MacLean and Bruins Vanish in Thin Air

The Pit was packed, Bob Knight was glowering on the sideline, the opposition was dripping in Indiana Hoosier crimson, the Final Four was within earshot . . . and the leading scorer in the history of UCLA basketball said he was “flat.”

“I had no zip,” Don MacLean said. “I had no legs. I never got into it.”

The man who scored more points than Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks, Reggie Miller, Gail Goodrich, Marques Johnson and Kiki Vandeweghe played the most significant game of his life Saturday afternoon in the final of the NCAA West Regional.

He went four for 13 from the field.

He had six points during the game’s first 30 minutes, sank his third field goal with 9:05 to play and finished with 12 points before getting pulled from the game for pushing Indiana’s Alan Henderson out of intense frustration and being whistled for an intentional foul.

His team lost, 106-79.

MacLean knows what they say about great players. They take their teams to great heights. MacLean said so himself the other day.

So where does that leave MacLean, his UCLA career over and out, after one badly vapor-locked performance during the Bruins’ worst NCAA tournament defeat of all-time?

“I hope people will remember the good things and not how I finished my career,” MacLean said. “I don’t think this taints it. Winning this game could have enhanced it.

“I really could have made a name for myself in the Final Four. I think my career numbers speak for themselves, but the Final Four, that’s what you play sports for. For team championships and things like that.”

MacLean leaves UCLA zero for Final Fours. He got to the second round once, the third round once and the fourth round Saturday. This was his last chance, his best chance, coming against a team UCLA beat by 15 points on Nov. 15.

Now, they are bookends to MacLean’s senior season.

Open it against Indiana, close it against Indiana.

“It’s not like we weren’t prepared for them,” MacLean said. “We had a good game plan. We’d already beaten them. But right from the get-go, something seemed wrong.”

Here’s a clue: Indiana missed 12 of its first 16 shots and still had a lead, 9-8.

And another: MacLean missed his first shot, a flying hook. And his third shot, an open jumper. And his fourth, a baseline jumper. And his fifth, a forced shot from the corner of the key.

MacLean is usually a quick read. He gives the plot away early. Hit a few shots in the first few minutes and begin the countdown to 30 points. But miss those shots and MacLean’s whole game can slip into a funk.

No zip? That’s MacLean’s jump shot, when it is fired hurriedly and at random. The trajectory flattens, the ball skids around the rim and spins out.

No legs? That was MacLean’s defensive stance once UCLA fell behind, with his jumper powerless to do anything about it. With MacLean jogging back on defense, Indiana began whipping the ball upcourt to his man, Hoosier center Eric Anderson, who kept scoring until he clinched the regional’s most outstanding player trophy.

“I was tired from the start,” MacLean said. “I couldn’t figure it out. I don’t know how you can be so mentally ready and want it so badly and come out so flat.

“But I felt tired after the first five minutes. And once we got behind, your emotions get drained quick.”

Out of thin air, Knight offered MacLean an assist by offering a reason why.

The thin air.

“I’m against playing NCAA tournament games in high-altitude places like here or Denver,” Knight said. “It throws a mix into the tournament that shouldn’t be there.”

MacLean appreciated the help, but noted that “the altitude was the same for them, too.”

MacLean did, however, want to point out that he wasn’t the only Bruin shooting blanks. “I rushed a few shots and probably took us out of what we wanted to do,” he said. “When my shots weren’t falling, I figured I might as well pass off, but nobody else was hitting, either. Everybody just started running around in circles.”

This much is true. MacLean didn’t act alone. Tracy Murray went six for 16, missing all three from three-point range. Tyus Edney went five for 15. And, as Gerald Madkins insisted, “We’ve played well before when Don hasn’t. He went one for five against Robert Morris and we won. But against a team like Indiana, you can’t afford to have anyone have a letdown. You can’t get anything done, you can’t get anything achieved.”

To the end, MacLean wore his frustration on his wristband. During the first half, he interrupted a budding Bruin run by exchanging words--and technical fouls--with Hoosier guard Jamal Meeks.

Said MacLean: “The officiating here was unbelievable. This is the first time I’ve seen technicals called because of conversation between players.”

And with 3:23 to play, MacLean began shoving Henderson, which got MacLean an intentional foul and one final walk to the UCLA bench. Said MacLean: “He was setting illegal screens and throwing elbows all game. I retaliate a little bit and get nailed for it.”

Final buzzer still ringing in his ears, MacLean says nothing and walks up the long ramp through dreary cement tunnel to the UCLA locker room. His 12 points leave with 2,608 for his collegiate career. They also leave him with questions to answer about his legacy, about how he thinks he will be remembered around Pauley once the calendar turns over a few times.

“From where the program was when I started to where it is now, it’s made a pretty significant jump,” MacLean said. “When I first got here, we were pretty much starting from scratch. . . .

“Now, the program is where it should be. UCLA should consistently get into the final Eight now--and punch it into the Final Four once in a while.”

As for MacLean, well, he said it all before.

He never got into it.