Hoops’ seniors wear

Hoops’ seniors wear

emotions on sleeves

Zidek, O’Bannon, Edney: basketball’s vociferous leaders

By Randy Satterburg

Daily Bruin Staff

With George Zidek, everything is cut and dry. When asked if he
was surprised by Marcus Young’s flagrant foul that nearly
decapitated him in Sunday’s Notre Dame game Zidek simply says, "No.
Basketball is a physical game."

Next question.

That’s why the emotion Zidek has displayed on the basketball
floor this year is such a stark contrast to the stoic disposition
he maintains off the court.

As one of three seniors on the UCLA basketball team, Zidek’s
role as a team leader has caused a more flamboyant side of him to
emerge. In past years, seeing Zidek smile after a big play was
cause for commotion in Pauley Pavilion. But these days Zidek is a
crowd favorite for the outbursts of emotion that he exhibits.

Take Sunday for instance, when Zidek took a pass from Tyus Edney
and threw in an off-balance runner, while also picking up a foul on
the play.

Zidek immediately ran over to the UCLA bench, where he slapped
five with anyone and everyone, then gave a surprisingly intense
belly-bump to teammate J.R. Henderson, who was sent reeling
backward by the collision.

"I was laughing at his emotions when he gave that chest-butt. He
pretty much knocked J.R. back about 12 to 15 feet," teammate
Charles O’Bannon said. "George is a big ham, and he loves it.
That’s great when he plays off the crowd. When he uses that as one
of his motivational tools he’ll be successful, especially at
home."

* * *

At halftime of the UCLA-Notre Dame game neither team had made a
three-point shot yet. By game’s end, the Fighting Irish still had
not hit a shot from beyond the arc in 13 attempts.

Toby Bailey made the Bruins’ first and only three-pointer (in
nine attempts) of the game with just over three minutes remaining.
Prior to that one for nine performance against the Irish, UCLA was
zero for seven against USC on three-point shots ­ a statistic
which concerned head coach Jim Harrick at his weekly press
conference Tuesday .

"In the last two weeks I don’t think we have shot (threes) very
well and we need to get that back," Harrick said. "Toby Bailey has
been hesitating just a bit. (Tyus) Edney will get his back. Ed
O’Bannon was shooting really well from the three-point line and
he’s cooled off just a little, but we’ll go back to work with him.
So if those guys do it, then we’ll be fine."

* * *

At the halfway point of the Pac-10 season, Harrick assessed the
pleasant surprises and pressing concerns for his team as it
approaches the stretch run of a tight conference race that has UCLA
and Arizona atop the standings with 7-2 marks, followed closely by
Stanford and Arizona State at 6-3.

"I like the fact that we have had character enough to win games
like Kentucky, USC over there without Edney, and the Arizona
schools on the road," Harrick said. "What concerns me the most is
the schedule when we have to play Arizona on Sunday, go to Stanford
on Tuesday and Cal on Thursday. Those three games are real key for
us."

Three days later on Sunday, the Bruins host Duke in the fourth
game of a grueling seven-day stretch for UCLA.

* * *

UCLA has fared much better in televised games this season.

In 1993-94 the Bruins endured five consecutive losses on
national television. This year, UCLA already has nationally
televised wins against Kentucky, LSU, Arizona and USC.

A good showing on television definitely makes an impression on
the east coast’s media members who sometimes don’t even get late
scores from nontelevised Pac-10 games until a day later. And
impressions often make a difference when it comes down to which
teams draw a No. 1 seed in the tournament.

Said Zidek after the ABC’s regional broadcast of the Bruins’
blowout win against Notre Dame:

"We just really wanted to make a statement of what UCLA
basketball is all about."

* * *

A poster of downtown Seattle hangs on the north wall of the UCLA
locker room where the team can see it before every game and
practice. So what exactly is the Bruins’ fascination with the
Emerald City?

Seattle’s Kingdome is the host of the Final Four this year.

UCLA could conceivably win the national championship without
venturing east of the Rocky Mountains. This year’s first and second
rounds in the West Region will be held in Idaho and Utah, with the
regionals in Oakland and the finals in Seattle.