Bruins’ NCAA Drive Leaves Floor Burns

A throng of newfound friends will gather today at Marquis Burns’ apartment in Las Cruces, N.M.

And with the buffering of his pals, none of whom he knew before January, Burns will once again see the life he left behind flash before his eyes on a TV screen as he watches UCLA play Oklahoma State in Seattle.

If there is a forgotten man in UCLA’s basketball season, in which the Bruins have been ranked No. 1 in the nation for several weeks and reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, it is Burns, a guard from Reseda High who quit the team in December and transferred to New Mexico State.

With every television timeout, the 6-4 junior will second-guess his decision to transfer. And he’ll try not to say “we” when he talks about his former teammates to his new Lobo teammates.

“I have to stop myself,” Burns said. “I had been with those guys for about three years. We were a tight group. I miss them and I’m sure some of them miss me, too.”

Until last week, Burns was paying rent on his Westwood apartment because he and Bruin center Ike Nwankwo, his ex-roommate, couldn’t find a replacement tenant.

Finally, Nwankwo called Burns from Oakland following UCLA’s rout of Mississippi State in the West Regional semifinals to tell him a new roommate has been found. Then Nwankwo put senior guard Tyus Edney on the phone.

Burns told Edney, who drove the length of the court to make a game-winning bank shot as time ran out against Missouri a week earlier, that the Bruins would go as far as he would take them.

“Man, that play was unbelievable,” Burns said. “He’s the quickest guard in the country. I had to guard that guy in practice for two years. It was no picnic. I told him I was happy for them, because I know they worked hard for it.”

It was UCLA’s senior leaders, Edney and Ed O’Bannon, who were most touched by Burns’ midseason decision to withdraw because of diminished playing time.

“Dang, I don’t want to see you leave,” Edney told Burns. “But you got to do what’s best for you.”

Burns wants to play, and he figured that was not going to happen after UCLA added Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson--freshmen who have played key roles.

“It was a tough decision, but if I stayed I really wouldn’t have been too much of a part of it,” Burns said. “A minute here, a minute there. There was so much talent on the bench. I was not in the rotation and time was running out.”

Burns, who says he will be eligible to play for New Mexico State as a junior after the first five games next season, had only nine points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Bruins this season.

The last time he played substantially he had 11 points and had two steals in 20 minutes of a 112-102 loss to Tulsa. But that was a dark day in Bruin history as fifth-seeded UCLA was upset by the 12th-seeded team, trailing by as many as 29 points in the first half, in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament.

“I could tell once the season started that the only thing that would stop them this year was themselves,” Burns said. “Ed (O’Bannon) in practice gave the vibe every day that they were not going to let that happen again.”

Burns said he doesn’t know how he’ll feel if UCLA goes on to win its first national championship since 1975. But he does not like the feeling of sitting on the bench.

“What use would it be to be on a championship team and not contribute?” he said. “I could have a ring now, but two years from now--when I graduate--I wouldn’t want to look back and think that I could have played elsewhere. I wouldn’t want to wear the ring.”

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Tab Notes

Nevada Las Vegas shortstop Stacy Kleiner (Taft) leads the team with a .373 average and has nine stolen bases. Second baseman Ryan Hankins (Simi Valley) has a .336 average and 24 runs batted in. . . . Long Beach State outfielder Nic Frank (Camarillo/Oxnard College) has a .338 average and nine stolen bases. 49er outfielder Will Skett (Reseda/Valley) has a .457 slugging percentage. First baseman David Stevenson (Chatsworth/Valley) has more RBIs (15) than hits (nine).

Cal State Fullerton’s John Mitchell (Camarillo) has a 2-0 record and 3.68 earned-run average. . . . BYU first baseman David Bayles (Crescenta Valley) has a .273 average and leads the Cougars with 21 walks and a .533 on-base percentage.