His Hands Are Tide

He has only seven players he can call on. His 10th-seeded team is going up against a second-seeded squad. His offense is facing a defense that often puts a lid on the basket and leaves the opposition with a final point total that looks like a halftime score.

To hear Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried tell it, he will be honored just to be on the same court with UCLA when the two teams play their second-round NCAA tournament game today at Cox Arena.

“We are playing a great team that’s got great tradition and heritage,” said Gottfried, a former Bruin assistant. “We understand that this would be a huge upset for us to win. We’re not a good basketball team. We’re just out here scrapping around, and we’re playing one of the best in the tournament.”

All coaches play mind games, seeking ways to motivate their team, but UCLA Coach Ben Howland took exception to Gottfried’s poor-me approach.

“That is very, very unfair of him to characterize his team like that after the year they have had,” said Howland, whose team is 28-6 and has won eight in a row. “It’s almost a slap in the face.”

It would be understandable to think Gottfried might be bitter today about coming face to face with what might have been, regretful that he, not Howland, could have been the coach to carry UCLA into a revival of its glory.

Gottfried spent seven seasons as a Bruin assistant. He played a key role under then-coach Jim Harrick on the 1994-95 UCLA team that won an NCAA championship. It was Gottfried who introduced Harrick to Steve Lavin.

Gottfried left UCLA after that championship season to become head coach at Murray State. A year later, Harrick was fired, replaced by Lavin.

“Things work out the way they are supposed to work out,” Gottfried said. “I had a good run at Murray State and was in a situation where the national media really didn’t see all my mistakes. That was good for me. I do believe coaches need that time.

“The year 1995 was special. I absolutely love UCLA. They are special to me and always will be. But that was then and this is now.”

Now, Gottfried, concluding his eighth season at Alabama, brings in a team that boosted its record to 18-12 by beating Marquette, 90-85, Thursday.

It might be Gottfried’s best coaching job, considering that he has gotten this far with little more than half a roster.

There is some substance to his poor-me assessment.

Alabama began the season with only 10 scholarship players. Forward Chuck Davis, the leading scorer, suffered a season-ending knee injury in January. Center Yamene Coleman is redshirting. Guard Justin Jonus quit the team because of lack of playing time.

There will be three walk-ons in uniform, only one of whom, Brandon Davis, has even played this season, getting in for a total of nine minutes.

One of the others is 5-foot-9, 160-pound Willie Watson, who was the walk-on team manager until he was put on the roster after Davis was lost.

So it comes down to seven players.

“Fatigue isn’t a factor,” Gottfried said. “My players are not allowed to get tired. It’s against the rules. I think [the short roster] has hurt us sometimes in a foul situation.”

It has hurt the Crimson Tide most in terms of defensive alignments, Gottfried said.

“We just don’t have the bodies,” he said. “There are times they have to play through things so that they can stay on the floor.”

But just when Gottfried sees his options shrinking, seemingly out of nowhere comes a performance like the one by Jean Felix against Marquette.

The 6-7, 205-pound senior forward from the Republic of Congo had been averaging 8.1 points and was only two for 14 from the field in his previous two games.

Those numbers were singed into insignificance by the hot hand Felix unveiled Thursday afternoon. He made eight of 11 from the field, all from three-point range, and seven of eight free throws to finish with 31 points.

If Felix can keep that up today, it might be the Bruins crying.

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A closer look

Breaking down UCLA’s second-round game against Alabama:

*--* STARTERS UCLA Ht Wt Stats P Alabama Ht Wt Stats L.R. Mbah a 6-7 215 8.1 rpg F Richard 6-8 265 7.9 rpg Moute Hendrix Ryan Hollins 7-0 225 4.4 rpg C Jermareo 6-10 220 14.3 ppg Davidson Jordan 6-2 180 13.6 ppg G Ronald 6-3 185 14.1 ppg Farmar Steele Arron 6-5 210 16.6 ppg G Brandon 5-11 170 2.4 ppg Afflalo Hollinger Cedric 6-6 207 2.2 apg G/F Evan Brock 6-9 210 3.9 ppg Bozeman RESERVES Darren 6-0 155 5.7 ppg Jean 6-7 205 8.9 ppg Collison, G Felix, F Michael 6-5 205 3.8 ppg Alonzo 6-6 215 8.6 ppg Roll, G Gee, F Alfred 6-8 242 2.6 rpg Aboya, F

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HOW THEY MATCH UP

* OFFENSE -- The scoring load for Alabama is carried by three players: Davidson (14.3 points a game), Steele (14.1) and Hendrix (9.3). If Felix can maintain the shooting touch he suddenly acquired against Marquette (averaging 8.1, he scored 31), Alabama’s offense becomes much more threatening. UCLA has presented a multi-dimensional attack in recent games. It’s no longer only Afflalo and Farmar. One game it might be Mbah a Moute making key shots, another Collison. It seems someone always gets hot. Edge: UCLA.

* DEFENSE -- Until a team finds a way to break through the wall the Bruin defense seems to have erected around the basket, this area remains UCLA’s biggest strength and the deciding factor in every Bruin victory. While the Crimson Tide likes to mix up its defensive look, that only works as long as the team stays out of foul trouble. Using only seven players, Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried has to ease the defensive pressure when he’s in danger of losing a player to a referee’s whistle. Edge: UCLA.

* COACHING -- UCLA Coach Ben Howland loves to draw upon his school’s glory days while Gottfried can say he lived in the glow of that glory as a Bruin assistant on their last championship team. Gottfried would love to beat Howland, the coach whose job he once coveted, but he’s going up against the architect of perhaps the best defensive unit in the tournament. Edge: UCLA.

* KEY TO THE GAME -- Alabama’s inside game. UCLA’s window of vulnerability is its front court, where Mbah a Moute has been the only consistently steady performer all season. If Davidson can equal the 12 rebounds he pulled down against Marquette and Felix can retain his hot shooting touch, and the Crimson Tide can nullify the recent effective play of Hollins -- a lot of ifs -- Alabama could win.

* PREDICTION -- UCLA 71, Alabama 67.

-- STEVE SPRINGER