Can Charles O’Bannon Rise to the Challenge? : Bruin Admits He Has Been Lacking, but Says He Will Step It Up in Tournament

Loud and clear, Charles O’Bannon, whose nature is to laugh and tease instead of bellow and bristle, learned what it took to be a man in the O’Bannon family.

And, a few days past his 21st birthday, he learned what happens when you slip up and show the world how much growing up you have left to do.

“He knew he was wrong,” said his father, Ed O’Bannon Sr. “He knows how I feel. And that probably wasn’t a meeting that he wanted to be at.”

It wasn’t. In the wake of his late-night birthday celebration last month after his game-winning shot against USC--and subsequent absence at an early-morning shoot-around the next day--Charles O’Bannon knew he had to listen to his father. Intently.

The UCLA junior, who was benched for the first 24 minutes of UCLA’s loss at Duke for the infraction, concedes he let down many people, including Cameron Dollar, his three-year roommate and friend; his older brother, Ed, and Coach Jim Harrick and his staff.

“I just missed it,” Charles O’Bannon said of the practice. “I wasn’t defying coach by any means or whatever. I just missed it.”

But the discussion with his father and mother, Madeline, who attend every Bruin game, hit the heaviest. O’Bannons don’t miss practice. They lead, just as Ed had during last year’s national title drive.

“It’s hard hearing that your parents are disappointed in you, in the way you’ve been playing and a lot of things,” Charles O’Bannon said. “That was the first time, and it was devastating.”

Said his father: “You’ve got to go by the rules, and there’s always been rules in my house ever since he knew what a rule was. I don’t care if it’s your birthday or anniversary or whatever, these guys out there are trying to win a championship, trying to have some fun. If you’re going to be a team leader, you can’t be missing practice and you can’t be late. There’s no excuse for it. I don’t condone it, and I know the coach doesn’t.”

And as this uneven UCLA regular season winds down toward the NCAA tournament, Charles O’Bannon says he is determined to show the kind of leadership that he acknowledges he had been lacking through the birthday incident.

Against Oregon on Saturday, with the Bruins in deep trouble midway through the second half, O’Bannon, who has seemed content to get lost in some games, stepped up. He took four three-point shots (making two) and converted a three-point play on a twisting layup. After the game, he said he was trying to take command when he was needed.

“I’m 21 now, I’m a man,” O’Bannon said Tuesday after a 30-minute, post-practice individual workout. “It has nothing to do with my birthday or age or anything, but it’s time that some things change.

“It’s been an average year for Charles O’Bannon--nothing to write home about, nothing great. I’ve tried to be as consistent as possible, but I haven’t had as many big games as I would have liked. There’s been times that our team needed me to step up, and I wasn’t there.”

Last weekend, when UCLA was in Oregon, O’Bannon also had a telephone discussion with his older brother, who urged him to show some maturity--or else pay the consequences in the tournament.

When the Bruins have looked their worst this season, they have played without direction, aimlessly barreling into the lane or throwing up wild shots. O’Bannon, the team’s third-leading scorer (with a 14.3 point average, above his career average) and third-leading rebounder (5.9, below his career number), also was benched Jan. 18 against Arizona State after drawing a technical for taunting.

“He was telling me what I needed to do come tournament time, what he expected me to do as one of the leaders of this team,” Charles O’Bannon said of his talk with his brother.

“Pretty much just that I have to concentrate on what I have to do in practice, I have to shy away from just going home, watching TV. I need to work on my game, go home and do my books instead of just hanging out with the fellows, or whatever it may be.”

Fun Charles O’Bannon, gregarious and goofy, had never really been thought of as a leadership trainee, even as Ed’s little brother through the years.

“I think that Ed had a certain fire about him, that the way he went out and approached the game, he convinced you that you were going to win, and he convinced you that if you just climb on my back I’ll take you where you want to go,” said assistant coach Lorenzo Romar.

“That’s not going to be Charles’ way. Charles has his own way of leadership.”

Said sophomore swingman Kris Johnson: “Ed was a 23-year-old senior last year and was kind of like a father, or older brother. But Charles is like our age. And when you see that coming from Charles, that kind of wakes you up, because when you see one of your boys, Charles, our colleague, a guy we hang out with, doing that, it’s, ‘OK, it’s time to get serious.’

“He’s a big influence on us. If he steps up like that, that’s going to mature everybody else. Against Oregon, he did it by his play. He’s busting, he’s boarding, playing hard, getting us together at the free-throw line.

“It was kind of like, ‘What? Charles is doing this?’ ”

Dollar called a team meeting the day before the game against Oregon State, where the players hashed out some issues--then went ahead to one of their worst performances, a near loss to the Beavers.

But on Saturday, UCLA stormed back from a 13-point deficit with eight minutes left and won.

“We sat down as a team and discussed some things that we needed to discuss,” O’Bannon said. “It was a team-only meeting and things I really can’t discuss, but we got a lot of things out in the open and we’re ready for this tournament to start.

“Being an O’Bannon, that’s the way I’ve been brought up--to set your goals high. To shoot for anything else is not what I’m working for. I want the best.”

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They’re In

Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA basketball tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of Big Ten, Ivy League and Pacific 10 conferences, which do not conduct postseason tournaments. The American West and Conference USA do not receive automatic bids.

Automatic Qualifier: Austin Peay

Conference: Ohio Valley

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Automatic Qualifier: Canisius

Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic

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Automatic Qualifier: Central Florida

Conference: Trans America Athletic

*

Automatic Qualifier: N.C. Greensboro

Conference: Big South

*

Automatic Qualifier: Portland

Conference: West Coast

*

Automatic Qualifier: Purdue

Conference: Big Ten

*

Automatic Qualifier: South Carolina St.

Conference: Mid-Eastern Athletic

*

Automatic Qualifier: Tulsa

Conference: Missouri Valley

*

Automatic Qualifier: UCLA

Conference: Pacific 10

*

Automatic Qualifier: Virginia Commonwealth

Conference: Colonial Athletic

*

Automatic Qualifier: Western Carolina

Conference: Southern