Notes on a Scorecard - March 30, 1995

Lest we forget, Tyus Edney is not the first big little man to star for UCLA in the NCAA basketball tournament. . . .

This is the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest performances in a championship game--the 42 points scored by 6-foot-1 guard Gail Goodrich in UCLA’s 91-80 victory over favored Michigan at Portland. . . .

Goodrich made 18 free throws, which remain a title-game record, in 20 attempts. . . .

His 42 points are second only to Bruin Bill Walton’s 44 in 1973 against Memphis State. . . .

Marques Johnson, the radio analyst who was a sophomore forward on the Bruins’ last national champion in 1975, has two relatives on the current team. Freshman Kris Johnson is his son and Edney a cousin. . . .

Johnson remembers the semifinal overtime victory over Louisville 20 years ago at San Diego more vividly than the final over Kentucky. After the Bruins beat the Cardinals, 75-74, John Wooden told his players in the locker room that the next game would be his last as a coach. . . .

“We were stunned, but we got together and decided that there was no way we were going to lose,” Johnson said. The Bruins won, 92-85. . . .

Get ready for Big Country II at Oklahoma State. John Nelson is a 6-11, 260-pound freshman center who says his favorite pastime is eating. . . .

All seven previous UCLA teams that finished the regular season No. 1 in the polls went on to win the NCAA tournament. . . .

KIIS (102.7 FM) radio will stage a Bruin pep rally today at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Le Conte and Broxton in Westwood. . . .

Jerry West shares the Final Four record with Goodrich for most free throws attempted. West, who later teamed with Goodrich in the Laker backcourt, was 14 for 20 against Louisville in the Mountaineers’ semifinal victory in 1959. . . .

West Virginia won that night at Louisville’s home arena, Freedom Hall. . . .

Three Razorbacks who made the all-tournament team last year will be in the Arkansas lineup against North Carolina on Saturday--forwards Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman, and guard Corey Beck. . . .

If UCLA goes all the way, its 31-2 record will be the second best for a champion in the last 13 years. Duke was 35-2 in 1991-1992. . . .

Thumbs down on domes for basketball. Your seat in front of the television set will be far better than most at the Kingdome. . . .

Eddie Sutton is the only coach to have taken four schools to the tournament--Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. . . .

Average attendance for the first tournament in 1939 was 3,005. Oregon’s 46-33 victory over Ohio State for the title drew 5,500 at Patten Gym on the Northwestern campus in Evanston, Ill. . . .

The only two schools ever to appear in the Final Four, the College World Series and a bowl game during the same academic school year were Louisiana State in 1985-86 and Kansas in 1992-93. . . .

*

The show stealer at The Pond of Anaheim’s first boxing card Friday could be Gonzalez--Alejandro Gonzalez, that is. Gonzalez, who will defend his World Boxing Council featherweight title against Louie Espinoza, was terrific when he won the championship from Kevin Kelly in January. The previously unbeaten Kelly, his right eye swollen shut, couldn’t come out for the 10th round. . . .

Roy Jones Jr. made his acting debut on the TV show “The Watcher” on Tuesday and was convincing as a boxer. . . .

Quarterback Chris Chandler, who played for the Rams last season, has been signed by the Houston Oilers. . . .

The hockey crowds in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton are among the quietest in North America. . . .

Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins does some things that even Mario Lemieux couldn’t. . . .

Did you expect anything less than 55 points from Michael Jordan in his return to Madison Square Garden? Well, maybe a little less. . . .

The weather is beautiful and the Freeway Series is just about upon us, but, somehow, I don’t feel baseball in the air. . . .

It is time to let Reggie Lewis rest in peace.