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by David Bartman
 The Enigma known as UCLA basketball has
pre-season rankings ranging from #10 (ESPN, Andy Katz) to unranked (Fox
Sports, Frank Burlison.) Dick Vitale has the Bruins ranked pre-season
#11 and Dan Wetzel from CBS Sportsline has UCLA ranked #19. That pretty
much sums up what could happen to Steve Lavin and his Bruins in the
coming year. A new Athletic Director, Dan Guerrero, from University
California Irvine certainly will have his eye on Lavin and his team this
year. Last years team was supposed to be Lavin’s best. The Bruins were
ranked in the pre-season top 10 by all the polls and a favorite to win
the Pac-10 conference title. However, the team did not perform as
expected and was up and down all year. They finished 6th
in the conference, but managed to get to the sweet 16, again. Lavin’s
Jeckel and Hyde Bruins have created quite a stir among UCLA boosters and
Alumni. The 2002-2003 Bruins will look to sharp shooting senior Jason
Kapono to bring back some of the glory to Westwood as well as Lavin’s
head off of the chopping block.
RETURNING PLAYERS
Jason
Kapono (6-8, Sr. SF) the three time All-Pac-10 performer spent the
summer in Sacramento, trying to gain quickness and improve his ball
handling skills. Assistant coach Saia has stated that UCLA is going to
feature Jason this year and the offense will be geared to do just that.
Jason is on pace to be in the top 3 in career scoring at UCLA.
Cedric
Bozeman (6-6, So. PG) struggled last season with a new system as well as
a knee injury. He may be the biggest question mark on the roster that
has many. He was a top recruit out of high school but only showed
flashes of brilliance last year. In the Say-No summer league he was also
up and down. He averaged 13.3 points a game along with 4.8 rebounds and
3.3 assists. His best game included 21 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists
and only 1 turnover. Can he become the player that he was once thought
to be, or will he struggle again like last year?
TJ
Cummings (6-10, Jr. PF/C) son of Depaul and NBA great Terry Cummings was
a top recruit out of the Chicago area. He has spent two years as a
reserve behind Dan Gadzuric and Matt Barnes (Both Second Round NBA
selections in 2002.) This year will be his opportunity to shine because
he is the only returning inside presence. He has shown a knack for
scoring with 2 twenty-point games, off the bench, last year. In the
Say-No summer league TJ shined averaging 23 points 7.2 rebounds while
shooting .500 from the field. TJ’s shot selection has been questionable
at times and that is one factor that will be important in the Bruin’s
success.
Dijon
Thompson (6-7, So. SG/SF) showed why he was such a highly touted recruit
out of high school. He has the ability to score both inside and out as
well as displaying a good court presence. He will be competing for the
starting shooting guard spot with two upper classman (Ray Young, and Jon
Crispin.) In the Say-No summer league he clearly out played Ray Young.
Thompson averaged 19.4 points a game, along with 7.6 rebounds and 2.2
assists while shooting a respectable .486 from the field. If Thompson
can produce like that during the season he might be able to take a lot
of the pressure off of Kapono.
Andre
Patterson (6-7, So. PF) displayed a knack for the ball and especially
rebounding last year. He is one of the three young players (Michael Fey,
Ryan Hollins) that are going to help TJ man the paint for the Bruins. He
showed what he could do when given the minutes during the Say-No summer
league averaging 15.1 points and 4 rebounds while shooting .575 from the
field. It has been reported that Andre is having some eligibility issues
and might not be available until January of this year.
Ryan
Walcott (6-1, S0. PG) is the cousin of Sacramento Kings and former
Arizona standout Mike Bibby. Walcott provided a spark off the bench last
year and will hope to continue to provide that spark playing behind
Cedric Bozeman. Walcott was a clutch free throw shooter down the stretch
of a few tight games last year.
John
Hoffart (6-10, Jr. C) transferred from Cal Poly SLO and has not
contributed in the past and will not contribute in the coming year.
Josiah
Johnson (6-8, So. PF) is the son of former UCLA All-American and Player
of the Year, Marques Johnson. Johnson is not going to be a factor in the
coming year.
RETURNING REDSHIRTS
Ray Young
(6-4, Sr. SG) is a former McDonald’s All-American who has not done much
at UCLA. He is returning from a red-shirt year, and will provide
leadership and defense to the young Bruin backcourt. Ray Young was
clearly outplayed in the Say-No summer league by Dijon Thompson. He did
average 16 points and, 5.8 rebounds a game but only shot .403 from the
field and .250 from behind the arc.
Jon
Crispin (6-2, Jr. SG/PG) transferred from Penn St. and sat out last
season. Jon started at Penn St. with his brother Joe (formerly with the
Lakers and now with the Phoenix Suns) and can shoot from behind the arc.
