COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Zidek Puts Damper on Bulldog Hopes

The first basket UCLA made, Big George Zidek dug an elbow into the ribs of Mississippi State’s center, twirled and shot one of those skyhooks of his. OK, groundhook.

The next basket UCLA made, Zidek stopped 18 feet from the hoop to shoot a (cough) “jumper.” His feet nearly left the ground.

It was his night. He could feel it. Zidek decided to push his luck. He decided to push 6-11, 255-pound Erick Dampier all over the Oakland Coliseum floor until somebody called him for it. Nobody called him for it.

Zidek approached a referee during halftime warm-ups, bent down and said, “Good job.”

By the time Thursday night’s game at the NCAA West Regional was over, Zidek had made a big impression on everybody. He helped put Mississippi State’s players on the last train to Starkville. He helped put UCLA within one game of the Final Four. He was the happiest 7-foot economics major carrying a Czech passport in the whole United States of America.

First man into the UCLA locker room after the game, Zidek picked up a blue felt-tipped pen and wrote:

1 MORE

A teammate, Charles O’Bannon, came in and saw the words. Charles picked up the same pen and wrote:

2 THE 4!

“See?” Zidek said later. “We even use teamwork in here.”

He was so pleased with what he and the Bruins had done. One seldom hears the big dawg from Prague mentioned very often when college basketball’s strong young centers are discussed. You hear other names, like that Li’l Abner out of Oklahoma State, Bryant (Big Country) Reeves, but nobody seems to have much to say about Jiri (Big City) Zidek--nothing nice, anyway.

Only a few years ago, he spoke almost no English. Now, speaking it beautifully, with only a trace of a Schwarzeneggerian, I’ll-be-bock accent left, Zidek sat at his locker and said, “The media, ha. They have just been talking about Dampier, about how I couldn’t stop him. How I am slow-footed and there is no way UCLA can stop Dampier. That is all they say.

“I was very excited to play Dampier because he is one of the best centers. Right from the get-go, I started pushing him. I was trying to get into a shoving match with him. I was delighted that the referees let us get away with it.”

And UCLA ran away with the game, leading by as many as 36 points.

UCLA is still looking for respect, same as George.

“Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps . . . “ Zidek said shaking his head. “They never really believe in us. They always say, ‘UCLA is going to lose, you watch.’ ”

It gets a guy hot.

“That was why I write ‘1 more’ on the board,” Zidek said.

It was obvious how much this game meant to this senior. He didn’t slow down Dampier. He stopped Dampier. Took him right out of the game. Held him to four shots all night. Fouled him out. UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, glancing at a stat sheet, exclaimed, “And Zidek’s play! You got to be kiddin’. . . . Four shots for that guy?”

Zidek’s defense was superb. And on offense, while tiny Tyus Edney was alley-ooping all over Oakland and playing his way right into the NBA draft, Zidek was aiming hook shots with either hand and jumpers without jumping.

He was positively Jordan-like.

“Oh yeah, definitely--just like Michael,” Charles O’Bannon agreed. “There are a lot of moves I can learn from George.”

The Bruins were in rare form. For three fourths of this game they had poor Mississippi State playing point-a-minute basketball. After the hairy experience of the Missouri game, this one was a refresher course in how the game should be played. And it came against a team that had defeated Kentucky at home and national champion Arkansas.

The score was 65-29 at one point. UCLA’s Toby Bailey, in the understatement of the tournament, said of the beaten Bulldogs: “They caught us on a good night.”

Connecticut comes next. Connecticut is the “1 more” that UCLA needs.

It won’t be Maryland. And that is too bad, because George Zidek knew a lot about Maryland.

“You see so many Maryland games on TV,” the UCLA man said.