UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Men’s Exhibition Is Chance to Gauge Skill

OK, it’s an exhibition game against something called Five Star Sports, a team of former college players with a roster that includes no recognizable names, according to Irvine Coach Rod Baker.

Still, there will be a certain air of excitement Friday night in the Bren Center. Hopefully for the Anteaters, it won’t be because the score is close.

This is a new-look Irvine team and the curiosity level, at least, is up. How polished is freshman center Kevin Simmons? Is Raimonds Miglinieks really the best passer this side of Magic Johnson? Could Michael Tate stare down Mike Tyson? And, of course, will these three guys be enough to turn a 10-20 team into a 20-10 team . . . or even a 15-15 team?

The Big West coaches apparently think so. They picked Irvine--4-10 and last place in the conference standings last season--to finish tied for fifth this go-round.

“I look at Irvine’s team and I think this is the year they will get it together,” New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy said. “They’ve had a great influx of talent and they showed everybody what they could do in the tournament last year.”

Tenth-seeded Irvine lost to New Mexico State, 70-64, in the tournament title game last season. It was much too close of a game for McCarthy.

The Anteaters were not only playing better at the end of the season, they were playing smarter. Instead of extending and exerting pressure with its defense in a league known for its athletes more than its shooters, Irvine was packing it in a little, playing zone and making teams shoot over them.

It’s a trend you’ll probably see more of this season.

“We’re going to try to learn from what we did well,” Baker said, “try to do the same good things and don’t do the same bad things.

“First, we’re going to try to contain the ball on the dribble. If you can’t do that, your defense is constantly broken down and the opponent is playing with the equivalent of a man advantage. And then if you’re extended, your help can’t get there in time.”

Baker also wants to see continued improvement in defensive rebounding. Irvine was out-rebounded last season by an average of more than three per game.

“We have to be a better rebounding team,” he said. “We’re in the process of charting our opponents’ first-shot success. I have a feeling we did a pretty good job of getting people to miss their first shot, but we didn’t do a good job of getting the ball and going the other way.

“If the other team gets an easy put-back, all of sudden they’re shooting 50% against you.”

Conference opponents shot 49% from the field and 43% from three-point range against Irvine last season.

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Weird science: Baker is a firm believer in team chemistry and he obviously likes the formula he’s working with this season.

“We’re different,” he said. “We have some different players. We’re coming off a little success, and that’s different. We have a different outlook. We come from a different background. I know I feel different.”

If the Anteaters struggle, it will be a different kind of season for Tate and Miglinieks. Their community college teams--Ventura and Riverside, respectively--were a combined 66-10 last year.

“A lot of our chances for success will have to do with how we deal with the days when we don’t do what we usually do well,” Baker said. “And how we deal with the days after the days things didn’t go so well.”

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Sign-on: Mater Dei’s Clay McKnight and Paul Foster of Moorpark College have signed letters of intent with Irvine.

McKnight, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 14.6 points and shot 54% from the floor last season. “Clay is a guard, not just a (point guard) or a (shooting guard), but a guard,” Baker said. “He plays well with the ball or without the ball and he’s a terrific shooter.”

Foster, a 6-9 forward who led the state in shooting (65.7%), averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. “Paul will give us a presence with some size who can score,” Baker said. “He really understands how to play.”

Anteater Notes

The women’s 400-yard medley relay team of Gwen Yoshizumi, Amerie Nordbert, Carrie Rowe and Shelly Wright set an Irvine Crawford Pool record of 4 minutes 3.14 seconds during last week’s loss to Northern Arizona. . . . Basketball injury update: Forward Elzie Love (strained calf) and center Dan Augulis (dislocated finger) are sidelined and listed as day to day; forwards LaDay Smith and Shaun Battle (knee injuries) are going about “half speed,” according to Coach Rod Baker. “And Michael Tate needs about two weeks off, but he ain’t going to get it, so he doesn’t think about it.”