THE COLLEGES / MIKE HISERMAN : Dana Jones a Quick Study at Pepperdine

Pity the college coach who has great expectations for a recruit, only to never see them fulfilled.

Fortunately for Pepperdine and basketball Coach Tom Asbury, not all recruiting “mistakes” work to the detriment of a team.

Asbury viewed Dana Jones on modest terms when Pepperdine signed him out of North Hollywood High in 1990, but by the time Jones’ freshman season at Pepperdine had concluded, Jones was the most valuable player on a team that won the West Coast Conference championship.

Asbury, who is 59-33 in three seasons as Pepperdine coach, admitted as much this week as he recalled how the Waves rolled to an NCAA tournament berth last season.

“We had the player of the year in the conference (Doug Christie) and also the runner-up (Geoff Lear), yet if you took a poll of the coaching staff at the end of the season as far as which one of our players could not be replaced, it was Dana Jones,” Asbury said.

Seeing more court time than any Pepperdine player except Lear, Jones averaged 10 points, 8.2 rebounds and made 57.8% of his field-goal attempts. He also was second on the team with 45 steals and third with 71 assists and 27 blocked shots.

Although they are telling, even the statistics do not explain Jones’ full value. Even as a freshman, the 6-foot-6 Jones was Pepperdine’s best defender, guarding the likes of such high scorers as UCLA’s Tracy Murray, Arizona’s Chris Mills, Temple’s Mark Macon and Loyola Marymount’s Terrell Lowery.

“He’ll guard anything from a point guard to a big forward,” Asbury said. “I’ll put him on anything but a center just because of his basic defensive skills and his tenacity. He takes a lot of pride in shutting people down.”

About the only thing Jones did not do well last season was shoot free throws. He made only 33 of 62, a miserable 53.2%. “I know he will shoot better than that this season,” Asbury said, “probably because he can’t possibly shoot any worse.”

Jones, who as a senior at North Hollywood played center and averaged 20 points and 14 rebounds, has never been a great pure shooter. He has, however, been working on improving his range as well as his ballhandling skills.

Asbury expects Jones, a swingman, to score more this season and then blossom into even more of a scoring threat next season after Christie and Lear complete their eligibility.

“He won’t ever be a 25-points-a-game guy, though,” Asbury said. “He’s too unselfish. He always looks first to make the good pass. I think he is totally ego-less when it comes to scoring.”

Which is not to say that Jones has no ego when it comes to his game. He takes mistakes personally, which perhaps explains why retribution is never more than a few minutes away.

Asbury recalled that in the title game of last season’s WCC tournament against St. Mary’s, Jones made a turnover with 2 1/2 minutes left and the score close.

“I told my guys, ‘That’s the best thing that could have happened to us because in the last two minutes he’s going to do about three things to turn things around.’ And he did.”

On a collision course: Tonight’s game at North Campus Stadium features perhaps the top two players in the Western Football Conference.

Zed Robinson, Southern Utah’s tailback, averages almost eight yards a carry and is second among Division II rushers with 1,453 yards.

Alo Sila, Northridge’s senior defensive tackle, is a preseason Division II All-American choice who has played like one.

Sila has switched positions--from nose guard last season--and has been bothered by a nagging shoulder injury, but he has continued to dominate the line of scrimmage.

Northridge grades its defensive players using a system in which points are awarded for tackles, sacks, quarterback hurries, fumbles caused, fumbles recovered, passes broken up, passes deflected, interceptions and kicks blocked. Sila has 183 points, second on the team behind inside linebacker Ken Vaughn, who has 241.

Against Santa Clara two weeks ago, Sila was in on 10 tackles, including seven for losses totaling 19 yards. He also recovered a fumble and was credited with two quarterback hurries.

The performance earned him honors as the Division II defensive player of the week.

Briefly: Bakersfield College has a defensive back who, if he is not an All-American football player, at least has an All-American football name.

Bobby Gridiron broke up four passes and intercepted another against Valley last week, earning a share of the Western State Conference defensive player-of-the-week award, along with Pierce lineman Randy West. . . .

The 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by San Luis Obispo’s Chris Thomas was the first kickoff return for a touchdown against Northridge since 1986, Bob Burt’s first season as coach. Thomas played at Ventura High and Ventura College. . . .

Dave Hartman has adjusted nicely to the collegiate ranks. Hartman, who placed third in the Kinney national high school cross-country championships last year while at Canyon High, was Villanova’s fourth finisher in the Big East Conference championships Saturday, finishing 30th in 26 minutes 8 seconds over the five-mile course in Van Cortland Park, N. Y.

Staff writers Theresa Munoz and John Ortega also contributed to this notebook.