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Monday, March 1, 1999

If Baron Davis abdicates now, his Bruin legacy won't be secure

COLUMN: NBA beckons, but sophomore should return for another year

Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion was Senior Day for the most storied college basketball program in history.

Hopefully it was not the day the NBA killed UCLA.

What a scene for the crime. John Wooden sitting in his customary courtside seat. An overflow student section finally getting a chance to rush the court, even if it was before the game.

And then there was dunk after dunk after dunk. Mix in a game-saving three-pointer and some Pistol Pete-like passes and Saturday was the perfect stage for Baron Davis' Pauley finale.

Oh, for the days when leaving school as a junior for the NBA raised eyebrows around the nation.

It's true, UCLA has seen its share of stars leave Westwood before their senior years, including the greatest of them all, Lew Alcindor. But he left after winning three-straight national championships, and finished his final season without a loss.

Nobody doubts that Davis has the talent to excel at the next level.

Given the way he has played the last two months, he has the ability and maturity to become a bona fide star in the NBA. If he does enter the draft, he very well may be the first point guard selected.

But the allure of another season in Westwood has to tempt him. As great a player as he has been, his legacy as a Bruin is far from intact.

He could be the best player to ever wear the blue and gold, but he isn't yet.

That assumes another year in Pauley.

Davis could cement his UCLA legacy by returning for his junior year.

Not only would he be a sure-fire first-team All-American and Player of the Year favorite, but the Bruins would be favored to win the Pac-10 and national championships. And of course, all the money in the NBA cannot buy a national championship banner.

The critics say that he better take the money the NBA has to offer and run. And why not? As a likely top 10 pick, Davis would be guaranteed a three-year multimillion dollar contract. What other job has that kind of security?

Those same critics point to his surgically-repaired knee and raise the obvious questions as to how it might withstand another collegiate season. The better question is, if it can't withstand a collegiate season, than how could it withstand an 82-game NBA season?

The Baron's knee is not a problem. It is stronger than ever, as he demonstrated against Washington this weekend, and may be better-suited to the healing process than another season at UCLA. The possibility of injury always threatens, but as Davis himself says, his game is much more "grounded" now, and seemingly less prone to the injury that he suffered last March against Michigan.

Memories of Keith Van Horn and Tim Duncan dance in the heads of underclassmen as much as the dollar signs thrown out by the NBA. I could never criticize a player who opts to leave school to fulfill a childhood dream, but that dream is nothing new. It drove the spirits of Bill Walton and Alcindor, when even three years with the Wizard of Westwood was not enough to fully prepare for professional basketball.

The professional game may be younger now and filled with stars under the age of 25. But you cannot convince me that Tim Duncan would give up his degree from Wake Forest and the universal praise he received for staying in school for another few million dollars. A decade from now no one will even remember that money he passed on after spurning the experts to return for his junior and senior seasons. He may have been a senior citizen by rookie standards in the NBA today, but all he did was unanimously win the Rookie of the Year award and play in the All-Star Game.

Baron Davis began to walk off the floor at Pauley Saturday afternoon after sparking the Bruins to their twenty-first win. He reached down and touched the circle at center court and it seemed like only yesterday that he was jumping up and down and hugging J.R. Henderson before the tip of his first collegiate game.

Four years of college goes by in a blink for most students. Davis' two years as a Bruin seem to have lasted an eternity, beginning with the academic disqualification of Schea Cotton and the suspensions of Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson, followed by the emotional roller coaster of last season and then the stirring upset of Michigan in the tournament, which also saw the end of his freshman year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament. The off-season seemed to last a year itself.

And then this year, with only two upperclassmen in the basketball program, Davis made his return and then some, elevating himself from a scouting dilemma to first-round NBA draft choice, and leading a team that has at times started four freshmen to over twenty wins in one of the nations' toughest conferences.

If indeed it all ended Saturday, then he certainly went out in style.

But to return for another year, win the first conference title in three years, and possibly a national title? That defies style.

We will have to wait until after the NCAA Tournament to find out for sure, but for now I'll deal with remembering those impressions of Davis soaring over 7-foot Todd MacCullogh.

I just hope there are a few more tricks left in his bag.

Street would like to announce that he will return to the Daily Bruin for his senior year. Please send comments to sjstreet@ucla.edu.

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