Identity Is No. 1 Problem

UCLA can only hope No. 1 Kansas arrived in Los Angeles soon enough to scout the Bruins’ devastating loss to USC on Thursday and file a three-part report to Coach Roy Williams.

* Matt Barnes is the go-to scorer, the team’s only pure shooter. He shies away from contact, though. The kid can light it up from beyond the arc, but the way the Trojans battered him on the boards it’s obvious he has no toughness.

* Freshmen Cedric Bozeman, Dijon Thompson and Andre Patterson aren’t big, fat zeros. They are tall, thin zeros. It’s charitable of UCLA to have a community outreach program like this, taking kids off the street and giving them some court time, but it sure doesn’t help the team.

* Jason Kapono, T.J. Cummings and Billy Knight are lousy shooters. They throw up more bricks than the third little pig. We can leave them alone and focus on stopping that Barnes kid.

The Bruins often give misleading impressions. They are not only chameleons. They are two-headed chameleons, capable of changing color, mood and identity at the toss of an opening jump ball.

So what if Barnes normally scores more points through toughness than touch? That the freshmen have had shining moments? That Kapono, Cummings and Knight go on frequent scoring binges?

Who knows if any of it will be true today?

In one game the Bruins exhibit veteran leadership and freshman creativity, while in the next the veterans are creaky and the freshmen clownish.

In one game center Dan Gadzuric scores 20 points, while in the next he grows mold sitting on the bench saddled with fouls. His only certainty is that when called for one foul, he will foul again within 90 seconds, take a seat and stare into the rafters.

The Jayhawks (13-1) should not expect No. 11 UCLA (11-3) to duplicate its spotty performance against the Trojans--Barnes scoring 34 points and making seven three-point shots, the freshmen going scoreless, Kapono, Cummings and Knight shooting a combined 35%.

“It’s hard to say what to expect,” Barnes said. “I think we’ll play well. We usually do in big, televised games.”

UCLA and Kansas figured they’d meet first in a tiny sweltering island gym in November. But Ball State changed those plans, beating Kansas, then UCLA in the Maui Invitational.

Kansas responded to the upset by winning 13 in a row, slowly climbing the rankings until reaching the top spot when Duke was defeated Sunday. The Jayhawks have been convincing, each victory coming by a margin of at least seven and seven of the wins by at least 16 points.

UCLA responded by improving in fits and starts, beating ranked Alabama and Georgetown decisively, losing to Pepperdine at home, struggling to beat outmanned UC Riverside, UC Irvine and the two Pacific 10 Conference Washington teams.

If there is a similarity, it is in experience. The Jayhawks have four returning starters, including what is regarded as the best forward tandem in the nation in Drew Gooden and Nick Collison.

Gooden, who averages 20.6 points and 12.4 rebounds, is one who got away from UCLA. The 6-foot-9 junior from the Bay Area chose Kansas over the Bruins.

“It was a big-time thing to go to UCLA,” he said. “I had them on my list, but it just didn’t work out.”

He remains impressed by UCLA Coach Steve Lavin--as a conversationalist.

“Coach Lavin and I still have a decent relationship,” he said. “We talk, we could talk forever. A lot of coaches just recruit you and kiss up to you to come to their school. But Coach Lavin, even though I didn’t come to their school, he still treats me with the same respect and talks to me.”

Williams, who is 368-90 in 13-plus seasons, is impressed by UCLA--as a storied program.

“I like Pauley Pavilion as a gym, but when you look at the banners in that building--and I appreciate history and traditions--I get cold chills,” he said.

Lavin might be in a cold sweat after watching his team against USC.

“Our challenge is to be sure we don’t get beat twice in a week,” he said. “This is a huge game for us.”

A loss would mean a fall to the fringe of the national rankings. A victory would effectively erase the loss to the Trojans (except in the conference standings) and reaffirm the Bruins as a dangerous team capable of beating anyone on a given day.

“We’re going up against No. 1,” Barnes said. “We know that.”

UCLA has done reasonably well against top-ranked opponents in recent years, beating Stanford in two of three games when the Cardinal was No. 1 and losing to Duke by 13 points in last year’s regional semifinal.

Kansas was ranked No. 1 in 1996 during a 96-83 early season win over UCLA. But current players remember last season’s opener, a 99-98 Jayhawk victory in the Coaches for Cancer Classic.

The Jayhawks jumped to a 16-2 lead, which has become a trend. They led, 28-6, in their most recent game, a 96-57 blowout of Nebraska.

“We’ve got to keep them from running us out of the gym early,” Lavin said. “That’s my fear. If we stay close, maybe we can find a way to win the way we have in other games.”

That’s the Bruin game plan in a nutshell: Hang tight.

As for the Kansas scouting report, it can be just as short and to the point: Don’t believe your eyes.