On The Spot

This is a basketball season as anticlimax, because the drama is over, the controversy cooling down, and, no matter what else takes place, the longest-lasting, most amazing development of this 1996-97 UCLA Bruin season has already occurred:

You don’t have Jim Harrick to kick around anymore.

So, now that the flash point of so much debate has been pointed elsewhere, this versatile and volatile UCLA team moves on, starting its season tonight at Pauley Pavilion against a familiar foe, Tulsa, in the first round of the Preseason National Invitation Tournament.

After eight seasons, Harrick is part of Bruin history, and what’s left are interim Coach Steve Lavin and a team searching for its own piece of it. UCLA, the Associated Press’ No. 5-ranked team, has its top seven players returning.

Will this be remembered as a season sacrificed by the sudden Harrick firing or the one when the bickering Bruins grew up, got smart and rose again from a time of trial?

“We’re going to show everyone what we’re made of,” senior forward Charles O’Bannon said. “Coach Lavin has a lot to prove, the seniors have a lot to prove, everyone has something to prove this year.”

In the wake of last season’s brash and bumpy run to the Pacific 10 title, followed by the collapse against Princeton in the NCAA tournament’s first round, are the Bruins older and wiser?

They say they are. Last season, though UCLA was again 16-2 in the Pac-10, the failures appeared in the team’s 7-6 nonconference record.

“We were young, immature and all sorts of things,” junior forward J.R. Henderson said. “I think now this year we can just put it all together and kind of get rid of those stereotypes of us being immature.”

Wander into the Bruins’ post-practice locker room sprawl, and they, at least, look older, and wiser for the wear.

Henderson is slumped at the foot of his locker, towers of ice piled on both knees, and a weary scowl on his face that displays all the exhaustion his sad eyes are capable of expressing.

Alongside, senior point guard Cameron Dollar is icing his leg, crouched on his stool and looking as though he might not move again.

The other Bruins babble and laugh at the end of this long practice week, but in slow motion, and with little of last season’s crazy commotion.

“These practices are killing us,” O’Bannon said with a grin. “Coach Lavin is running us into the ground.”

For now, the Bruins do not seem to mind. And if they needed any more reminders about how swiftly the fall can come, they only have to ponder that Harrick was dumped only 19 months removed from leading UCLA to the 1995 national title.

Before he was ousted for committing an NCAA violation and then lying to school officials about it, Harrick was not shy about his belief that this season’s team--despite its relative lack of depth--had a solid shot at the Final Four.

The strengths are obvious: UCLA is solid in the middle with sophomore shot-blocking prodigy Jelani McCoy, who has added some post moves to his game and says he will tone down his rabid on-court antics; the smooth 6-foot-9 Henderson, the leading backup at center and point guard; O’Bannon, who has resolved to be more consistent, and senior workhorse Bob Myers.

The Bruins have scoring firepower with Toby Bailey and sixth man Kris Johnson, and, as opposed to last season, a sound Dollar, who struggled replacing Tyus Edney at the point because of hand injuries (and turnovers) last season.

“I think, in his own way, Cameron Dollar, to this point, may be the most improved player, because he’s playing so consistent right now,” Lavin said, noting Dollar’s 15 assists and only one turnover in the team’s two exhibitions last week.

But past Myers and Johnson, UCLA has only one recruited player as a backup, little-used sophomore guard Brandon Loyd, and foul or injury problems loom as huge hurdles. For now, the Bruins are looking beyond that with crossed fingers.

In an echo of the 1995 title run when a picture of the Kingdome hung in the locker room all season, a picture of the RCA Dome in Indianapolis--site of this season’s Final Four--is on the wall now.

Last season, there were no seniors playing major minutes and no picture of the Meadowlands Arena, site of the 1996 Final Four, on the wall.

The once-mighty, once-flighty Bruins may be not all grown up but are close enough to realize that all this talent means nothing if the egos get in the way.

“I think [last season] was a growing process,” O’Bannon said. “Some of the things we did last year were a little fun. It was fun. We paid some consequences, but we learned from them.”

This season’s UCLA team is measuring itself against the memories of a national title--the 1995 team stormed to the championship a year after losing in the first round to Tulsa--and against the turbulence of its recent past.

“Last year, it turned into an individual thing, guys started doing their own things,” says Henderson, the team’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. “Ed [O’Bannon] and our seniors left, our leadership left. And guys thought it was their world so they could do whatever they wanted.

“This season, we don’t argue as much as we used to. Of course, we get in our usual scuffles. But last year, everything we did was like fighting and arguing. We used to scream a lot on the court and make all these gestures to the crowd, I think that’s kind of calmed down now.

“Especially now with Lavin here, because he doesn’t tolerate any of that. He doesn’t like that at all. Once you do that, he takes you out. And no one wants to come out.”

Lavin, 32, installed as the interim coach only two weeks ago after five years on Harrick’s staff, will have his own tests to pass this season as he tries to convince the school administration to give him the job permanently.

