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Monday, March 31, 1997

RECRUITING:

Team looks to next season, hopes to find newcomers strong enough to fill seniors' shoesBy Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

The season that displayed almost everything imaginable and then some has come to an end for the UCLA men's basketball team, and the task at hand now is to build upon the success of the Elite Eight team for next season.

The Bruins will lose three seniors, Charles O'Bannon, Cameron Dollar and Bob Myers, which will impact the team greatly. It was O'Bannon who started dominating Pac-10 foes midway through the season, enabling the Bruins to get a winning streak going into the tournament. Dollar, on the other hand, kept bringing UCLA back from the dead, as evidenced first in the Washington State win and later in the Iowa State thriller.

Emotional leadership is another quality that UCLA head coach Steve Lavin will miss greatly. During the season, Lavin made it clear to all that the three seniors set the table for the younger players, making his job as a rookie head coach much easier.

"They're such a special group and obviously I'll be indebted and grateful to them forever, because they've been like an extension of our coaching staff," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said. "Basically everything college athletics is about is Cameron Dollar, Bob Myers and Charles O'Bannon."

Of the three UCLA underclassmen ­ Toby Bailey, J.R. Henderson and Jelani McCoy ­ who are projected as NBA first­ or second-round draft picks if they choose to leave school early, Bailey and McCoy are the definite returnees. Henderson, who told the media that he was leaning toward coming back when asked on the day of Lavin's hiring, is reportedly not quite ready to make his final decision yet.

UCLA's surprising late-season run should be a boost to recruiting, which after Harrick's firing looked like a lost cause. This bodes well for Lavin, who can court recruits with not only sound coaching philosophy, but on-court success backing up his rhetoric.

"I can tell recruits that this is a pretty special place to come to school, not only in education but also in a basketball family that you're going to be part of," Lavin said. "That's what this season was all about, developing a basketball family. Regardless of whether (we) won or lost, we're going to be a family."

So far, five recruits have either signed the letter of intent to play at UCLA or have given an oral commitment to do so. All are guards or small forwards, which may transform the '97-'98 Bruins into a quick, perimeter-oriented team not unlike NCAA Championship finalists Arizona and Kentucky.

Earl Watson, a 6-foot, 2-inch guard from Kansas City, is the sole recruit who signed the letter of intent in the early signing period in November. Watson, who can play either the point or the two guard, averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds as a junior, and is projected as the replacement for Dollar if McDonald's All-American Baron Davis chooses not to fulfill his oral commitment.

Davis, who remarked in November that he'd sign with UCLA if Lavin was named the permanent head coach, has not confirmed that commitment yet. However, good news for the Bruins is that UCLA is said to be still in the running with the likes of Kansas and Duke.

Adding to the list of freshman recruits are two local players, Billy Knight of Westchester High and Travis Reed of Fontana Miller High, who have reportedly given Lavin oral commitments. Knight is a 6'4" three-point specialist, who has made it onto the Long Beach Press-Telegram's "Best of the West" list. Although Reed has not garnered such prep-level accolades, at 6'6", he will be an asset at the small forward position.

A forgotten player in all this is Rico Hines, who was supposed to play for UCLA this year had it not been for a Christology class at St. John's at Prospect Hall in Frederick, Maryland that did not count toward his grade point average. Hines, who is known for his jumping ability, is currently a fifth-year senior in a prep school on the East Coast and will have four years of eligibility left over starting next season.

Another new addition to next year's team is Nevada transfer Kevin Daley, who has been sitting out this entire season. A teammate of O'Bannon's at Artesia High who averaged 17 points and eight rebounds in his senior year, Daley, with his 6'6" frame and great jumping ability, will add depth at the small forward position.

So far, five recruits have either signed the letter of intent to play at UCLA or have given an oral commitment to do so. All are guards or small forwards ...JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Senior Charles O'Bannon leaves the court for the last time as a Bruin on Saturday.JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Coach Steve Lavin was unable to hold back tears at the postgame press conference after the loss to Minnesota.

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