Yes, Jim, UConn Win the Big One : UCLA: A year after Tulsa, Harrick is in the Final Four, and he says thanks for all the support.

Jim Harrick stood on the top rung of the ladder, scissors in one hand, last strand of net in the other, and, yes, this could be considered progress.

Twelve months after Tulsa, they’re allowing Harrick to handle sharp objects again.

This time last year, depending on which radio talk show was doing the yapping, and when, Harrick was the UCLA coach who couldn’t (a) coach; (b) win the big one; (c) win the mid-sized, reasonably noteworthy one; (d) make it to the Final Four; (e) make it to the Final 32; (f) carry John Wooden’s rolled-up, dogeared program, though he made it a point to continually try; and (g) justify his continued employment at UCLA, largely because he couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Harrick had committed the unpardonable sin of losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and he had committed it twice in four seasons. It was hammer time in Westwood, and Harrick endured such a pounding that it was remarkable Saturday to watch him scale that ladder without a limp or any outside assistance.

There he was, on top of a piece of hardware, if not the world, the University of Connecticut vanquished and the Final Four finally achieved. Jim Harrick stood there, in front of many of the same faces that cursed him for seven years and cheered him now, and he laughed and he shook both fists in the air and he told the crowd . . . thank you .

“Thank you,” Harrick shouted. “Thank you all.”

And for what, he was asked later.

“I just wanted to say thanks to the fans,” Harrick said. “Pauley’s been rocking this year. The students have been super. There are some great fans at UCLA, who have been supportive of it. And I wanted to let them know I appreciate it.”

And the radio talk shows of the greater Los Angeles basin?

Harrick grinned. “I never listen to those.”

And the masses who wanted his job, if not his head, after the loss to Tulsa?

“A third of the people always want you fired,” Harrick reasoned. “Another third sits on the fence. They jump on, they jump off. And the other third are the true blue people--I call ‘em ‘true blue Bruins.’ I want to do it for them. Do it the right way, above board, and still go to the Final Four.”

As soon as the buzzer sounded on UCLA’s 102-96 victory over Connecticut, Harrick met his three assistant coaches at mid-court for a group hug, then spun away to point up into the crowd, to where his wife of 35 years, Sally, was seated.

“My greatest asset,” Harrick said. “She’s been through a lot.”

Sally called Saturday’s victory “a dream come true for Jim. He’s worked hard all his life, and now it’s paid off for him.

“Jim grew up working in factories, working in construction yards. When he wanted to be spending more time on the basketball court, he always had to work. I think it made him tough. Jim is very tough-skinned. He couldn’t have this job if he were thin-skinned.”

Harrick said he hoped his UCLA career would be viewed from a different angle from here on out.

“I would hope this would be considered a breakthrough,” he said. “It seems like today in college basketball, you’re a failure unless you make the Final Four. But this tournament is so hard . . .

“Last year, people didn’t understand. We were a crippled basketball team against Tulsa. A banged-up basketball team. But when you go to UCLA, you are expected to win all your games. It’s not going to happen. But people don’t understand.”

People do, however, understand UCLA 102, UConn 96. The math has already been done for them.

“This is the pinnacle,” Harrick said, the tired muscles in his face regrouping for one more grin.

“Maybe,” he mused, “this makes up for everything.”