Memories Are Back at UCLA : Bruins: And so are the fans, spurred by the optimism generated by the last two seasons of basketball under Harrick.

Hanging outside the office of UCLA basketball Coach Jim Harrick is a picture of the Omni scoreboard in Atlanta, which shows the score of the Bruins’ most important victory since 1980:

UCLA 71, Kansas 70.

That a second-round NCAA tournament victory would be celebrated by UCLA in such a way illustrates how far the Bruins have fallen. Second-round victories used to be routine for UCLA.

The victory itself, however, showed how far they have advanced.

Winners of only 16 of 30 games in the 1987-88 season, their last under Walt Hazzard, the Bruins won 21 in their first season under Harrick, 22 in their second. Included were three victories in the NCAA tournament.

Between the 1979-80 season, when they reached the Final Four in their first season under Larry Brown, and the ‘87-88 season, when they failed to reach even the National Invitation Tournament, the Bruins won one NCAA tournament game.

They made the tournament only three times in eight seasons.

Under Harrick, the Bruins have brought excitement back to Pauley Pavilion, not to mention paying customers. The announcements last August by local high school stars Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver that they would enroll at UCLA after having made spoken commitments to troubled Nevada Las Vegas, sparked a run on season tickets. The Bruins hope to average more than 12,000 fans a game at Pauley for the first time since the 1975-76 season, their first after the retirement of John Wooden.

They have landed in the top 10 in the United Press International’s preseason poll of coaches for the first time since 1983.

And until the highly regarded O’Bannon suffered a season-ending knee injury last month, Sports Illustrated was planning a cover story on UCLA’s resurgence.

On the down side, the Bruins finished in a tie for third place in the improved but still not imposing Pacific 10 Conference two seasons ago, fourth last season.

And the Bruins have failed to bridge the gap between themselves and Arizona, which has developed into a national power and become the overwhelming favorite to win the Pac-10 championship for the fifth time in six seasons.

Harrick, however, won’t concede anything to the Wildcats.

“They have everything--size, decent speed, good ability,” he said. “But when I was at Pepperdine, San Francisco had some great teams, and the second year I was there, we tied for the conference championship. The third year, they were seventh in the country and we went 14-0 in the conference and beat them twice.”

UCLA has four starters back from last season’s team, which was 22-11 and lost to Duke in the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament:

--Junior forward Don MacLean, who set a Pac-10 freshman scoring record two seasons ago, ranked second in the conference in scoring and third in rebounding as a sophomore, averaging 19.9 points and 8.7 rebounds.

He added 20 pounds over the summer, has since lost six and, at 230 pounds, said he feels stronger.

“The thing I’m most happy about is that it hasn’t cut down on my quickness,” MacLean said of his weight gain. “I’m probably even a little quicker because my legs are stronger.”

Only two former Bruins, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, averaged more points as sophomores.

--Sophomore forward Tracy Murray averaged 14.9 points and 6.4 rebounds in 18 games as a starter last season. His free throws with nine seconds left provided the margin of victory against Kansas.

He is expected to fill the void left by Trevor Wilson, a three-time Pac-10 rebound leader who is playing for the Atlanta Hawks.

--Junior point guard Darrick Martin was inconsistent in his second season as a starter, but still averaged 11.3 points and led the Bruins in assists and steals.

--Junior guard Gerald Madkins was a reluctant shooter as a sophomore, but ranked second on the team in assists and steals and was the Bruins’ best backcourt defender. He made a team-high 42.2% of his three-point shots.

Joining those four as starters will be Mitchell Butler, a 6-5 sophomore swingman who will join Madkins on the wings in the Bruins’ new 1-2-2 offensive alignment.

One of those spots originally was earmarked for Murray, a 6-8 long-range shooter. O’Bannon, a 6-8 forward, was expected to join the 6-10 MacLean on the inside.

After O’Bannon’s injury, a former walk-on, 6-8 senior Keith Owens, was considered to have the inside track at a starting position, but Owens was bothered by a back injury and Butler squeezed him out.

Harrick was reluctant to start such a small lineup--Martin is 5-11, Madkins 6-4--but Butler, who was a reserve guard last season, has impressed him.

“I expect big, big things from him,” Harrick said.

To utilize their quickness and compensate for their lack of size, the Bruins will run at every opportunity.

“I think we have that kind of talent,” Harrick said.

The top reserves will be Owens, once the pain in his lower back subsides, and Tarver, who will push Martin, Madkins and Butler for playing time in the backcourt and could end up starting before the end of the season, Harrick said.

Rodney Zimmerman, a 6-9 freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., also is expected to play after recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. Zan Mason, a 6-7 sophomore forward, probably will play more than he did last season, when he averaged 6 1/2 minutes in 22 games, but didn’t get off the bench in 11 others.

O’Bannon was considered by many to be the nation’s No. 1 prospect last season at Artesia High in Lakewood. For two weeks after O’Bannon was injured, “it was like there was a black cloud over our whole program,” Harrick said.

The cloud has since lifted and UCLA has accepted its fate.

“We were really looking forward to playing with Ed, but I think once we got past that, we all said, ‘This is what we’ve got, we can do it,’ ” MacLean said. “We never had Ed, so basically we’re the same club (as last season).”

At least, most of the personnel is the same. But the Bruins will be improved defensively, Harrick said. And, potentially, they are a better shooting team.

“This team’s a little closer and shares the ball a little better,” he said.

Said MacLean: “Hopefully, this year, when we get to the Sweet 16, it won’t be as much of a shock. It will be like, ‘OK, we’re in the Sweet 16. Let’s go farther.’ ”

ROSTER, SCHEDULE C10

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