Basketball's loss to Cal tightens race

Published: Wednesday, February 1, 1995

By Randy Satterburg

Daily Bruin Staff

As if the UCLA-Cal basketball rivalry needed any additional intensity, it appears that the Bruins' alleged disruption of a Cal basketball practice has simply fueled the fire.

Cal head coach Todd Bozeman never had a surplus of friends around the Pac-10, and he certainly didn't earn any new ones at UCLA with his post-game comments. His actions were curious to many members of the media who wondered aloud why Bozeman didn't discuss the incident in private with the UCLA coaching staff rather than using the press to voice his displeasure.

Bozeman's rationale contends that he didn't want to voice his grievance before the game because he didn't want to create an "incident."

"I've had enough problems in Los Angeles this year already," Bozeman said after the game Saturday in reference to an altercation he had with a team official at a Cal-State Northridge game two weeks ago, "I didn't want any more."

But by hand-feeding the media his account of the L.A. story, Bozeman accomplished exactly what he said he had hoped to avoid he created an incident.

"Whether it was an exaggeration or not, coaches are always looking for ways to motivate teams," UCLA assistant coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Bozeman has not communicated with the UCLA staff since he left Los Angeles.

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After playing hard for much of the second half with four fouls against Cal, Ed O'Bannon finally picked up his fifth in the final minutes when he got caught in a two-on-one situation and could not get out of the way of a Monty Buckley dunk. Buckley's gyrations and facial expressions brought O'Bannon and other UCLA players to question Cal's sportsmanship, which Bozeman seemed to put on a pedestal above UCLA's.

There were so many subplots during Saturday's game that it was tough to tell whether the UCLA-Cal rivalry was friendly or antagonistic. First there is the friendship between Tremaine Fowlkes and Kristaan Johnson, who were teammates at Crenshaw High last year. In addition, Cal's Jelani Gardner practically grew up in Pauley Pavilion, causing speculation that he would attend UCLA as a forgone conclusion.

Obviously there was incentive for Fowlkes and Gardner to play well in their hometown against so many of the players they battled against in high school.

On the other hand, Buckley seemed to have a deeper grudge than that, and his motivation for beating the Bruins seemed personal. He took every opportunity to taunt students, players, or anybody else that would listen.

His showmanship will likely be remembered by some of the veterans on the UCLA team, in particular Ed O'Bannon, who does not take well to being shown up and who used some words unfit for printing when asked about it.

"They always (talk a lot of trash)," O'Bannon said. "Some people are jealous, maybe it's that. I don't know, and I don't really care. They came in here and won, and we have to go up there and win. It's as simple as that."

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Lost in the shuffle during the Cal game were the two steals that UCLA point guard Tyus Edney recorded, giving him a career total of 190, a new school record, breaking the career mark of Pooh Richardson who had 189 from 1986-89.

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The Pac-10 conference has apparently selected academic integrity over athletic exposure for its basketball teams in years to come. Conference officials recently announced a new television deal with Texas-based Liberty, a division of the Tele-Communications Inc. which also owns Prime Sports. That move signaled the end of Pac-10 basketball on ESPN, at least until 1998-99.

The decision was made in part to avoid the late start times that ESPN uses for Pac-10 games, including a proposed slot in the third game of a Monday triple-header that would tip-off at 9 p.m. approximately.

Reactions from Pac-10 coaches have been mixed, with some expressing concern that not appearing on ESPN will hurt recruiting. But at the same time it's hard for a coach to argue with the Pac-10's argument that the switch keeps the player's best-interests as student-athletes in mind.

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The UCLA basketball team was disappointed when Inglewood's Paul Pierce announced his decision to attend Kansas. Many recruiting insiders said UCLA had a good chance of signing Pierce, one of the top players on the West Coast, to bolster the Bruins' already formidable crop of early signees Brandon Loyd and Jelani McCoy.

Pierce, a 6-foot-7-inch forward, visited the UCLA campus the weekend of Jan. 12 and attended the Washington State game.

"I like the feeling on Kansas' campus and the way the student body supports the team," said Pierce.