Romar Ready to Call His Own Shots at Pepperdine

Everyone knows he can recruit. But can Lorenzo Romar coach?

It’s a fair question, Romar said, considering he built his reputation by attracting top high school basketball players to UCLA in four seasons as an assistant to Jim Harrick.

Now that he’s in charge of his own program at Pepperdine, Romar says it’s only natural to wonder how he will fare calling the shots.

“No question,” he said. “That’s the case with everybody, from [Kentucky’s] Rick Pitino, Jim Harrick and every coach who’s gone on. They had to prove themselves. That’s just part of it. I’m not one who’s good at making predictions. I can only predict how hard I work.”

Romar has plenty of company in the unproven department. He is one of three first-year coaches in the Southland--four, if you count USC’s Henry Bibby, who finished last season with the Trojans as interim coach--joining Wayne Morgan of Long Beach State and Bobby Braswell of Cal State Northridge as practice officially begins today.

Romar got an early start after initiating Pepperdine’s first midnight madness practice. The Waves played an intrasquad game at Firestone Fieldhouse, providing fans with their first glimpse of a team that is probably a year away from shaking up the West Coast Conference.

Center omm’A Givens and guard Jelani Gardner must sit out the season after transferring from UCLA and California, respectively, leaving each with two years of eligibility. Senior guard Gerald Brown, a two-time all-WCC selection, most likely will redshirt to fully recover from knee surgery.

Their absence leaves Pepperdine short on leadership as well as height, a combination that will make it tougher to improve on last season’s 10-18 record and last-place finish in the WCC.

Without the 6-foot-10 Givens, the Waves’ tallest player is 6-8 junior Bryan Hill, who averaged 15.1 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds last season.

Key contributors figure to include senior guard Marques Johnson, a returning starter, and two players who sat out last season--sophomore swingman Tommie Prince and sophomore guard R.J. Powell. The 6-5 Prince, a former star at Compton Dominguez High, transferred from Arizona State after sitting out the 1995-96 season because he did not meet academic requirements for freshman eligibility. Powell was sidelined because of a back injury.

Prince, Givens and Gardner, who is tied to an NCAA investigation into possible recruiting violations at Cal under former Coach Todd Bozeman, were all recruited by Romar at UCLA.

Romar said his primary objective is to create a winner’s mentality at Pepperdine. The Waves are 18-37 over the last two seasons, including 6-22 in WCC regular-season play.

“Winning doesn’t mean you show up on the floor Oct. 15 and say, ‘OK guys, let’s go get it done,’ ” he said. “Winning has a lot to do with character.”

At Long Beach, Morgan takes over for Seth Greenberg, who moved on to the University of South Florida after last season. Morgan, a longtime assistant at Syracuse--last season’s NCAA tournament runner-up--has a tough act to follow.

Greenberg led the 49ers to the Big West Conference regular-season title last season--its first since 1977. Moreover, Long Beach made two appearances in the NCAA tournament, and one in the NIT, during Greenberg’s six-year tenure.

“Seth did a wonderful job here,” Morgan said. “He raised the national perception of Long Beach basketball. I’d like to continue that and hopefully improve upon that.”

Several key players return from last season’s squad, including standout guard James Cotton. Cotton led the conference in scoring last season, averaging 19.5 points, and was selected first-team all-conference.

Big things are expected from center Ike Nwankwo, who transferred from UCLA last season. Nwankwo, a 6-foot-11, 260-pound senior, becomes eligible Dec. 21.

Loyola Marymount lacks both depth and a physical presence under the basket. Yet the Lions remain optimistic that they can improve on last year’s 18-11 record--their first winning mark in four seasons.

Ime Oduok, a 6-10 Nigerian center, has graduated, leaving Kenny Hotopp, a slender 6-10 junior, with the task of rebounding and scoring inside.

They are also without guard Teryl Woolery, an excellent athlete who has made a habit of letting the program down. Woolery, brother of former Santa Clara standout John Woolery, was suspended his freshman season and half of last season for violating unspecified team-conduct rules. And he was suspended again for this season.

Mike O’Quinn, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, was also suspended for violating team conduct rules, so he transferred to Northridge, taking his team-leading 11.7-point scoring average with him.

That leaves the Lions with senior point guard Jim Williamson, Hotopp and forward Ben Ammerman as returning leaders, and with senior forward John Anthony, junior forward Will Jones and sophomore guard Julian Hammond asked to play more important roles.

The Lions’ lone recruit of note is Kevin Daniels, who averaged 17.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists at Will C. Wood High in Vacaville.

There will be several firsts at Northridge. The Matadors also held their first practice at midnight under Braswell, who was hired at his alma mater to replace Pete Cassidy in May. And this will be Northridge’s first season in the Big Sky Conference, meaning the Matadors--starting their seventh Division I season--are finally members of a conference with an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Northridge should improve on last year’s 7-20 mark based solely on the presence of three key players who weren’t available last season. Guard Derrick Higgins and center Kevin Taylor were injured and forward Keith Higgins, Derrick’s brother, sat out the season after transferring from Colorado. All three figure to be starters.

Cal State Fullerton has two regulars and four other part-time starters back, but they’re from a team that was 6-20, 5-13 in the Big West Conference.

The key returning players are senior forward John Williams and junior guard Chris Dade.

Junior Chris St. Clair, who was redshirted after five games last season because of recurring knee problems, also will be back.

Newcomers include community college transfer Craig Whitehead, redshirt junior Wyki Tyson and freshmen Josh Leighton, Dane Plock and 6-9 Matt Caldwell.

UC Irvine was 15-12 last season, its first winning campaign in eight years, and Coach Rod Baker was named Big West coach of the year. But this year’s team will bear little resemblance to that squad.

Senior forward Paul Foster is the only returning player who averaged more than two points.

Newcomers battling for spots in the starting lineup are Wendell Robinson, a 6-8 junior transfer from Santa Monica College, and freshmen Andrew Carlson, a 6-10 all-San Diego Section selection from Poway High; Juma Jackson, a 6-4 guard from Greensboro, N.C.; Brian Johnson, a 6-7 all-state pick who averaged 22 points at Bellflower St. John Bosco, and Phil Negrete, a 6-5 all-City selection at Gardena High.

Times staff writers Jason Reid, Pete Thomas, Jeff Fletcher, Lon Eubanks and John Weyler contributed to this story.