Bruins hungry for success
Posted: Wednesday November 04, 1998 11:58 AM
Sports Illustrated's Kelli Anderson checks in with the
sixth in a series of glances around the college basketball
scene.
Westwood,
Calif.
TEAM: UCLA Bruins
VENUE: Pauley Pavilion (12,800)
'97-98 record:
24-9 (Lost to Kentucky in NCAA South Regional
semifinals)
PREDICTED '98-99
STARTERS: G
Baron
Davis , C
Dan
Gadzuric , F
Jerome
Moiso , F
JaRon
Rush , G
Earl
Watson
Greetings from L.A., the only place in the world where it
is easier to get parked on the freeway than on a college
campus. At UCLA, you're supposed to pay for parking at a
remote kiosk before you enter a garage. Of course, no one
tells you this before
you arrive at the little mechanical barrier at the entrance
to Lot 8, as I did at approximately 10:45 a.m. the day of
my visit. The obstinate striped arm won't rise for anything
but an electronic permit, which I, of course, do not have.
I consider busting
through, but instead climb out of the car and prepare to
apologize to each of the drivers rapidly stacking up behind
me. Fortunately, the first one loans me her permit. Yet
even after this bit of cheating I end up on a level where
people with aprons are
collecting $5 a car.
It is 11, I haven't eaten since 5 a.m. in Vegas, and my
schedule will not permit lunch until 3. I will not survive
without a snack. Fortunately, UCLA coach
Steve
Lavin almost always has Hershey products in his office
(corporate speaking has benefits beyond cash). Lavin is
nowhere to be found, but his secretary,
Susan
Tokuda , recognizes my distress and offers to break into his
office. I accept, of course, but there is no candy. I knew
things were going to be different around here this
year—no firings, no suspensions—but this might be
going too
far.
Fortunately, Susan has her own stash of Halloween candy, so
I am able to hold semi-lucid conversations with
Dan
Gadzuric ,
Earl
Watson and
Baron
Davis over the next few hours. Davis, one of the country's most
exciting players last year as a freshman, talks to me in
Pauley Pavilion after an individual workout with two
assistants. He hasn't played in a game since he tore his
ACL against Michigan in the
NCAAs last March, and it has been a trying seven
months.
"I couldn't do much but rehab, watch TV, sleep and
eat," he says. The last two activities particularly
intrigue me, since I haven't had enough of either in the
last few days. We discuss food. "Fatburgers,
In-and-Out burgers, I ate everything," says
Davis. His weight ballooned from 205 to 230, but he has lost
most of that as his workouts have increased. I refrain from
asking him where the nearest Fatburger
is.
Even without a full-steam-ahead Davis, which we may not see
for awhile, this team, which consists of the country's top
recruiting classes of the last two years plus one senior
and one junior, will be fun to watch. I can tell this even
before I drop off
to sleep during practice later that day.
JaRon
Rush , who made headlines last season after he got dropped from
Kansas coach
Roy
Williams 's recruiting list for daring to critique "Roy's"
substitution patterns in a radio interview, is a gem, even
in two-on-three drills. Gadzuric and
Jerome
Moiso , two freshmen each just under 7 feet tall, move with
astonishing fluidity during the
drill.
Rush talks to me after a team scrimmage. Unlike Watson, his
roommate and childhood friend from Kansas City, Rush had
seen a beach before he arrived in L.A. Indeed, he has seen
a lot of the country, having played on AAU traveling squads
since he was
seven. When I ask him his goals for this season, he says,
"This year, the Final Four—at least—and next
year, the championship." Clearly he plans to keep
going places with
UCLA.
Cheers,
KA
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