Trip to Caribbean No Vacation for Bruins

The kids get a field trip, to a land of temptation and other potential dangers that can do greater damage than the worm at the bottom of the bottle. Kentucky and Maryland, for starters.

Actually, the young UCLA Bruins start with San Francisco today in the first round of the Puerto Rico Shootout at American University. If they win, they probably will play No. 5 Maryland in the semifinals, and if they win that, No. 4 Kentucky in the final. Win that, and fly home Sunday without a plane.

The eight-team tournament, which also includes No. 13 Xavier, comes as a test of the Bruins’ early standing in the college basketball world, and of their discipline. Coach Steve Lavin, hoping to properly address both, used Wednesday evening’s practice to prepare for the Dons’ expected traps and presses, and to caution against wandering Bruin eyes.

No gambling.

No tequila.

And then there’s the other temptation to guard against: feeling as though they’re on vacation. So Lavin also pointed out what happened the last time the Bruins went tropical, when the defending national champilost to Santa Clara, beat Wisconsin and lost to Vanderbilt at the Maui Classic in 1995 and returned to the mainland with a 1-2 start.

“We used that as a reference point,” Lavin said.

This team, one game into the season and again planning to start a sophomore and four freshmen, even as JaRon Rush plays through a bad back and Dan Gadzuric and Jerome Moiso deal with colds, hopes to get its own. That might not come tonight--USF has only two juniors or seniors on scholarship--but should before the end of the holiday weekend, even without injured point guard Baron Davis.

If the Bruins win tonight after Maryland beats host American, as expected, No. 10 and No. 5 will meet Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST on ESPN2. Even if UCLA loses to the Terrapins, another test could come Saturday, against Xavier.

Strangely, this comes as part of what was supposed to be a light nonconference schedule. That was the plan when it was being put together two years ago by athletic department officials. They could see the youth movement coming and didn’t want too many tough games before the difficult Pacific 10 Conference schedule, hoping a string of early victories would allow the Bruins to come together and build confidence.

At least the thought was there. The reality is that UCLA, after beating Santa Clara in the opener, might face three top-15 teams in the next five games, a stretch capped Dec. 5 against No. 12 Oklahoma State at the Wooden Classic. That is followed by a meeting with a team that has the potential to cause problems, Nevada Las Vegas.

“It’s a monster schedule and in some ways tougher than we’ve had the last couple years,” Lavin said.

The breaks are scattered. The Bruins get Delaware State next Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion, then Oklahoma State and UNLV. The runway for the conference schedule comes from there--Cal State Northridge, American (of Washington, D.C.) and Loyola Marymount, all at home.

That late-December swing is as close as the Bruins get to a vacation. Late November on a Caribbean island with temperatures in the 80s and a hotel steps from the sand with a casino in the lobby--that only seems like leisure.