Show-Me Time / After Thriller Against Cincinnati, Bruins Try to Take It to the Next Level Against Missouri

There’s the good boy-bad boy Kareem and JaRon Rush chronicles.

The slick-backed Steve Lavin vs. curl-coifed Quin Snyder follicle follies.

The en garde point guard reunion of Wesley Stokes and Cedric Bozeman.

The resurrection of the seven-year-old Bruin-saving, Tiger-taming Tyus Edney layup.

Oh, and there’s the game.

No. 8-seeded UCLA will face No. 12 Missouri tonight in a West Regional Sweet 16 matchup at Compaq Center thick with subplots that merely aggravate those trying to prepare for the biggest game of their lives.

“I knew I’d have to endure a week of hair jokes,” said Snyder, the Missouri coach. “I knew there are so many similarities and external things everyone would ask about that it would be a challenge to keep our focus.”

The 40 minutes of basketball should be captivating on its own merits. Both teams are here unexpectedly, yet both are considered among the most talented in the country.

And their seasons are eerily similar.

UCLA (21-11) climbed to a No. 3 ranking a week into the season, had an early nine-game winning streak, then stumbled through two months of one win-one loss weekends, eventually losing nine of the last 17 games, including in the first round of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

Then the Bruins did an about-face in the NCAA tournament, burying Mississippi by 22 points and knocking off No. 1-seeded Cincinnati in double overtime.

Missouri (23-11) won its first nine, climbed to a No. 2 ranking, then lost three in a row. A 6-3 January was followed by a 5-3 February and two losses in three games the first week of March, including in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament.

Then the Tigers became ferocious, opening the NCAA tournament with a 13-point victory over No. 5-seeded Miami and beating No. 4 Ohio State by 16.

Another similarity: San Francisco executive Bill Walsh spoke to both teams Wednesday, ensuring that he will have inspired the winners.

Said Missouri guard Clarence Gilbert: “He sounded like Coach Snyder, saying it’s about us, the guys wearing the uniforms, that you need to fight for the guy next to you.”

Said UCLA guard Rico Hines: “He told us that we’re playing great basketball at the right time.”

The Bruins will be without Hines, though, who injured his knee in the victory over Cincinnati and will not play. His defensive prowess on the perimeter will be missed because Missouri has two of the nation’s top three-point threats.

Gilbert, a 6-foot-2 senior, averages nearly nine three-point attempts a game and has launched 801 shots from the arc in the last three seasons, making 303.

Kareem Rush, whose troubled brother JaRon played at UCLA for two seasons, is another long-range weapon, having made 105 of 260 three-pointers. However, the 6-6 junior forward and NBA prospect has a well-rounded game that will test whoever is guarding him.

Jason Kapono might begin the game defending against Rush, but 6-7 freshman reserve Dijon Thompson might be best suited to containing him. Thompson, who played very well in the first two rounds, could play more than 20 minutes in Hines’ absence.

UCLA will have difficulty playing zone defense because of the Tigers’ three-point shooting ability. Employing a press or a pressure man-to-man could be effective because Missouri committed at least 14 turnovers 20 times.

Stokes, a former AAU teammate of Bozeman who plays significant minutes at the point when Gilbert moves to shooting guard, is especially turnover-prone, although he has handled the ball better of late.

“I’m not worried about Wesley, he’s playing his best basketball of the season,” Snyder said.

The primary concern of both coaches is that their players become intoxicated by the sudden barrage of fawning media--the same media that blasted them during their months of mediocrity.

“The real challenge for our team, now that everyone is patting them on the back and talking about what a great run we’re having, is to just get back to practice and concentrate on game preparation,” Lavin said.

Whether two victories qualify as a run is open to interpretation, although the triumphs at Pittsburgh did mark the first time in 10 weeks the Bruins won two games in the same weekend.

Like his players, Lavin is getting some uncustomary kudos. And he is reveling in the opportunity to reshape his image.

“Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t play dodgeball, steal the flag, red light green light, hopscotch and other grammar school games at practice,” he said. “We actually teach fundamentals and coach. As a result you see the breakthroughs, like freshmen Ryan Walcott and Cedric Bozeman improving.”

At 35, Snyder is two years younger than Lavin. The former Duke assistant enjoyed a two-year honeymoon period at Missouri but was criticized when the Tigers did a free-fall from the rankings in January and had a 12-11 finish to the regular season.

“I do have empathy for [Lavin],” Snyder said. “The key for me was to limit my exposure to those things. I’ve felt all my life I could be at my best when there is chaos and adversity.”

UCLA often performs best under those very circumstances. Perhaps the most intriguing subplot for today’s game is whether these teams can play well now that everything is going so smoothly.

“I’m thinking we’re going to keep rolling,” Kapono said. “That Cincinnati victory ought to lead to something special.”