She Knows All About Turnaround

It’s time to say goodbye to Michelle Greco.

When UCLA tips off against Oregon today it will be the fifth-year senior’s final game at Pauley Pavilion.

She is the face of UCLA women’s basketball, having been featured on the cover of the team’s last three media guides. She is the link to the last UCLA teams that played in the NCAA tournament.

“I am sad,” said Greco, who will graduate with a double major, history and political science. “[UCLA] has been my home for five years. The endless hours of practice, the individual work to get ready for the games, having my friends and family at the games ... it’s been a magical place for me.”

Barring a huge week by Arizona’s Shawntinice Polk, Greco will win her second Pacific 10 scoring title. Her 19.3 average this season is close to the 19.9 that led the conference in 2000-01. She’s also the Pac-10 leader in steals.

She is a finalist for the Wade Trophy as national player of the year and the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation’s top guard.

More important to Greco is getting the 16-10 Bruins, who have clinched fourth place in the Pac-10, an NCAA or WNIT bid after the conference tournament.

“I can’t really describe in words how the turnaround feels from last year to this year and what it’s meant to our program,” Greco said. “I feel we have worked so hard to bounce back from two terrible seasons. I mean, we felt the blues. It means a lot to have done so much better and gained respect back for our program.

“We were picked to finished eighth this year, and it was a slap in the face. This year we have proven a lot of people wrong. It was a great motivation.”

The 5-foot-9 Greco, who is the Bruins’ seventh-leading scorer all-time (1,661 points), is identified as much by her boundless energy and determination as she is by her large, dark eyes and ponytail.

She’ll scamper from the perimeter to the baseline behind a screening teammate and launch a shot. Or she’ll take her opponent one on one and use her signature hippety-hop dribble to get the defender going one way while she goes the other.

But it’s a team-first attitude that has endeared Greco to Coach Kathy Olivier.

“It will be hard for me [to let her go] because we’ve gotten to the point where we respect each other to the max,” Olivier said. “She’s always given 100%, helped in great times and was so positive in the bad times.”

Greco is grateful for the chance to finish a career after having to sit out last season because of her history of concussions. It bothers her that people continue to doubt the seriousness of her situation.

“I still get asked if I sat out because I knew this freshman class was coming in,” Greco said. “I know [those questions] will linger. But the decision to sit out sounded weird to me too, because it was simply out of the blue. I was first told about it after a game. It was such a shock.”

Her brilliance didn’t just happen at UCLA. Greco was a four-time state player of the year while racking up 2,397 points at Crescenta Valley High, where she also earned letters in softball and tennis.

As a Bruin freshman and sophomore, Greco was happy to be a role player. Those 1999 and 2000 teams were loaded with talent -- Janae Hubbard, Erica Gomez, Maylana Martin, LaCresha Flannigan, Melanie Pearson and Marie Philman among them.

But the next two seasons, UCLA endured lean times. The teams were small and not highly skilled. Opposing teams zeroed in on Greco because, most nights, she was the Bruins’ offense.

“We’ll all be glad to see her graduate,” said a half-kidding Chris Gobrecht of USC after watching Greco score 28 in each of the Bruin-Trojan games this season. “As a player, she’s just nails.”

It would be nice to see her sent off before a packed house, but the women have rarely seen large crowds at Pauley Pavilion.

Still, the Bruins have a winning record, and if Olivier’s next freshman class turns out as well as this one has, the foundation is there for a return to the top 25. Greco won’t be the only senior playing her final home game on Saturday. Also taking curtain calls will be Jalina Bradley, Natalie Jarrett, Melissa Maurin, and Natalie Nakase.

Across town, Erin Young, who went from a walk-on to scholarship player to team captain, will play her last USC game at the Sports Arena.

Fine players. Fine people.

But there is only one Greco.