Kapono Is Likely to Return

The impending return of All-Pacific 10 Conference forward Jason Kapono for his senior season and the signing of McDonald’s All-American Evan Burns could leave UCLA with another roster logjam.

Although Kapono said a published report that he would bypass the NBA draft is erroneous, he is expected to eventually announce that he will be back with the Bruins. He would lose his eligibility if he declared for the draft, since it would be the second time he has done so. The deadline to apply for the draft is May 12.

“I am just not ready to make a decision or an announcement,” he said.

Assuming Kapono does return, Coach Steve Lavin could find it even more difficult than last season to please everyone and come up with effective combinations. By the end of the season, he had resorted to five-player platoons.

“We’ll probably red-shirt guys to stagger their eligibility,” Lavin said. Candidates to sit out are forward Andre Patterson, who averaged 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds as a freshman, and forward Matt McKinney, a freshman from Santa Ynez who also is a national-caliber volleyball player.

Gone are starters Dan Gadzuric, Matt Barnes and Billy Knight and sixth-man Rico Hines, all seniors.

Back are center-forward T.J. Cummings, who will be a junior; reserve post players Josiah Johnson and John Hoffart, and four freshmen who had roller-coaster seasons--guards Cedric Bozeman and Ryan Walcott, and forwards Dijon Thompson and Patterson.

Oh, and Kapono led the Bruins in scoring at 16 points a game.

The eight returnees will be joined by two veteran guards and four freshmen.

Ray Young, a senior who red-shirted last season, and junior Jon Crispin, a transfer from Penn State who sat out last season, are three-point shooting threats and NCAA tournament veterans.

Besides Burns, a 6-foot-8 forward from Fairfax High, freshmen include 6-11 center Michael Fey of Olympia, Wash., who sat out last season because of academic eligibility problems, and two-sport athletes McKinney and Marcedes Lewis of Long Beach Poly.

Lewis is a tight end on a football scholarship and won’t join the basketball team until January if the Bruin football team plays in a bowl game. UCLA has one more scholarship to give and is pursuing forward Onye Ibekwe of Crenshaw High.