Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 10, 1991

Jim Harrick says he was hounded after UCLA’s victory over Louisville Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. Everybody wanted to talk about one thing--the new uniforms. . . .

After wearing either white or blue for 1,791 consecutive basketball games, the Bruins dressed in yellow to the horror of many of their fans. . . .

“What a furor,” the coach said with a laugh. “My gosh, you’d think this was the Persian Gulf. And here I always thought our colors were blue and gold.” . . .

Blue and gold it is, but the trouble is that Harrick picked a color that is closer to banana-peel yellow. I switched to the Bruins on ESPN after watching the Redskins beat the Eagles and thought something was wrong with the tint on my set. . . .

Actually, the local team that needs new uniforms is the Lakers. That purple--formerly known as Forum blue--is putrid. . . .

The Bruins will go back to white for most of their home games and continue to wear blue on the road, but the question is whether they will be seeing red tonight in Tempe, Ariz., and Saturday in Tucson. . . .

Arizona State may be the most improved team in the most improved conference in the nation, and Arizona remains the favorite for the Pacific 10 title, but Harrick says the Bruins are up to the challenge. . . .

“I never dreamed that we would be where we are (12-1, ranked seventh nationally) after Ed O’Bannon went down,” Harrick said. “Keith Owens and Shon Tarver are the reasons. Owens has made us a force in the middle, and Tarver gives us offense off the bench.” . . .

Harrick claims the Pac-10 has become as deep as any conference, 1-through-10, but realizes the rest of the country needs convincing. . . .

What the Pac-10 still lacks is big league exposure. The UCLA-Arizona State game won’t be televised, even in Los Angeles. . . .

Harrick on the NCAA convention: “There’s a lot of reform simply for the sake of reform.” . . .

Among bonehead rules passed by the NCAA is that eliminating graduate assistant and volunteer assistant coaches, meaning less supervision of athletes and fewer opportunities for young coaches to learn their trade. . . .

The leading scorer in the Pac-10 is, surprise, Oregon guard Terrell Brandon. . . .

You know college basketball has changed when Loyola Marymount beats Westmont, 93-81, and the pace for most of the game is described as “tepid.” . . .

Year in and year out, Westmont’s Chet Kammerer does one of the best coaching jobs in Southern California. . . .

If Indiana reaches the Final Four, it will have a home-state advantage in the Hoosier Dome. . . .

Rapid City guard Stevie Thompson, formerly of Crenshaw High School and Syracuse, is the third leading scorer in the Continental Basketball Assn. and will play in the all-star game. . . .

Five or six teams, including the Kings, are capable of winning the Stanley Cup in a wide-open season. . . .

After a slow start at the box office, the Gretzkys have sold out the Forum for eight consecutive games. . . .

Tina Hart, 6, sang the national anthem as it should be sung Tuesday night before the L.A.-Hartford game. . . .

Strangest logo in sports is the Whalers’, which is an H or a W, depending on how you look at it. . . .

Luc Robitaille has become the Buddy Bell of hockey. Rarely is a trade mentioned without his name attached. But I hope he remains a King the rest of his career. . . .

A recent Kings-New York Islanders game was televised into Saudi Arabia by SportsChannel, meaning more Americans saw it there than here. . . .

Don’t try to tell me that the bowlers competing in Torrance this week in the PBA tournament aren’t legitimate athletes. . . .

Granted, Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys improved from 1-15 to 7-9, but why make someone with a losing record NFL coach of the year? . . .

Bobby April, the outstanding assistant coach who is moving to Ohio State, didn’t want to leave the wrong impression about USC. “My contact with the people involved in the Trojan family was the greatest experience of my life,” he said. . . .

You don’t realize how tall NBA players are until you see Sugar Ray Leonard shooting free throws with the Knicks before a game at Madison Square Garden. . . .

In the current issue of Inside Sports magazine, Stu Black predicts that Dodger shortstop Jose Offerman and Seattle Mariners first baseman Tino Martinez will be rookies of the year. . . .

Joe DiMaggio earns $25,000 an appearance at card shows. In 1937, his second season with the New York Yankees, he made $25,000 after holding out. All he did that year was bat .346, score 151 runs, hit 46 home runs and drive in 167 runs. . . .

Six new Plan B free agents would help the Rams more than six new assistant coaches.