He shot .356 (42-118) from behind the arc in 2000-01, averaging 7.2
points a game. He will provide an outside shooting threat to compliment
Kapono.
INCOMING FRESHMAN
Evan Burns
(6-8, SF/PF) is the seventh McDonald’s All-American recruited to UCLA by
Steve Lavin. He is very athletic and can score inside and out. During
the Say-No summer league he showed why he was one of the top prospects
in the nation. He averaged 15.9 points, 4.2 rebounds while shooting a
remarkable .604 from the field. He also was impressive behind the arc,
.412, and from the free throw line, .813. He will provide scoring for
the Bruins in the coming year and may be the PAC-10 freshman of the
year.
Michael
Fey (6-11, C) was a top 50 national recruit in 2000-01 but failed to
qualify. He is going to compete with TJ for the starting Center
position. If Fey can provide defense and rebounding for the Bruins,
moving TJ to the PF spot would greatly improve UCLA chances for success.
In the Say-No league Fey was solid, averaging 10.8 points and 6.4
rebounds while shooting a lofty .647 from the field. Fey is just another
of the question marks for the coming season.
Mercedes
Lewis (6-6, PF) was the top tight end prospect in the country. Steve
Lavin will not get to use Mercedes’ services until after the football
season has finished. I think that the Bruin coaching staff envisions
Lewis as a Tony Gonzalez or Tao Johnson type player. He should come in
the game and provide strength and rebounding.
Matt
McKinney (6-8, SF) was recruited by both the basketball and volleyball
teams. He is on a basketball scholarship so he will join the volleyball
team after the basketball season has completed. McKinney was on the
Junior National Volleyball team and that leads many to believe that he
may end up putting volleyball ahead of basketball.
Ryan
Hollins (6-10, PF/C) was a late edition to the UCLA recruiting class. He
was allowed to change his choice in schools when former UCLA assistant,
Lorenzo Romar, left St. Louis for Washington. Hollins improved his stock
tremendously over the past year and continued to show this improvement
during the Say-No summer league. He averaged 10.5 points and 2.7
rebounds while shooting .555 from the floor.
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
The reason
why UCLA’s ranking is all over the map cannot be answered with one
response; there are many questions that are present with this year’s
team.
The first
of which is who is going to score? Losing over 56% (in conference) of
your scoring, in Gadzuric, Barnes and Knight, is going to be hard to
replace. Most importantly the points from Gadzuric and Barnes were
mostly in the paint. Where are the points in the paint going to come
from? TJ, Fey and Patterson are the most likely sources to replace this
void but TJ has a knack for shooting jumpers, Fey is an unproven
freshman and Patterson’s eligibility is in question. Crispin should be
able to help to replace Billy Knight’s shooting. Dijon Thompson and
Bozeman seem like the most likely sources to increase their scoring from
last year, while Burns should also provide a scoring punch.
The second
question is who is going to rebound? This question goes hand in hand
with the first in that the Bruins lost over 50%. of their rebounding to
graduation. Once again this burden will lie with TJ, Fey and Patterson.
TJ has never shown a great ability to rebound, and how often does a true
freshman come in and dominate the glass. This also will have an effect
on interior defense. Can Fey be a defensive presence? Will TJ
drastically improve his defense? Only time will tell and your guess is
as good as mine, but it looks as though that might be a weakness for the
Bruins.
The last
question deals with coaching. Can Steve Lavin start the year with a
system on both ends of the floor that seems to work from the outset? In
the past few seasons he has had to change his entire offensive and
defensive schemes mid season to attempt to change the direction of the
team. The preseason chatter seems to lean towards a new offensive set,
the 4-1. This will be designed to take advantage of UCLA depth of
quality wing players and lack of a true interior presence. Kapono will
be featured in this new offense and Bruins fans can only hope that Jason
improved his quickness and ball handling in Sacramento over the summer.
All in
all, the pre-season ranking of the Bruins is a great indicator of how
this year’s team will do. They have talent, albeit young, and a great
clutch shooter in Kapono. The play of Fey, TJ, and Bozeman are the most
important factors for the Bruins challenging Arizona for the conference
championship and making a run in the tournament.
My
prediction is for more up and down results for the Bruins, finishing
third in the conference behind Arizona and Oregon. I think that Steve 16
will once again get his team back to the sweet 16, and that just might
be good enough for Dan Guerrero, but certainly not enough to rid Lavin
of his critics. 2003-04 will find UCLA fans in the same situation that
they currently find themselves in, waiting for the cream to rise to the
top or for the bubble to burst. Either scenario is as likely as the
next, only time will tell.
by David Bartman
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