FUTURE STOCK : UCLA Freshman Darrick Martin Will Lead Changing of the Guard

Bemoaning a starting lineup that includes two rookies, UCLA basketball Coach Jim Harrick told a Seattle reporter last week: “You can hide one freshman, but you can’t hide two.”

What’s to hide?

Don MacLean, UCLA’s leading scorer and No. 2 rebounder, has been one of the Bruins’ most consistent players.

And, in the month since he replaced Kevin Williams in the starting lineup, Darrick Martin has emerged as a star of the future.

Though he was held scoreless and without a shot last week at Washington State, the elusive Martin averaged 11.5 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals last month while making 62.5% of his shots and 71.4% of his free throws.

Last Saturday at Washington, in the best of his 8 games as a starter, he made 9 of 10 shots and scored a season-high 22 points in a 93-74 Bruin victory.

“We don’t have a lot of guys like that in the league,” Washington Coach Andy Russo said of the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Martin. “He’s real small and quick and can really get to the basket. He reminds me a lot of Nate Archibald.”

And destined to be even better, Russo said.

“I don’t know if UCLA will benefit from Pooh Richardson’s graduation, but I can promise you Darrick Martin will benefit from it because he’ll be able to play his true position,” Russo said.

“He’s the consummate point guard in that it will be impossible to press UCLA. Second of all, he’s quick enough to defend and he’s a very smart player who will make sure they run their offense.

“He’s a guy they’ll be able to hang their hat on for 3 more years and not have to worry about many of the things a lot of us have to worry about in terms of leadership and floor generalship.”

Truth be known, Harrick is delighted to have Martin.

“I kind of think that he’s going to win a lot of games for us before he’s through,” Harrick said.

Harrick calls him “incredibly poised for a freshman.”

Martin, who skipped the seventh grade at New Life Baptist School in Lynwood and won’t be 18 until the week before the Pacific 10 Conference tournament next month, almost didn’t make it to UCLA.

A high school All-American at St. Anthony High in Long Beach, he signed a letter of intent with the Bruins in the fall of 1987, turning down offers from Nevada Las Vegas, Arizona and Duke. Martin was enamored of Duke, but chose to stay close to his family, which lives in Compton.

He is especially close to the older of his two brothers, Andre, 16, who is learning disabled with autistic traits.

“He’s the main reason Darrick stayed (in Los Angeles),” Martin’s father, Jesse, said of Andre. “Darrick feels a very strong commitment to his brother--to allow him to share and participate in the things he has an opportunity to (experience).”

Coincidentally, the day after Martin signed, his father, who works for IBM, was offered a job in Charlotte, N.C., which is about a 3-hour drive from the Duke campus at Durham, N.C.

“I didn’t even have the heart to tell Coach K.,” Martin said of Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski. “If it would have happened a little earlier, I might have ended up at Duke.”

Then, upset about learning of UCLA’s firing of former Coach Walt Hazzard from a televised news report, Martin attempted to have his letter of intent invalidated.

Before he signed, Martin said, he was told by Athletic Director Pete Dalis that Hazzard would not be fired.

Rebuffed in his effort to have his letter of intent invalidated, Martin considered attending a junior college for a year, or sitting out this season at another major college. Ultimately, though, he decided to abide by his letter after he and his father had met with Harrick, Dalis, Chancellor Charles Young and Vice Chancellor Elwin Svenson.

He’s glad that he did.

“I’m very comfortable with my situation,” Martin said. “I enjoy going to school here, I enjoy the social life and I enjoy basketball.”

Not everything has gone strictly according to plan, though.

Three days before the start of the season, his right foot was run over by a car driven by Chanel Landreaux, a junior at UCLA and daughter of UCLA assistant coach Paul Landreaux. Fortunately, the accident resulted only in a bruise.

Still, Martin started the season as UCLA’s third guard. He blossomed as a starter--”I’m playing more relaxed,” he said--but then came the forgettable game at Washington State. Afterward, he phoned his mother, Pam, who told him: “You never played like that, even when you were little.”

Mostly, though, Martin has proven to be a productive partner for senior guard Pooh Richardson.

“It’s beginning to be just like high school for me,” he said.

Martin is a charismatic figure on the court, smiling and prodding the crowd by throwing his fists into the air. Martin has the ability to develop into one of the country’s best point guards, Harrick said.

“I haven’t seen many guys that can handle him,” Harrick said. “Nobody’s been able to press him. I don’t remember anybody stealing the ball from him.”

Last month, when Richardson got into foul trouble in an 84-75 loss at Stanford, Martin took control of the offense, contributing 15 points and a season-high 6 assists and scoring on several acrobatic drives.

“He went to the hole on them about four times--just blew by,” Harrick said. “In fact, he invented a play. The forward came across like he’s supposed to and he just waved at him. ‘Get out of the way.’ He juked (Terry) Taylor and went to the basket and got fouled.

“He came over to the bench and said, ‘They can’t stop me.’ ”

Even if he is a freshman.

Bruin Notes

A blood test Wednesday showed that Don MacLean does not have mononucleosis, according to his mother, Pat. MacLean lost more than 10 pounds last month as UCLA played six of eight games on the road. Results of two other blood tests will be known today, she said. . . . UCLA, which is 12-5 overall and 7-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, will play Oregon (7-11, 2-6) at 7:30 tonight at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA beat Oregon last month at Eugene, Ore., 97-66. . . . Coach Jim Harrick, contrasting UCLA’s 2 victories in the Northwest last week: “When you watched us at Washington, you saw a clinic. But when you watched us at Washington State, you laughed.” Or cried.