

Exploiting his quickness to make several acrobatic drives against the Jayhawks, Martin equaled a season high by scoring 18 points, matched a career high by making five steals and also had six assists as the Bruins reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 1980.

“Defensively, he dominated the first seven or eight minutes of the second half,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said of the 5-foot-11 Martin. “It was the kind of game we needed for Darrick to play in that situation.”

But it wasn’t the kind Martin has always produced.

Only last month, it was suggested by some that Martin might be playing out of position.

“The thought never crossed my mind,” said Harrick, who described Martin as a “tremendous” penetrator. “That’s his game--driving and passing and dishing and getting everybody involved in the offense.”

A prolific scorer at St. Anthony, he averaged 33.4 points, 8.7 assists and four steals as a senior and was the Southern Section 5-A player of the year. But Martin rarely handled the ball last season as a starter alongside Richardson for UCLA’s last 22 games.

It was assumed that, in returning to the point this season, he would blossom in Richardson’s absence.

But as Martin struggled through an inconsistent first month of the season, Harrick repeatedly said that Richardson, who was the 10th pick in the NBA draft last summer, was sorely missed.

“I don’t think he did that to compare me to Pooh, or to put me down, but to kind of inspire me to reach that level,” Martin said. “I think he realizes my talent and he doesn’t want me to misuse it.”

Martin said his progress has been slower than he anticipated. He averages 11.6 points and almost six assists and has made 47.8% of his shots and 71% of his free throws.

But he has been inconsistent.

“I thought at the beginning of the year, I might be a little farther along, as far as being comfortable with the position,” he said. “I thought I’d be playing then like I am now.”

Which is to say, pretty well.

“Since midseason, he’s grown immensely,” said Harrick, who called Martin’s 14-point, six-assist, six-rebound effort at Stanford two months ago a coming of age for the sophomore, who skipped the seventh grade and celebrated his 19th birthday only two weeks ago. “He’s only had one or two games since then that haven’t been really strong.”

Martin has matched his season high of 18 points three times in the last month and had 11 assists against Washington State three weeks ago.

Before the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, Martin wrote on the side of his shoes, “Hank ‘90,” in memory of Hank Gathers, the Loyola Marymount player who collapsed during a game March 4 and later died.

“It’s a tribute to let him know that somebody other than his teammates was touched by his presence,” said Martin, whose friendship with Gathers developed last summer, when he and Gathers often shot free throws together and the 6-7 Gathers called him Little Fella. “I’ll probably wear it on there the rest of the season and probably the rest of the time I’m at UCLA.”

Martin would like that to include a trip next week to Denver, his birthplace and the site of this year’s Final Four.

“I want to go to the Show,” he said.

How Martin fares against Hurley Thursday night may be a key. Hurley has emerged as a leader for Duke in his first season, amassing a school-record 262 assists and also leading the defense with 59 steals. Last Sunday, in a 76-72 victory over St. John’s, he limited Boo Harvey to four-of-18 shooting.

Martin downplays the matchup, but he faced Hurley at the Olympic Sports Festival last summer and is looking forward to playing against him again.

“I would say it was a standoff,” Martin said of their first meeting. “He’s quick and he’s very smart. He’s excellent on defense. He causes a lot of turnovers and he causes a lot of point guards to make their passes a second too late, allowing his teammates to get into the passing lanes.”