Adrenaline Rush

Was there really any other way for this to end?

Unexpected was the only possible course, since it was like that all along: UCLA is shocked at the severity of the suspension given to JaRon Rush, UCLA doesn’t expect him to play again this season, UCLA gets word on a Monday that he’ll be able to play five days later after all, UCLA soars with his help.

The Bruins spent almost as much time on their heels as those Maryland defenders. On second thought, no one has spent that much time backpedaling.

If UCLA playing Iowa State in the Sweet 16 is a foreign concept, given appearances a month ago, it’s nothing compared with Rush being there too, the longshot of longshots. And then to be playing like this, well, not a chance.

“I thought he would give us the energy on defense and with his unique ability to get to the glass at both ends of the floor,” Coach Steve Lavin said. “What surprised me is the confidence he’s shooting the ball with from long distance.”

The player who wasn’t even supposed to be on the roster drilled a three-point basket at Stanford in his first shot in three months and 24 games, scored the final five points of the game and 19 in all to help defeat the then-No. 1 team in the nation, and hasn’t slowed since.

He had 14 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes in the first-round tournament victory over Ball State. He had 14 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes Saturday in the round of 32 against Maryland, throwing down so many lobs from teammate and buddy Earl Watson that he spent five times as much time up in the air as the game’s outcome.

Oh yeah, sure. Everyone saw it working out like this.

Goodbye

Word came down Dec. 9, after Rush had played three games, all as a reserve behind freshman Jason Kapono. Federal authorities told UCLA that Rush had admitted to possible NCAA violations while testifying before a grand jury in a case involving his former AAU coach at Kansas City, Mo., Myron Piggie. The school started an internal investigation.

“I was pretty upset then,” Rush said Friday. “I was pretty teary-eyed. I was hitting things, kicking things. That was a hard day for me.”

There was no end in sight, though it helped when he went home to Kansas City to spend time with family and friends. Days dragged into weeks, weeks fused into months, through the holidays, through the start of conference play Jan. 6.

He wouldn’t even imagine a resolution coming any time soon, not wanting to be disappointed, and he turned his thoughts elsewhere.

The NBA. Pro basketball in some form, at least. He thought about his chances of making it, where he might be drafted, things like that, without ever taking it to an official level and consulting NBA people.

He considered what it would be like playing in Europe by late summer. After all, he thought, he wouldn’t be returning to the Bruins until the midpoint of the 2000-01 season, so what was the purpose of losing all those months to rules he could avoid by turning pro?

“I was really thinking about it,” Rush now concedes, after having denied it at the time.

He probably would have been a second-round NBA pick, a choice some team would have based on athleticism and potential, since his game still has rough edges. He really wanted to play more at UCLA, so these were not exciting moments of introspection, the way they are for others considering a jump to the pros.

“He wanted to come back so bad and it hurt him so bad to not be able to play and contribute,” said Watson, a friend from their Kansas City days. “Seeing us go through what we went through as a team without him, he felt like he was on the outside, just watching. He wanted to help us so bad, but he couldn’t do anything other than just practice with us.”

And even that was off and on. He went home a few times. The Bruins had their trips. Even when they were around, there was no practice on Sunday, usually only a film session and free throws on Friday between games, which left two days.

By Feb. 28, the Bruins were 15-11. He was at practice that day, a Monday.

Hello

Todd Ramasar, who is redshirting this season because of a shoulder injury, was heading through the Morgan Center to a meeting when he was told that the NCAA appeals committee had reduced Rush’s suspension for accepting improper benefits from Piggie from 29 to nine games. That was besides the 15 games Rush already had missed for accepting $200 from agent Jerome Stanley, a charge UCLA agreed with but Stanley denied.

Ramasar went to Pauley Pavilion to tell Rush, whispering the good news. Rush had no reaction. He didn’t believe it. This was out of nowhere.

Ramasar walked the 100 yards back to the Morgan Center and got the official statement. Only then could Rush accept it as fact, that he would have to miss only one more game, three days later at California, and then could play again. For UCLA.

“Being out for three months, not really practicing with the team that much until I got back in January, only getting to practice two days a week--it’s been very hard for me mentally,” he said. “But I tried not to put that much pressure on myself. When I got back, just go out there and have fun whenever I got the chance to play.”

He had fun. It was the opponents who weren’t loving it so much.

“To me, it looks like he’s making up for lost time,” Washington Coach Bob Bender said. “He wants the ball, he wants to get out and have fun. He looks fresh.”

“It seems like it’s given them new energy, in addition to his obvious talents,” Maryland Coach Gary Williams said.

All of the above.

The Bruins’ U-turn did not exactly coincide with the return of Rush, since they posted two significant victories over Oregon and Cal without him. But his return has had a clear impact.

He says he is not bitter at the NCAA.

“They had to do their thing,” is how he describes it.

And now Rush is doing his thing, earlier than expected and better than expected, still only at about 85% conditioning but 100% terror to opponents. Proving he’s not at the end of anything yet.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

RUSH JOB

UCLA’s numbers this season with, and without, JaRon Rush:

*--*

WITH Category WITHOUT 8-0 Record 13-11 87.5 Pts 72.3 63.9 Opp. pts. 72.1 .527 FG% .472 .403 Opp. FG% .429 38.6 Rebounds 38.0 30.3 Opp. rebounds 34.9 20.9 Assists 15.6 12.7 Opp. assists 14.4

*--*