Monday, March 31, 1997M. HOOPS:
Bruins reflect on devastating loss, look back at turbulent seasonBy Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- There was a 180-degree change in the mood in the locker room of the UCLA men's basketball team.
Had less than 48 hours passed since the Bruins celebrated Cameron Dollar's game-winning shot that extended their tournament drive while ending Iowa State's 74-73 in overtime?
A locker room that had been filled with jubilation two nights earlier was abruptly filled with shock, disbelief and sadness with the realization that the season that had taken them through so many exhilarating and exhausting twists and turns had ended.
It was a sullen atmosphere after UCLA lost to Minnesota on March 22, 80-72, in the Midwest Regional Final and saw its hopes for the Final Four and championship rings disappear.
"At the end when there's only 30, 20 seconds left and you're down so many you just want to quit and just leave or try to make that one last move because you don't want to lose," J.R. Henderson said. "It's just real hard to accept; you wish you could put more minutes on the clock."
It seemed that the Bruins were going to go from the Alamodome to the RCA Dome in Indianapolis as for a good portion of the game they commanded a lead that at one point stretched to 10. But with Jelani McCoy injured and Henderson's hands tied on the defensive end due to four fouls, the Gophers would pound the inside and do what UCLA had done so well all season come from behind to win.
"It was quiet for a minute," said Kris Johnson, who after fouling out with 1:19 left hid his face in a towel to hide his tears, "and then we all got up and started hugging each other. It was kind of weird. Everyone was saying 'I love you man.' It was hard and everybody was crying, heads were down, which is what you expect because we expected to win this game and we expected to be in the Final Four."
McCoy said softly, "To come as far as we came and to (have it) stop here, you have to console somebody."
It wasn't just the players that were emotional.
Tears began to well up in UCLA head coach Steve Lavin's eyes when he realized in the last minute of the game that there would be no Dollar shot to save the day and that this would be the first time in 12 games that his Bruins would not be able to find a way to battle back and win.
"It's just so hard because you want your players to feel and to experience that thrill (of going to the Final Four)," a choked-up Lavin said. "I just wanted to be around them for another week and to watch them be so happy after all the down days and all the valleys that they have been through."
While there is still speculation about who is in fact coming back amongst the underclassmen, the Minnesota game was the last game in UCLA uniform for the three seniors Dollar, Bob Myers and Charles O'Bannon.
"I'm proud of them," junior Toby Bailey said. "They had a great season. I'm glad that they are going to go on to bigger and better things."
Without O'Bannon and Dollar, UCLA's tournament run could have ended up being nothing more than a jog. It was O'Bannon who sparked the offense to come from behind in the Bruins' second-round victory over Xavier. And it was Dollar who sent the Cyclones packing in the Sweet Sixteen.
O'Bannon, like so many times before, led the team in scoring against Minnesota, tallying 22 points and playing all 40 minutes of his final collegiate game.
"Someone asked me if I was sad that Coach Lavin didn't take me out to get a standing ovation and acknowledgement," O'Bannon said. "But no, I wanted to go out on the final buzzer giving it my all blood, sweat and guts. I've been here for four years and wanted to go out as hard as I can."
While there was an air of disappointment that the seniors weren't sent off with a championship celebration, there was also a feeling of accomplishment.
"I'm going to concentrate on the glass being half full," Lavin said. "What we've learned about each other, about the basketball family, about how life is a lot more important than this game or the score of this game or whether we go to the Final Four or not. It's a special experience when you overcome and go through the things that we went through and really that's what college basketball is all about."
For many Bruin players, it was the growth and maturation that occurred through the course of the year that made the season an especially memorable one.
"It was definitely a special season," O'Bannon said. "To see how the team has grown from the Tulsa loss all the way to this Minnesota loss and everything that happened in between. Even before the Tulsa loss there was the loss of Coach Harrick. We've all grown up and it's extremely gratifying, just to see all my boys grow up from boys to men."
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
Dave Parker (l.) and Harold Sylvester leave the Alamodome after a disappointing loss to Minnesota.