New Cinderella at the Ball

Once mighty U.C.L.A. is the surprise of the NCAA tournament

Remember how it used to be at the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball championships? Coach John Wooden and his U.C.L.A. Bruins would arrive each year carrying an empty suitcase to be used for toting home the trophy and championship banner. From 1963-64 to 1974-75, the likes of Walt Hazzard, Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton won the NCAA title ten times, including a miraculous string of seven straight championships, ending in 1973.

In those days the Final Four of the NCAA tourney, the survivors of three frantic weeks of nationwide elimination rounds, were usually known as U.C.L.A. and the three Cinderellas. And almost without exception the Bruins, no fans of fairy tales, would not even give the Cinderellas a dance. So much for underdogs. That Bruin dynasty was the greatest in the history of college basketball.

But, oh, how the script has changed.

Once again, the finest college basketball teams have dwindled down to the Final Four. Once again, a few tenacious underdogs are asserting their claim to the top spot. But this year, the most engaging Cinderella team is none other than U.C.L.A. After Wooden retired as coach in 1975, the Bruins became merely mortal. But this year they are plainly back in contention. No longer the mighty lords of college ball, they are pretenders, nonetheless, a jerry-built squad that entered the championships with a so-so regular-season record of 17 wins and 9 losses. U.C.L.A. finished a humiliating fourth in its own conference, the Pac-10, after dropping four games on its home court. In the previous 15 seasons, U.C.L.A. had lost only seven times at Pauley Pavilion.

To reach the semifinals in Indianapolis this Saturday, the Bruins had to dispose of such powerhouses as DePaul, the country's top-ranked team (with a regular-season record of 26 wins, 1 loss), Ohio State (20-7), the muscular runner-up of the tough Big Ten Conference, and Clemson (20-8), fourth in the equally competitive Atlantic Coast Conference.

The man behind U.C.L.A.'s post-season rush to glory is first-year Coach Larry Brown, who had guided the NBA's Denver Nuggets for five years. The Bruins' third coach in five years, Brown says of the season: "I've been spending a lot of tune trying to correct a situation that I had no control over."

It was not that Brown inherited a no-talent team. U.C.L.A. was still attracting top prospects: three Bruins were first-round picks in last season's pro draft. But Brown's task was hampered by the fact that his seniors had played for such a variety of coaches. Says Forward Kiki Vandeweghe, son of former New York Knicks Star Ernie Vandeweghe: "I like to look at the positive side of the changes. I played under three coaches with three different philosophies, and if I'd had only one, I would have got only one philosophy."

Other players did not fare as well.

Says Forward James Wilkes: "It slowed down my development offensively. The first coach labeled me a defensive player, so I had to prove myself with the next two coaches. It got disappointing at tunes, but I just tried to roll with it." Three of Wilkes' classmates never learned to roll with it. Despite glittering high school records, they finished their senior years as subs.

No sooner had Brown arrived last March than he jumped into the annual recruiting scramble. Although he started late, he managed to lure a pair of speedy backcourt men to put zip into the attack: Guards Rod Foster and Mike Holton. The two settled into the lineup slightly after midseason and played more like seniors than freshmen. The team began to jell. Brown scrapped the slick-passing offense he had favored at Denver and returned to Wooden's more traditional style. Sophomore Mike Sanders, a comparatively small 6 ft. 6 in., was switched from forward to center to key the attack. Brown also eliminated complicated defenses in favor of a simpler man-to-man coverage. With Bruin basketball stripped to essentials once more, U.C.L.A. was on its way. Says Brown: "Because we were so young and were playing so many people, we had to simplify. I've tried to take the thinking process away and just let them play."

No less a judge than John Wooden approves of Brown's handling of the team. Says he: "Larry's done an exceptional job of giving returnees an opportunity and working in the young players. He may have tried to teach too many things too soon, but as the season progressed, he settled on fewer numbers of players, and as a result, the team unity on the floor improved." DePaul Coach Ray Meyer discovered the difference the hard way. His team beat U.C.L.A., 99-94, during the regular season, only to lose to the Bruins, 77-71, in the second round of the tournament. In the first game, says Meyer, "players were coming in and out of the lineup like messenger boys. But now they're using fewer players and are playing with more confidence. They deserved to win."

Oddly, the Bruins are precisely the sort of team that once gave nightmares to the U.C.L.A. teams of the dynasty years. Tough underdogs with nothing to lose, they will be trying to pull off the biggest upset since 1974. In that tournament, Brown's star at Denver, 6-ft. 4 1/2-in. David Thompson, led North Carolina State to the NCAA title after eliminating--who else--U.C.L.A.

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