Kapono Is Still the Bruin ‘Band Leader

It went from dark to light, from confusion to calm, from defeat to victory.

The basketball game?

No, silly.

The headband.

UCLA’s 65-57 victory over Ball State Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament was not only hair-raising, but hair-flattening.

It was something belonging not only in record books, but tucked over the ears.

It was a combination of fortitude and fashion.

That is, if fashion is a word one would dare use in describing the mustard stain that Jason Kapono initially stuck on his dome.

You know the white headband the quirky freshman popularized this winter while becoming UCLA’s leading scorer?

This wasn’t that.

This was a headband that a roommate’s mother had spray-painted yellow before the Bruins left town.

“I wanted to come here with a new style, a new look and stuff,” Kapono explained, as only he can explain. “But I couldn’t find one. So I had to make one and stuff.”

Thirteen minutes into the game, after missing his only two shots while no doubt nauseating many of the 20,127 Metrodome fans, he realized it was the wrong one.

“I didn’t know that when it would get spray-painted, that would cause it to loosen up, to sag,” he said. “It was falling down and stuff. I started out with a headband and ended up with an earpiece.”

So he went to the bench and grabbed the white one.

We know this because we wrote it in our notebooks.

This UCLA season is so crazy, you keep track of things like that.

Shortly thereafter, Kapono reminded us why.

With the Bruins trailing, 28-24, early in the second half, the man with the white headband scored his first points of the game on a three-pointer from the left corner.

Thirteen seconds later, he hit another from the right corner.

The Bruins took the lead, and Kapono laughed. Earl Watson hugged him and shouted tough and inspiring words. Kapono laughed some more.

“That’s me in a nutshell,” he said later. “I’ve got to have fun. Even in crunch time, I’m like, looking to have fun.”

And aren’t Bruin fans having fun right along with him, howling as he scored more points in the second half (17) than any of his teammates scored in the game.

Marveling as he hit two more three-pointers to keep them in the lead.

Sighing as he hit four free throws down the stretch to clinch it.

Laughing as, after each of his final two free throws, he turned and grinned at sideline hecklers.

Instead of heckling even louder, the Ball State fans chuckled and applauded.

But of course. Jason Kapono has done that all season. Turned difficult times into fun ones. Reminded everyone that this big-time program is still for kids.

“I was just having fun with those fans and stuff,” Kapono said. “You know, enjoying a little bit of March Madness.”

Madness it was.

Once again, the UCLA basketball team walked away from its first-round NCAA game with everyone muttering, “Mercy.”

But as in, “Mercy, they didn’t fold.”

Playing a Ball State team with similar intentions as last year’s villainous Detroit Mercy, the Bruins fell into a similar trap.

Zoning out on offense. Chasing on defense. Cramps in the brain.

They were 20 minutes from a summer that would have lasted a lifetime.

But, then, you know, things happened and stuff.

It started with Kapono, but continued with Dan Gadzuric, pulling down 12 rebounds, and Watson registering 12 assists.

So Gadzuric missed all three of his free throws.

And so Watson’s ill-advised alley-oop-off-the-backboard pass started the Bruins on a first-half slide that got them in trouble in the first place.

This is how it has been with this team. Take the bad with the good. Return your tray tables to their locked upright positions and enjoy the ride.

The good news for Bruin fans is that earlier Thursday, Iowa State showed enough weaknesses that UCLA could defeat the Cyclones if they met in the Sweet 16.

The bad news is, Maryland looked good enough that the Bruins will have to fight through the Terrapins Saturday to get there.

In a 74-59 victory over Iona, Maryland did not look like the usual Maryland team in March. It did not underachieve.

The Terps showed a strength that will test the Bruins inside. The 7-footer Mike Mardesich eats space and 6-foot-8 Lonny Baxter ate Gaels.

They showed the quickness to run with the Bruins on the outside. Their kid guard, Steven Blake, wants to be like Sacramento’s Jason Williams, and their other kid guard, Juan Dixon, does just fine being himself.

The Terps also have a player UCLA will struggle to match up with, a 6-foot-9 hustler named Terence Morris.

This is not your usual teasing Maryland team.

But then, these were not your usual Bruins.

Said Kapono: “I don’t know, next game, I might come out with something pink.”

Said Watson: “Hey, the first time I met Jason, his hair was yellow.”

We count our blessings.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.