Bruins Will Go From High to Lo

Once again, the point is the point.

UCLA battered Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA tournament in large part because freshman point guards Cedric Bozeman and Ryan Walcott forced Jason Harrison, their Rebel counterpart, to shoot from beyond his range.

Harrison took nine shots--all from beyond the three-point arc--and missed every one.

But Bozeman and Walcott had little time to puff their chests. Today’s second round brings Cincinnati, the top-seeded team in the West Regional.

And Cincinnati brings Steve Logan, a former shoeshine boy from Cleveland who is five inches taller than the 5-foot-5 Harrison and infinitely more polished.

The senior point guard scored 27 points in the Bearcats’ first-round blowout of Boston University, personally outscoring the Terriers, 23-16, in the first half. He averages 22.1 points, 5.3 assists and about a dozen oohs and aahs from fans per game.

No-nonsense Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins normally is not given to hyperbole. But when it comes to Logan, he gushes.

“Lo’s intelligent enough to know when he’s on a roll and when he’s not,” he said. “That’s the great thing about Lo. He can score and he can distribute the ball. He’s happy as long as we win.”

Logan heads a mature lineup of three seniors and two juniors that has made this perhaps the most enjoyable of Huggins’ 13 seasons with the Bearcats. Unranked before the season, Cincinnati (31-3) set a school record for victories, lost only to Louisville, Marquette and Oklahoma State, and earned a No.1 seeding.

“Coach doesn’t have to get after us to work hard because we are experienced enough to know what he expects,” Logan said. “He doesn’t have to scream and yell and do the things he did in the past.”

The victory over Boston was No.500 in Huggins’ 21-year career, which began with stints at Walsh College and Akron. By now he is regarded as one of the nation’s best coaches, leading the Bearcats to at least 25 victories in seven consecutive seasons.

He knows what he’s doing, and in Logan he has a player who is an extension of himself on the court.

When Boston’s point guard twirled his finger in the air to signal an offensive set, Logan twirled his too. When a Boston player tugged at his shorts, Logan tugged at his own, signaling to his teammates to defend a specific set.

“We knew every play that they were calling,” junior Leonard Stokes said after the 90-52 rout. “We just watched film and studied it. We were able take them out of stuff defensively.

“One guy on the team asked me, ‘How y’all know every play we’re running?’ I just told him it was a secret, and we started laughing.”

Expect no chuckles from UCLA. The Bruins (20-11) are trying to win their second game in a weekend for the first time since early January. They know that matching Cincinnati’s trademark intensity will be crucial.

“I think Logan is the second-best guard in country, neck and neck with Jason Williams [of Duke],” Bruin guard Rico Hines said. “He’s the best guard we’ve faced all year. Stopping him is like cutting the head off an animal. Take him out of the game and let the rest of the team try to beat you.”

Hines, a fifth-year senior and UCLA’s best perimeter defender, might get his chance. He asked Coach Steve Lavin at practice Saturday for an opportunity to cover Logan, figuring the inexperienced Bozeman and Walcott will have their hands full.

“I want to chase him around and play with him, do anything to get in his head,” Hines said.

Lavin said UCLA will employ its 1-2-2 matchup zone defense, meaning that several players will be responsible for slowing Logan.

It is possible, of course, that the Bearcat star could slow himself. He made four of nine three-point shots against Boston, but in the seven games leading up to the tournament made less than 24%.

And, of course, other players will have an impact. Bearcat guard Field Williams made five three-point shots against Boston, the same number UCLA guard Billy Knight made against Mississippi.

Bearcat forwards Immanuel McElroy and Jamaal Davis are solid contributors and center Donald Little averages 7.1 points and 6.7 rebounds.

At 6-11, Little is big, and he is aware of his large assignment today. He and UCLA center Dan Gadzuric were roommates on an all-star team that traveled Europe in 1997 and both attended private high schools in Massachusetts.

But Little must also be ready to contend with sophomore center T.J. Cummings. Lavin plans to use the five-man substitution strategy that worked so well against Mississippi, inserting Walcott, Cummings, Hines and freshmen Dijon Thompson and Andre Patterson to press and score in transition.

If that group plays well again and starters Gadzuric, Jason Kapono and Matt Barnes can merely hike their production to near their season averages, it might not matter how well Logan plays.

UCLA could be headed for San Jose and its fifth Sweet 16 appearance in six seasons.

“It’s a tough assignment, but I’m getting a different feeling than in the last several weeks, a better feeling,” Hines said. “I just hope we don’t go back to being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”