Relaxed Fit Suits Bruins Lot Better

For UCLA, few things have followed form as closely as Saturday’s 90-64 victory over Washington at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins did what they were supposed to do. They took the easy route. And they left little room for doubt.

So it’s finally safe to believe that this truly is a different team, a changed group from the one that stumbled to a 4-8 mark in the Pacific 10.

They had one last chance to self-destruct, a final opportunity to dump a bucket of ice water on all the warm feelings they generated the previous two weeks, and they avoided it.

This baby was over less than 3 1/2 minutes after halftime, when the Bruins scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 20-point lead to 27.

That decided the game and, effectively, their NCAA bid.

A 9-9 record in Pac-10 play would have left open the slightest possibility of rejection from the tournament selection committee. At 10-8, which the Bruins reached Saturday, any snub would be subject to a full-scale investigation--if not an appeal in federal court.

UCLA ends its season at 19-11, winner of six in a row, including a road victory over No. 1 Stanford. Case closed.

“They deserve it,” Washington Coach Bob Bender said. “They did what you always talk about--they won their way in.”

Now that the matter of “if” has been decided, it’s simply a matter of finding out “when” and “where” UCLA will play in the NCAA tournament when the field is announced this afternoon.

“If we have to get to Beijing, China, or Yugoslavia, so be it,” UCLA Coach Steve Lavin said. “Let’s be happy to be in the tournament.”

Of course, “happy to be in the tournament” doesn’t cut it as an annual goal at UCLA. But given the ugly alternatives during this season, it sounds pretty attractive right now.

Lavin has escaped from coaching death once again. Just call him Steve Lazarus.

With their effort of late, though, the Bruins enter the tournament not only as participants but as legitimate threats.

“I wouldn’t want to play that team, coming in on a roll like this,” Bender said.

Another observation from an outside (albeit biased) observer, Baron Davis: “They’re just playing hard. They’re not playing all tense. They’re just out there having fun.”

Davis, last year’s UCLA star who now is paying his NBA dues with the Charlotte Hornets, has done his best to follow the team from afar. Mostly his information comes from what he can download off the Internet. He got the chance to watch in person Saturday, one day after the Hornets beat the Clippers at Staples Center.

“It takes a while for you to jell together,” Davis said. “They just put a lot of pressure on themselves from the beginning.”

Part of that was from players trying to take Davis’ place instead of relying on one another. Check out the team assist totals from the early losses to Gonzaga and Colorado State: six and nine.

The Bruins had 23 assists in their victory at Stanford a week ago and 22 Saturday.

“They’re really sharing the basketball,” Lavin said.

He cited their efforts to get the ball to senior Sean Farnham in his last game at Pauley Pavilion. And it was nice to see the jubilant reaction from his teammates when Farnham scored (although in all the excitement Dan Gadzuric accidentally elbowed assistant coach Steve Spencer in the head).

All of the reasons trotted out by UCLA players and coaches for their resurgence--relaxation, better practices, greater knowledge of the plays--still don’t explain the varying degrees of intensity displayed this season. Effort is one thing that any team can bring every night, regardless of its ability.

But the Bruins’ turnaround ensures one thing: The defining moment of this season will be their courageous play at Stanford, not their no-shows against the two Arizona schools.

How many UCLA teams have demonstrated so much improvement so late in the season?

Lavin pointed to the 1996-97 team, which survived the turmoil of the Jim Harrick firing and advanced to the regional finals of the NCAA tournament. That team, though, lost three of its last five regular-season games.

Assistant coach Michael Holton went back to his days as a freshman guard in 1979-80, when the Bruins started 8-6 and wound up playing in the NCAA championship game. But even that squad lost to Washington in its final home game.

The main similarity, Holton said, was that both teams beat the No. 1-ranked team. In 1980 it was against DePaul in the second round of the tournament.

“Once you do that, you believe anything is possible,” Holton said.

Is it possible for this team to do some damage in the tournament?

Can the Bruins continue their streak of good fortune that began with the unexpected reduction of JaRon Rush’s suspension? Could they draw a weakened Cincinnati in the second round and take advantage of Kenyon Martin’s absence to advance to the Sweet 16?

UCLA’s capper to the regular season gave one less reason to doubt, one more reason to plan ahead.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.