Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 9, 1996

Jim Harrick, the veteran UCLA basketball coach, congratulated Bob Toledo, the new UCLA football coach, the other day. . . .

“Hey, you were the third choice,” Harrick said to Toledo. “I was only the fourth choice.” . . .

But now, 177 victories, 58 losses, seven NCAA tournament appearances, and a national title later, it is apparent that the selection of Harrick in 1988 was a good move. . . .

“My advice to Bob Toledo is three-fold,” Harrick said. “No. 1, recruit. No. 2, recruit. No. 3, recruit. That’s the difference between winning and losing. You aren’t going to out-coach many people at this level.” . . .

After a couple of narrow victories in the state of Washington, it doesn’t figure to get much easier for the Bruins this week when they face Stanford and California, both conquerors of Arizona, at Pauley Pavilion. . . .

“Oh, my heavens, this league is good,” Harrick said. “I don’t know if many people realize how difficult it is to go on the road in this league and win.” . . .

He thinks the defending national champions showed improvement during their come-from-behind victories over Washington State in overtime and Washington. . . .

“We played extremely well the last nine minutes against Washington State,” he said. “Against Washington, we kept our poise and got the job done in the last minute.” . . .

He said his young team is still making too many mistakes and needs a healthy Cameron Dollar at point guard, but that it has answered a lot of questions. . . .

“We’ve solidified the center position, our rotation is coming along, and we know that we can go to [Toby] Bailey, [J.R.] Henderson, and [Charles] O’Bannon, and also [Jelani] McCoy at times,” Harrick said. . . .

“When McCoy matures and grows a little and spends a year in the weight room, he can become a very fine player,” Harrick said about his 6-foot-10 freshman center. “Not to compare him to Bill Russell, but you think of Russell at USF and remember him only as a junior and a senior. This kid is a freshman. Freshmen didn’t used to play. He’s got some skills.” . . .

Someone in Westwood came up with the motto, “We want to go see Ed,” as in Ed O’Bannon, who plays for the New Jersey Nets at the Meadowlands, site of the NCAA semifinals and final. . . .

But the coach is downplaying it. . . .

“Last season, reaching the Final Four was our goal from Day 1,” he said. “This season, we’re trying to set weekly and monthly goals first.” . . .

*

Don Sutton and Phil Niekro should have been elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday. More than 300 victories apiece are worthy credentials. . . .

There was no excuse for Corey Nakatani whipping Tillie’s Joy past the finish line at Santa Anita on Dec. 29, but to suggest that Nakatani’s actions had anything to do with the horse’s death is ludicrous. . . .

Trainer Jay Robbins is on an uncommon streak. His horses have collected checks in their last 36 races while finishing no worse than fifth. . . .

Look-alikes: John Wooden and Ted Marchibroda. . . .

Coach Mike Keenan of the St. Louis Blues should wear ear plugs when he returns to Madison Square Garden on Sunday. . . .

It will be Keenan’s first appearance in New York since he quit as Ranger coach after their Stanley Cup championship season of 1993-94. The Blues didn’t play there last season because no games were played between Eastern and Western Conference teams during the lockout-shortened schedule. . . .

The Eastern snowstorm has forced postponement of many sporting events, including the New York-Seattle NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, but a high school tripleheader that began at 11 a.m. the same day at the Garden drew 7,788 fans. . . .

With much lower ticket prices, the Nissan [Los Angeles] Open at Riviera Country Club Feb. 22-25 will outdraw last year’s PGA championship at the same site. . . .

Now that he’s out of football, Buddy Ryan is focusing on getting fights for the middleweight he manages, Frankie Rhodes. . . .

Kennedy McKinney, who fights Marco Antonio Barrera Feb. 3 at the Forum, has sons who are named Kennedy II and III. He still has a couple to go, though, before equaling another Olympic gold medalist, George Foreman, whose sons are George II through V. . . .

The Indianapolis Colts finished the 1994 season at 8-8, giving them the nickname of the Indy .500.

Jim Harrick

Bob Toledo

Jelani McCoy