Bruins Are Putting on Late Rush

Three months, 13 wins, 11 losses, an unexpectedly harsh suspension and a surprisingly favorable appeal later, JaRon Rush returns to the UCLA lineup today against Stanford, after so much has happened and nothing has changed.

The Bruins still appear to be a tournament team and are about to play a ranked team from the West.

Rush is still a reserve whose rebounding, transition game and energy could provide major contributions, but only in a supporting role behind Jason Kapono at small forward and Jerome Moiso at power forward, depending which Moiso shows.

Just as if he never left.

Yeah, right.

“Seems like forever,” Rush said.

He hasn’t played since Dec. 1, the last of the Bruins’ three consecutive victories to open the season. But Dec. 10, the day before then-No. 24 Gonzaga came to Pauley Pavilion, UCLA suspended him indefinitely and started an internal investigation. A tumultuous ride followed, full of upheaval and doubt about the future.

It wasn’t so great for Rush, either. He thought his season might be over, then got word Feb. 1 that much of his 2000-01 season was too, when the NCAA announced he was suspended for 44 games, or midway into his junior campaign, for improper relationships with his former summer league coach, Myron Piggie, and Los Angeles-based agent Jerome Stanley.

UCLA went into an on-court fade but stepped up in a big way behind Rush, offering indignation to the NCAA and promising an appeal and a continued scholarship for Rush no matter the outcome. Perseverance was rewarded on all fronts when the Bruins swept the Oregon schools last week and Rush on Monday had his penalty slashed by 20 games.

Now, they’re back. Rush and the Bruins.

So excited is Rush for any game action that he has rationalized, with more than a little supporting evidence, that today is the perfect setting for the return, in the home of the No. 1 team in the country and on national television. In a UCLA world suddenly filled with optimism--a three-game winning streak for the first time since late December, a realistic shot at the NCAA tournament again--it’s an ideal moment: There’s no pressure because no one is expecting the upset and the trip already had the huge comeback Thursday at California, guaranteeing the needed split.

“There are a little bit of butterflies in my stomach,” Rush said. “I’m just ready to get the shoot-around over, try to get those feelings back of being on the road again. But I’m sure at game time, there will be a thousand butterflies.

“I’m pretty excited, but pretty nervous. The team’s been playing well here and I don’t want to mess up the chemistry.”

It’s not so much about chemistry as rotation, working in a player just as 1999-2000 is being salvaged with the best three-game stretch of the season, a player who had been practicing with the team for weeks, but rightfully concedes that is not to be confused with being in game shape. The only thing he anticipates as much as rust is the heckling he will get from fans.

On the other hand, Rush has pretty much heard it all before--from teammates. Can they borrow some of that money the agent handed over, stuff like that. So bring on today, the return and everything that goes with it.

“Just after I get that first dunk,” he said. “Looking in the camera and telling everybody I’m back.”