UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Baker’s Practices Turn Anteaters Into Early Birds

‘Twas the morning before practice and all across campus, not a creature was stirring . . . except a small group of yawning Anteaters.

At 5 a.m., the Bren Center is an unrecognizable lump in the darkness. On closer inspection, however, a thin line of light spills out from under a back door and the faint squeak of sneakers drifts on a light breeze.

“Oh man, when that alarm goes off at 4:30, it’s really tough to get up,” said forward Elzie Love, whose alarm didn’t go off on this morning. He was 17 minutes late, which meant the whole team did 17 nonstop minutes of full-court layup drills after a 2 1/2-hour practice.

Due to a number of conflicts with classes, Coach Rod Baker has had difficulty scheduling afternoon practices that all team members can attend. So he’s holding practices in the morning, sometimes beginning at 5, sometimes starting at 6 or 6:30.

“Some mornings are better than others, but I thought we got after it pretty good today,” Baker said after a wee-hour workout last week. “The guys complain a little bit, but then I remind them that at Temple, they do this every morning. And it’s pretty cold to come crawling out at 5 in the morning in Philadelphia.

“Heck, it’s downright balmy here.”

Most of the players agree it’s the buzz of the alarm that’s most obnoxious.

“As far as I’m concerned, anything before 8 o’clock is the same,” senior Khari Johnson said, “but it is really hard when it’s still pitch black outside. Once you get into it, though, it’s fine.”

At least one player, Mark Odsather, a junior forward from Bellevue, Wash., doesn’t mind the early-morning practices. When his alarm goes off, it brings back fond memories.

“I love it,” Odsather said. “Really, I don’t mind it all. I’m a fisherman, so getting up early is like second nature to me.”

The rest of the Anteaters may not be as bright-eyed or bushy-tailed as Odsather, but they had better get used to it. Baker says the majority of the team’s practices the remainder of this season will start before the sun rises.

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Hurry Zuri: Point guard Zuri Williams, who started seven games this year but was relegated to back-up status when Lloyd Mumford was moved back to point guard, will have to pick up his offensive output if he wants to continue getting significant playing time.

Williams has played more minutes than anyone except Mumford and Jermaine Avie, but he has taken only 44 shots this year and is averaging only 3.7 points.

Baker says he has told Williams it’s time to start thinking about his offense.

“It’s not something he’s used to,” Baker said. “It’s almost like a last-ditch thought for him. He’s got a great assists-to-turnover ratio (2 to 1), but sometimes it’s a situation where it’s almost like we’re playing four against five when he’s in there.

“He just needs to take charge. When Lloyd’s not in the game, it’s his team and he’s got to realize that.”

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Itchy scratchy: Mumford, who suffered a lacerated left eyelid against Nevada Las Vegas, was back in action--wearing protective goggles--Saturday night against Nevada and Monday night at Utah State. But the injury is clearly bothering him.

“It hurts every time I blink,” Mumford said after the game at Nevada, “and I can’t really see out of it very well. They put stitches on the inside of the eyelid and every time I blink, it scratches my eyeball.”

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Revolving door: Baker says his team’s strength is its depth and 11 Anteaters average 9.5 or more minutes. But Baker runs them in and out of the action so often that continuity seems to be one of the Anteaters’ myriad problems this year.

Players are reluctant to criticize Baker’s substitution method, but one recently admitted that “it is kind of tough to get into the flow sometimes.”

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The last word? Assistant coach Greg Vetrone, scolding forward Love for not getting back on defense during practice: “That’s the same thing that happened last game. You were (fooling) around underneath the basket when you should have been getting back.”

Love: “I didn’t play in the last game.”

Anteater Notes

Cameran Lindee, a freshman tennis player, received the 1993 Evelyn Houseman Sportsmanship Award from the Southern California Tennis Assn. The honor is the highest given to a junior player by the SCTA.