COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : ‘Bruin Defense’ Not Just a T-Shirt : College basketball: UCLA says new attitude has been big reason for success this season.

They were soft. Couldn’t hold up gracefully under late-game pressure. Couldn’t hold up at all in the first round of the NCAA tournament last March against Tulsa.

So how did this year’s UCLA Bruins prevent last year’s breakdowns from repeating themselves?

By deciding, with the coaching staff’s loud urging, to make the term “Bruin Defense” a rallying call and T-shirt slogan, not an oxymoron.

By doing assistant coach Steve Lavin’s defensive stance drills last October until their knees quivered with fatigue.

By declaring that they were going to dominate the “Red Zone” this year, Lavin’s name for a 4-by-4-foot area around the basket, and eliminate the kind of offensive surges that destroyed them against Notre Dame, Arizona and California last year.

The results? Obvious, the top-ranked Bruins say, heading into their first-round game Friday night against Florida International.

“That’s why we’ve only lost two games this year, because of our team defense,” said sophomore forward Charles O’Bannon, who had been far better known for his dunks than his defensive stance.

“Everyone’s unselfish on defense. We’re taking more charges this year, we’re diving on the floor, we’re blocking shots. I think we’re doing it all, just for the team. Defensively, our game has stepped up.”

The gains on defense, and resulting opportunities on offense, are why many believe this team has the best chance to get to the Final Four of any of the Jim Harrick era.

Split up individually, Harrick says that his 1991-92 team, with Gerald Madkins, was better defensively. But this year’s squad, he says, has played more effective team defense--stepping into passing lanes, stripping the ball, getting back in transition defense.

Tyus Edney and Cameron Dollar attack the ball on the perimeter, Charles O’Bannon and Toby Bailey cause havoc on the wings, Ed O’Bannon--who the coaches say fuels the defense’s intensity--and J.R. Henderson take the baseline, and Harrick calls George Zidek his best-ever post defender.

And every player is told to keep his hands up and provide “help-side” defense, which means to clog lanes while the ball is on the other side of the floor.

“There hasn’t been anybody (who has) run on us this year,” Harrick said. “Our transition defense has been very good, our defense against the field goal was tied with Arizona for the best in the league.”

This year, the Bruins have held 12 of their 27 opponents--including Kentucky, Arizona, Stanford and Arizona State--below 40% shooting from the field and have forced 20 turnovers or more 13 times.

Against Louisville on March 5, when the Cardinals were only four points down late in the game, UCLA stole the ball on three successive possessions.

That’s a far departure from the team that gave up 63 first-half points to Tulsa in the first round last year on its way to a 112-102 defeat.

“No team will really exploit us like that again, no matter how hot they are, because of how solid our defense is,” said Dollar, who has 39 steals and a lot of deflections.

“I think that will really take us through the first couple minutes that are so emotional if they come out and just hit everything. Our defense is so staggering that it’s going to be hard for them to do anything like that.”

Lavin, who spent three seasons with Gene Keady at Purdue before joining Harrick’s staff in 1991, came up with the T-shirts with “Bruin Defense,” “Masterlock” and “Red Zone” logos, which the players are wearing in practice and as warm-ups before games.

“What we talk about a lot during timeouts is trying to get a string of shutouts or a string of stops,” Lavin said. “It’s developing a mentality like a football team--from the 20-yard line to the end zone, being tough to score on.

“That’s trying to build our defense from the inside out, like the Knicks and the Bulls. If you go inside, you’re going to have to pay the price, we’re going to knock you on your butt.”

So is this running, dunking, free-flowing team having fun bending its knees and playing button-down defense?

“Defense is definitely fun because it ignites our offense,” Charles O’Bannon said. “Everyone wants to score, and if you play well defensively, you’re going to get a steal, you’re going to get a dunk, you’re going to get a steal from someone else and they’re going to score.”