M. basketball: Former star O’Bannon returns home

Amid the many posters hanging in the Morgan Center Press Room,
one Sports Illustrated cover is so visually striking it is
impossible to miss. The headline reads, “Return to
Glory,” superimposed over a photograph of Ed O’Bannon
cutting down the net after winning UCLA’s 11th NCAA
title.

Tonight, when O’Bannon returns to Pauley Pavilion as a
member of the EA Sports All-Stars, he will return to the place
where his glory began.

That glory, however, ended soon after O’Bannon left
Westwood. The “happily ever after” plot that was
supposed to include a prolific NBA career simply didn’t come
to fruition.

O’Bannon came to UCLA in 1990 after graduating from high
school as National Player of the Year. And the accolades were just
beginning.

In the 1992-1993 season, O’Bannon’s first full
season of play, he averaged 16.7 points per game, good for second
on the team and All Pac-10 first team honors. During his junior
year, O’Bannon continued to improve, leading the squad in
both scoring and rebounding. However, the team lost to Tulsa in the
first round of the NCAA tournament.

“As soon as we lost that game in the tournament, we said
to each other we wouldn’t lose again,” O’Bannon
said.

It wasn’t a resolution the team took lightly, and with 32
victories, the 1995 squad still holds the UCLA record for most wins
in a season. O’Bannon led the Bruins to UCLA’s 11th
NCAA championship, scoring in double figures the whole way and
finishing the championship game against Arkansas with 30
points.

O’Bannon was named a first-team All-American, the NCAA
Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, and was awarded both the
Oscar Robertson Trophy and the Wooden Award, given to the best
player in college basketball.

Clearly, it seemed like he was going to be big. But things
aren’t always what they seem.

After playing two seasons for the New Jersey Nets and half a
season for the Dallas Mavericks, O’Bannon dropped out of the
NBA entirely.

“When I was leaving college there were a lot of
expectations,” he said. “A lot of people expected me to
be an NBA All-Star. But things don’t turn out the way that
you want all the time.”

After the Nets selected O’Bannon with the No. 9 overall
pick in the first round of the 1995 NBA draft, the disappointments
began to sink in.

Though he was a forward at UCLA, the Nets chose to utilize
O’Bannon as a shooting guard. He averaged only six points per
game in his first season and 3.7 his second.

“I struggled. I didn’t hit the shots I needed to
hit,” he said. “When I got drafted that was the
position I played and I wasn’t ready, and my confidence
levels plummeted as a result.”

After moving on to the Mavericks for half a season in 1996 and
logging only 46 points during his time there, O’Bannon left
the league entirely to play overseas. He has played in Italy,
Spain, and most recently, Poland.

“I’d much rather be in the States, but you have to
make a living somewhere,” O’Bannon said.
“I’d much rather be playing ball than doing anything
else.”

Which is why, after returning to the states and taking a six
month break, he jumped at the opportunity when asked to play with
EA Sports, a team that also features former UCLA players Matt
Barnes and Ray Young.

After beginning their season with a number of losses, there is
no doubt the former Bruins will play intense basketball on the
court they used to call home.

“Ed O’Bannon has played very well the last few
games,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “Three former
Bruins will want to play their best in Pauley.”

And although he’ll be on the opposite side of the court,
warming up on the opposite half of the hardwood, and spending
halftime in the opposite locker room, if he has regrets, he keeps
them to a minimum.

“I’m married and have a beautiful family at home,
and that’s the main focus of my life,” he said.
“Right now my goals in life have changed since I was 22.
I’m not too worried about it.

“Things change and life goes on, so I’m
good.”