In the meantime, he has preached a defensive mind-set to his players, instituted far more running in practice and lectured to them that the ultimate responsibility for leadership and success lies on their shoulders.

Lavin’s model? The senior triumvirate of Ed O’Bannon, Tyus Edney and George Zidek, which time after time rallied the Bruins two years ago in spirit and in play. This season, the three seniors are the fiery Dollar, O’Bannon, and Myers.

“He’s kind of given us the reins,” O’Bannon said.

But, clearly, Lavin wants this team built around defense--which was one of the strongest features of the national-title team.

“We’re trying to generate our offense off of our defense,” O’Bannon said. “That’s the way it’s looking, we get some pressure defensively and that keys our break, and we’ve got Cameron in the middle and four other guys trying to fight for lanes and get those layups and dunks.”

If the seniors can control the recklessness, UCLA has proved it can win--last season, the Bruins were 9-0 when they did not commit more turnovers than their opponents, and 14-8, including the Princeton loss, when they committed more.

“I think they want to grow up,” Lavin says. “I think the seniors are really determined to do that this year. It’s very similar to the Tulsa situation with the national championship [team]. Tyus, Ed and George came back with a whole new attitude because of that Tulsa experience.

“When you win, it kind of gains momentum, like a snowball going downhill. Because you feed off of each other, you begin to believe in each other.

“That’s what carried the national championship team. It was built on great defense, and everything fed off of that. This team has that same kind of potential. Last year, we only saw it in flashes.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

UCLA Facts and Figures

ROSTER

No: 12

Player: Toby Bailey

Pos: G

Ht: 6-5

Wt: 205

Yr: Jr.

Comment: Team-leading 14.8 points per game last season

*

No: 4

Player: Kevin Daley

Pos: F

Ht: 6-6

Wt: 185

Yr: So.

Comment: University of Nevada transfer

*

No: 5

Player: Cameron Dollar

Pos: G

Ht: 5-11

Wt: 189

Yr: Sr.

Comment: Ninth all-time at UCLA in assists (315), steals (132)

*

No: 30

Player: Sean Farnham

Pos: F

Ht: 6-6

Wt: 205

Yr: Fr.

*

Comment: Only freshman on team

No: 52

Player: J.R. Henderson

Pos: F

Ht: 6-9

Wt: 223

Yr: Jr.

*

Comment: Sixth all-time at UCLA in field-goal percentage (56.1)

No: 54

Player: Kris Johnson

Pos: G-F

Ht: 6-3 1/2

Wt: 222

Yr: Jr.

*

Comment: 12.5 points a game, 56.9% shooting as sophomore

No: 20

Player: Brandon Loyd

Pos: G

Ht: 5-10

Wt: 182

Yr: So.

*

Comment: Six points in NCAA tournament loss to Princeton

No: 34

Player: Jelani McCoy

Pos: C

Ht: 6-9 1/2

Wt: 220

Yr: So.

*

Comment: Had 102 blocks and shot 67.6% as a freshman

No: 24

Player: Bob Myers

Pos: F

Ht: 6-6 1/2

Wt: 227

Yr: Sr.

*

Comment: Former walk-on; key reserve one of four seniors

No: 13

Player: Charles O’Bannon

Pos: F

Ht: 6-5

Wt: 209

Yr: Sr.

Comment: Four-year starter; 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds a game

*

Coach: Steve Lavin, first season

1995-96 Team Record: 16-2 Pacific-10 (1st), 23-8 overall

Tournament: NCAA, lost in first round to Princeton

Returning Starters (5): O’Bannon, Henderson, McCoy, Bailey, Dollar

SCHEDULE

*--*

Date Opponent Time Tonight Tulsa in Preseason NIT 9:00 Dec. 3 CS Northridge 7:30 Dec. 7 Kansas 12:30 Dec. 14 Ohio University 5:00 Dec. 17 Jackson State 7:00 Dec. 21 at Illinois 10:30 a.m. Dec. 23 at St. Louis 5:00 Dec. 28 Morgan State 7:30 Jan. 2 Washington State 7:30 Jan. 4 Washington 1:00 Jan. 9 at Stanford 5:30 Jan. 11 at California 1:00 Jan. 16 Arizona State 7:30 Jan. 18 Arizona 2:00 Jan. 23 at USC 7:30 Jan. 25 at Louisville 1:00 Jan. 30 at Oregon 7:00 Feb. 1 at Oregon State 2:00 Feb. 6 California 7:30 Feb. 8 Stanford 2:00 Feb. 13 at Arizona 7:30 Feb. 15 at Arizona State 1:30 Feb. 19 USC 7:30 Feb. 23 Duke 11 a.m. Feb. 27 Oregon State 7:30 Mar. 1 Oregon 2:00 Mar. 8 at Washington 7:00 Mar. 8 at Washington State 1:00

*--*

Other tournament dates Nov. 22, 27, 29

* All times Pacific and p.m. unless noted.