Coming of Age Is the Bruins’ Biggest Game Plan

Less mouth, more hair, and respect for their coach.

With practice set to begin today, with every major contributor from last season’s team still in Westwood, the chastened members of UCLA’s basketball team, last seen limping away from Indianapolis after being dismissed by Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament, say they have grown up, and are ready for grown-up accomplishments:

Such as going back to the Final Four, instead of talking back to the coaching staff. This season’s Final Four site? Indianapolis, coincidentally.

“Last year, I kind of mouthed off a lot, and that’s something I shouldn’t have done, just blatantly disrespect him,” junior swingman Kris Johnson said of his relationship with Coach Jim Harrick. “A lot of guys kind of realized that he commands more respect than what we gave him last year.”

Last season’s team, coming off a national championship season and having lost its three senior leaders, was young, reckless and prone to wild displays of incoherent basketball. Along the way, UCLA (23-8) was talented enough to win its second consecutive Pacific 10 Conference title, but also sewed the seeds for the 43-41 upset by Princeton.

“Everywhere I went this summer, that’s all I was hearing, ‘What happened with Princeton? What happened with Princeton?’ ” Johnson said. “I couldn’t even say anything. I just kind of put my head down, just took it like a man. ‘Yeah, we lost, we played horrible.’ ”

The Bruins say a summer of remembering their own petulance has given them new perspective.

Said junior guard Toby Bailey, “That’s the thing that immature kids do--immature kids talk back to their parents, they talk back to their teachers. And this year, it’s just a big improvement.

“These are men, not kids. It’s the same faces, but there’s a big difference. We have that pride that we had my freshman year.”

In the weeks leading up to UCLA’s Nov. 20 opener against Tulsa in the preseason National Invitation Tournament, the Bruins know that the biggest questions they face are about their depth. Behind the top six returnees, there are no proven players on the roster.

“They’re saying we’re only six or seven deep,” said senior forward Charles O’Bannon, who has a new head of burnt-orange hair atop his formerly bald head. “But it’s probably one of the strongest six or seven in the country.”

Even that six-man rotation is predicated on an injury-free and consistent season from Cameron Dollar, who struggled from the beginning of last season until the end with recurring hand problems and never was able to lead the team from the point guard position.

“No question, he is the key,” Johnson said of Dollar. “He’s basically going to be the key to whether we get to the Final Four. The success of the team is going to be up to Cameron Dollar.”

Said Bailey, “Everyone says Cameron is the biggest key--if he goes down that’s going to be a big loss. But it’s real important everybody stays healthy, because everyone is so key this year.”