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Thursday, December 5, 1996

JAYHAWKS:

Men's basketball team hopes to avenge last year's loss with hometown advantage and large, loyal Bruin crowdBy Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

For the UCLA men's basketball team, playing No. 1 Kansas on Saturday morning will be equivalent to an NBA squad hosting a European All-Star team consisting almost entirely of American players.

The name 'University of Kansas' seems to describe a school that has geographical representation of the state of Kansas, but the demographic profile of the top-ranked basketball team suggests something quite different.

Thanks to successful efforts in recruiting California's most prized high school players, the Jayhawks (5-0) are loaded with talent from the Golden State. Four of their five returning starters are from California, of those three of them are from the Southland.

Jerod Haase, a transfer from the University of California, is from South Lake Tahoe, Scot Pollard is from San Diego, Paul Pierce is from Los Angeles and Jacque Vaughn is from Muir High School in Pasadena.

Because of the homecoming factor, Kansas head coach Roy Williams can count on his California players being pumped up for Saturday's game.

"Paul and Jacque have been looking forward to going home," Williams said. "I know that Paul is really looking forward to playing in front of friends and family."

UCLA center Jelani McCoy is one of several Bruins, including most notably Toby Bailey, Charles O'Bannon and Kris Johnson, who have competed against Kansas' California natives at the prep level.

"I played against Pollard and Pierce (in high school), but playing them now is a whole new (situation)," McCoy, a San Diego native, said. "This is not for a (California Interscholastic Federation) championship or a state championship, but for the (NCAA) championship.

"(But) I don't get into that California stuff. I'll play them no matter where they're from. I just want to play hard so we can win the game."

Last year, the Bruins (1-1) held a 19 point lead against Kansas in front of a hostile crowd at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks came back in the second half, outscoring UCLA 41-17 in the final 15 minutes, to close out the victory.

According to UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, who was Jim Harrick's assistant at the time, the Jayhawk fans were one of the most important factors in Kansas' comeback and the Bruins' demise.

"All of our players on the plane ride back home talked about how loud Allen Fieldhouse was," Lavin said. "Even when we were up 19, blowing them out in the first half, it was unbelievably loud. It was louder when they were down 19 than when they came back and went ahead of us by double figures.

"What I'm really hoping is that we have the loudest Pauley Pavilion crowd we've had in the last 15 years. I think our players really deserve our fans work for 40 minutes."

In the off-season, one of the most anticipated matchups for this game was at the point guard position. Two senior veterans, Cameron Dollar and Vaughn, were supposed to go at it. However, Vaughn broke his right wrist in an off-season pickup game which changes the scenario.

"(Vaughn's injury) takes a lot away from the game," Dollar said. "Because last year when we played, I played injured. It's an unfortunate situation for him, but he'll be OK soon."

For the time, sophomore Ryan Robertson is filling in for Vaughn and has done an admirable job at it. In the five games Kansas has played, Robertson averaged 6 assists per game for the Jayhawks. In his All-American junior season, Vaughn averaged 6.6 assists.

"UCLA is a good, athletic team," Williams said. "They were surprised in their first game and they're going to be licking at the chops for us."

After getting past Cal State Northridge on Tuesday, UCLA will only be playing in its third game of the season. Kansas, on the other hand, will have played six games by Saturday's tip-off, which is scheduled at 11:30 a.m.

"It's going to be an important game," Lavin said. "It's going to be another measuring stick or what I call a report card that you receive to find out what you need to improve on."

Despite the implications of recruiting, national polls, postseason seeding and other things, Lavin contends that Saturday's game is not a do-or-die situation by any means.

"Coach Wooden used to talk about this time of the year as a dress rehearsal and the curtain gets raised come the conference," Lavin said. "And then, once you get into the NCAA tournament, it's an encore performance."

Lavin's argument that a team's conference play should be the prime determinant of its success is good in theory, but the NCAA seeding committee apparently doesn't agree.

Last year, the Bruins won the Pacific 10 with a stellar conference record of 16-2, but was shipped out of the West Regionals as a No. 4 seed. And everyone knows what happened in Indianapolis.

That means if the 1997 NCAA selection committee is to operate with the same formula as they used last year, Saturday's game has monumental importance for UCLA.

The Bruins have a recruit that has officially committed in the early signing period for next year. Earl Watson's letter, which was mailed on the last day of the early signing period (Nov. 20), arrived at the athletic department last week.

At Washington High School in Kansas City, Watson averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds as a junior. Watson has received national acclaim at the Nike All-American camp in Indianapolis.

The Jayhawks (5-0) are loaded with talent from the Golden State.JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

J.R. Henderson (52) hopes to help lead the Bruins to victory over the top-ranked Jayhawks.

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