COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Which Way Will UCLA Play Today? : Midwest Regional: After a poor finish in the Pacific 10 Conference, the Bruins hope to be revitalized against Tulsa in the first round.

UCLA plunges headfirst into the unknown, right here in Central Oklahoma, where the Bruins finally will learn what kind of team they really are.

It has been a long journey to the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional and a first-round match-up against Tulsa today at noon PST in something that amounts to part game, part identity crisis for the Bruins.

Which UCLA team is going to show? The one that was 14-0 and ranked No. 1, or the one that finished the regular season 7-6 and dropped to No. 17?

It’s a good question and one to which there are about as many answers as hairs on Ed O’Bannon’s shaved head.

Jim Harrick did not sound too worried about the state of his 21-6 and fifth-seeded Bruins and putting them up against the 12th-seeded Golden Hurricanes, who are 21-7.

“I don’t mind our draw, I kind of mind where we are located,” said Harrick, who pointed out that neither Tulsa nor Oklahoma State, UCLA’s potential second-round opponent, needed to leave the state to play in the regional.

“I’m not disappointed in the way our team has played,” he said. “It’s no disgrace to lose six games, five on the road. I just want us to be mentally ready and emotionally ready. If you can’t get excited about playing in this thing, pal, you need to be somewhere else.”

For UCLA to survive the first round, the Bruins also need to be physically ready. Tyus Edney missed practice Monday and Tuesday because of a sore back, the aftereffects of muscle spasms last Friday, the day before the Oregon game. Edney’s presence is critical to the Bruins, who need his output on the fast break, not to mention his outside shooting and his ability to break down a press.

“We’ve got to have him healthy,” Harrick said.

Orlando (Tubby) Smith’s Tulsa team uses a pressure defense, sometimes in the form of a half-court or full-court press, and at the other end, excels at stretching an opponent’s defense by filling the air with three-point shots.

The Hurricanes tried 551 three-point shots and made 223, a school record. Shooting from long distance isn’t a big part of the Bruin offense. In 27 games, UCLA shot 298 three-pointers and made 103.

Smith noted that the Bruins are vulnerable in a half-court game, but he said he isn’t likely to change the Hurricanes’ style of play just because Tulsa has drawn UCLA in its first NCAA tournament appearance in seven years.

“It’s way too late for that,” he said. “What you do is to prepare the same way we did for every game this season. You try to be as consistent as possible. As for UCLA, we know they have great athletes, they’re tough in transition and they like to run. We might not have the same athleticism as they do, but we play hard.”

Tulsa’s chief weapon is 6-foot-4 forward Gary Collier, the Missouri Valley Conference’s player of the year. On his way to a 22-point average, Collier made 80 three-pointers, shooting 46.8% from long range. Harrick said Collier will be Shon Tarver’s responsibility.

The rest of UCLA’s plan to combat Tulsa’s three-point shooting is to switch all screens on the perimeter and to establish rebounding superiority against a smaller team. Tulsa starts one player taller than 6-5 whereas UCLA has 7-0 George Zidek, 6-8 Ed O’Bannon and 6-6 Charles O’Bannon across the front line.

When UCLA has the ball, the Bruins have to make sure they hang on to it so they don’t repeat the 20-turnover debacle at Oregon. Harrick said there is a common theory on how to defend UCLA.

“People think you have to play us physical,” he said. “Forearm shivers. You’re not going to get away with that in the tournament.”

Another theory on playing the Bruins is to force them into playing a half-court offense. UCLA has had problems working against zone defenses and can expect to see Tulsa throw one at them intermittently. Ed O’Bannon is almost always double-teamed when he gets the ball now, so he must recognize the defense, find an open player and pass the ball.

Tulsa’s running style should help lift UCLA from any lingering depression caused by Saturday’s one-point loss to Oregon in the last game of Pacific 10 Conference race. If it’s an open-court game, the Bruins should be more comfortable and then play better. That’s the plan, at least.

And if it makes Bruin fans feel any better, Harrick said UCLA is a better team now than when it was 14-0.

“When you go back and look at us then, we were doing the same things we are doing now and we were getting by with them,” he said. “When the games got tougher, we didn’t get by with them any more.”

At this stage of the season, UCLA won’t be able to get by with very much and still win. There is little margin for error and what a team did in the regular season does not count.

“That’s just the way it is,” Harrick said. “What if Arkansas gets beat? What if North Carolina gets beat? What if Arizona gets beat? It’s sad, the season is just window dressing all the way to the tournament.”

And what if UCLA gets beat? That’s one season out the window.

Bruin Notes

Tyus Edney completed a full practice Thursday for the first time since suffering from muscle spasms in his back six days ago. Edney, who couldn’t practice Monday or Tuesday, lasted about half of UCLA’s practice Wednesday, but said he felt good after working out at the Myriad, site of today’s games. “I’m certain we’ll play him,” Coach Jim Harrick said. “I’m just not certain how well he’ll play.” Harrick, who played an ineffective Edney for 33 minutes against Oregon the day after the point guard was injured, called that decision “a real stupid move by that coach.” UCLA got a scare during practice when Charles O’Bannon was accidentally poked in the right eye. O’Bannon sat in a chair on the sideline and held an ice pack over his eye. His injury is not believed to be serious. . . . In case you were wondering: Tulsa Coach Orlando (Tubby) Smith, one of 17 children, said this is how he got his nickname: “I was a little chubby and I had a fondness for the bathtub.”