No. 2 and Trying Harder : Vaughn and the Kansas Jayhawks, Who Play UCLA Today, Don’t Want to Be Stopped This Season

Kansas lost its shot at a national title last season when it lost to Virginia, so Jacque Vaughn lost his hair, and a few pounds.

The desire to win a championship? The player from Pasadena’s John Muir High and three-year starter in Lawrence, Kan., most definitely hasn’t lost that.

Not as long as he can remember what it felt like when Virginia pushed around and overpowered the top-seeded Jayhawks in the semifinals of the Midwest Regional at Kansas City, Mo., 67-58.

Vaughn, Kansas’ 6-foot-1 junior point guard and acknowledged leader of the second-ranked team in the nation, came back this fall chiseled down to a solid 195 pounds, and never having to worry about a bad hair day. He shaved it all off.

“It all started with this off-season conditioning I did,” Vaughn said. “I realized we needed to put in more work in the off-season. Last year, Virginia was just a stronger ballclub than we were.

“I changed my diet regimen. I don’t eat any red meat any more. As far as meat’s concerned, I’m strictly fish, chicken, turkey. No fried food. No soda or pop. I’m not a full-fledged vegetarian but I definitely have taken a step in that direction.

“It’s definitely something different, and I can feel it paying off. I’m as strong as I’ve ever been. I’m second on the team in the bench press, first in leg press. I’ve definitely rededicated myself to just being a better player, just a total package.

“It’s not all physical. It’s definitely mental too. If there’s an edge, I’m trying to get that this year.”

As Kansas prepared for today’s nationally televised game against UCLA at Allen Fieldhouse, Vaughn said his work this summer was part and parcel of the Jayhawks’ dedication to erase last season’s stumble--plus the loss the previous season to Purdue, also in the regional semifinals.

Already, Kansas has partially avenged last season’s ending by defeating Virginia on Wednesday at Auburn Hills, Mich., 72-66.

“I think we didn’t realize how bad we needed to really want each game when the tournament comes around,” Vaughn said. “It’s one game and you’re out. I think that’s a big difference between this team and the previous two I’ve been on.

“The past two years, I’ve pretty much just been in place, being in my role. This year, I believe I’m the leader and I think my teammates have confidence in me.

“This year it’s not only by example, but it’s also vocally as well. I think Coach [Roy Williams] knows I want to accept that role. He put the ball in my hands from Day 1 when I was here.”

With only center Greg Ostertag removed from the team that won the Big Eight title and went 25-6 last season, and with the addition of Inglewood High swingman Paul Pierce, one of the top recruits in the nation, Kansas is expected to make a serious Final Four run this season.

But even with talent all around him--center Scot Pollard, forwards Raef LaFrentz, the Big Eight’s freshman of the year last season, and Sean Pearson, and guard Jerod Haase, last season’s Big Eight newcomer of the year as a transfer from California--the ball is in Vaughn’s hands.

“I think he runs his team better than most,” said UCLA’s own junior point guard, Cameron Dollar. “I think he gets guys to play at a high level. And that’s unusual for any player to do--just doing what the coach says and taking care of his teammates.

“He has two years up on me as far as minutes-wise, but I think gradually, as the year goes on, God willing, I will evolve into that role.”

Said Vaughn, who averaged only 9.7 points last season--and fewer than seven shots: “I’ve always said I’m going to be the prototype point guard. I’m not going to change my game to try to change the opinions of writers, change the opinions of fans.

“I’m always going to be the guy that’s gotten me this far. I might not be the most athletic point guard in the country, might not jump as high as the other guards in the country, but I think I have talents I can use.”

Vaughn, for his part, seems much more comfortable talking up the other Jayhawks, especially Pierce, who broke UCLA’s heart when he took his 6-6, high-flying act to Lawrence and has started Kansas’ first two games.

“He has tremendous talent, as far as just natural God-gifted ability,” Vaughn said. “He’s probably the best athlete on our team.

“But . . . from high school to college, there’s a lot of new things thrown at you, playing with more fire, playing every day at an intensity level that’s just not like high school. Once he really adapts to do both, he definitely could be one of the greatest who ever played at Kansas.”

Besides Vaughn and Pierce, Haase and Pollard are from California. Will there be extra motivation for the foursome playing UCLA today?

“It’s definitely going to be a game that’s going to be full of emotion and competitors who are athletically just God-gifted on court,” Vaughn said. “History has told us we’ve never beaten UCLA before [the Bruins are 8-0, with the last meeting a 71-70 victory in the second round of the 1990 NCAA tournament] and I wouldn’t mind beating history and getting a ‘W’ on the board.

“It’ll feel good to play against a team that’s from my home state. I’ve grown up with a lot of players on the team. . . . The chance to play them on my home court will definitely bring a smile to my face.”