WOODEN CLASSIC : Bruins Can Make Plays, but They Need a Playmaker

In the national championship game last April, the UCLA basketball team had to play without a point guard. Tyus Edney tried, but his wrist was so sore that he had to take a seat. Edney was a spectator at that game, just like John Wooden.

While winning their end of the Wooden Classic Saturday at Anaheim, 73-63, over 20th-ranked Maryland, what became more and more obvious about the Bruins’ chances of repeating as national champions was that, once again, they will have to get by without a point guard. Mainly because they don’t have one.

Cameron Dollar, who ostensibly runs the offense, didn’t start for UCLA because of a problem with his fingers. Same as Edney, Dollar gave it the old college try, entering the game in the second half because nobody else Coach Jim Harrick called upon could dribble the ball without Maryland stealing it.

But the fact is, Dollar is no point man. No “true” guard, as they say today, because Dollar is neither a ballhandling wizard nor an outside shooter of note. He is a defensive specialist with above-average leadership skills and intelligence.

Back when Wooden was a coach and not a tournament, a point guard was known as a “playmaker.” That was the actual name of the position. A guy running your offense would be playmaker Bob Cousy, playmaker Quinn Buckner, playmaker Henry Bibby. “Floor general,” he would also be called.

Edney was one. So were Rod Foster, Lucius Allen and several others from UCLA’s glory days. But the 1995-96 Bruins are short in that area. Their starting lineup Saturday consisted of a center and four swingmen. The result was 29 turnovers, a number that could have been greater had Dollar, at 10% off, not come into the game.

During introductions, they can announce Toby Bailey and Kris Johnson at any position they like, but neither is a true guard, nor even particularly a No. 2 guard. The only real point guard on Harrick’s bench is Brandon Loyd, a freshman who isn’t yet equipped to start on this level.

Bailey is, in actuality, a small forward who brings the ball up court, a la Scottie Pippen, but is best when working and twisting his way to the basket, not standing 20 feet from it. Bailey’s biggest asset is his tremendous talent. What he has to learn is how to harness that talent, avoiding unnecessary mistakes by being careful with the basketball, the way Ed O’Bannon usually did.

Johnson did a nice job in his 26-minute debut as a starter. Half the man he used to be, the result of an amazing weight loss, Johnson is adjusting his game to suit his new frame. Kris used to be an Adrian Dantley type, a baseline forward who made up for whatever he lacked in height by using a quick first step and a Dantley-sized caboose. By season’s end, he could become one heck of a player.

Carelessness is the big concern of the coaches before the conference race. Watching a fast break ruined by a behind-the-back pass is not their idea of a good time. Neither is an eight-turnover total for the starting center.

Ah, but the emergence of Jelani McCoy as a big-time collegiate center is a sight that is definitely worth beholding. The freshman’s triple-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds and a school- and conference-record 11 blocks, that was impressive. But the best part is, this kid is fearless. He has great confidence and enthusiasm, and is learning which shots he can’t bat into the 10th row.

“They knew he was in there,” Harrick said of Maryland’s shooters with regard to McCoy, and that’s just the point: Intimidation can be as good as a block.

Maryland’s coach, Gary Williams, shrugged it off by pointing out that his players had already gone up against Kentucky and Massachusetts, so that nothing they saw from McCoy or UCLA was all that unusual. Williams said he was impressed with McCoy, but added, “We’ve seen that before. We just didn’t react very well.”

Not much doubt about that. After a morning game in which Purdue put the P.U. into the tournament--”We stunk up the place; I wouldn’t invite us back,” Coach Gene Keady said--out came Maryland with an equally odorous effort, one that featured an improbable three assists and 77 shots.

With a statistic like that for a nationally ranked team, the importance of having a point guard might be debatable. UCLA might have enough sheer talent this season to succeed without one.