UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Mulligan Gets in Shape for Upcoming Season With Few Jabs

UC Irvine’s weekly basketball luncheons, a.k.a. The Bill Mulligan Comedy Hour, began Monday in lively fashion.

Mulligan stepped to a podium and began firing away. No one was safe.

He ripped the school’s student body for its nonsupport--again.

He trashed walk-ons for being lousy.

And he zinged Utah Coach Rick Majerus, a good friend, for being too fat.

Among Mulligan’s best lines:

“I had a bad day. I spent the morning yelling at my assistants.”

“Usually, you get a couple of 5-foot-10 guys who want to try out. We only had three walk-ons, and Tim Burt is better than two of them.”

Burt is the columnist at the Irvine World News.

“Jeff Von Lutzow (sophomore forward) has NBA capabilities and forgets he does.”

“Majerus was in town a while back. He had heart surgery last season, and the doctor told him to watch it. He’s 39. So he says, ‘Let’s go have a snack.’ I said I’d pay. He had $31 in snacks.”

But Mulligan had a few serious moments, too. A 5-23 season, the worst in Irvine’s 25-year history, will do that.

He raved about center Ricky Butler’s condition.

“He’s been magnificent,” Mulligan said of Butler, a 6-7 senior center who led the Anteaters in scoring last season with a 13.8 average. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen him play, except maybe when he was in high school. He’s lost 20 to 25 pounds.”

But Butler suffered a bruised left knee when reserve center Rick Swanwick fell on him during a practice drill Sunday.

Dylan Rigdon, a sophomore guard, is practicing with a broken finger on his left hand. It does not bother his shooting, Mulligan said.

“We don’t need any injuries,” he said. “It’s going to be tough enough.”

The public will get its first view of the 1990-91 Anteaters when they play High Five America, a team of former college standouts, in an exhibition at 7:30 Saturday night in the Bren Center.

X-rays of Butler’s knee Tuesday showed no serious damage. He is expected to begin practicing with the team today and probably will start at center against High Five America.

Dr. Carlos Prietto, Irvine’s team physician, called Butler’s injury a simple bone bruise.

Add basketball: Elzie Love, a 6-6 swingman from Perris High School, made an oral commitment to Irvine Tuesday.

Love was the Ivy League MVP and an All-Southern Section 5-AA selection. He averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds last season.

“He’s one of those guys who does everything well,” Perris Coach Phil Ward said.

Final add basketball: High Five America’s tentative starting lineup includes Troy Lewis, an All-Big Ten guard from Purdue, and Chris Jackson, a former guard from Mater Dei High and UC Riverside.

“They’re loaded right down the line,” Mulligan said. “We’re not nearly as good on paper. I’m hoping we’re in better shape than they are.”

The women’s cross-country team won the Big West meet last weekend but fell in the NCAA coaches’ poll. The Anteaters, fourth last week, are at No. 5. Villanova is No. 1, followed by Brigham Young, Indiana and Providence.

Irvine’s Vince O’Boyle was named Big West Coach of the Year for both the women’s and men’s teams. Buffy Rabbitt, who won the women’s race by running the 5,000-meter course at Woodward Park in Fresno in 17 minutes 5.2 seconds, was named the conference women’s runner of the year.

The men’s and women’s teams will compete in the NCAA District 8 meet Nov. 10 at Woodward Park. The top two teams advance to the NCAA championships Nov. 19 at Knoxville, Tenn.

The wait ended Saturday for Irvine water polo Coach Ted Newland, who got his 500th career victory when the Anteaters defeated Air Force, 12-10 in overtime, in the Cal State Long Beach 49er tournament.

Irvine, which finished seventh in the 49er tournament and is 11-12, 1-4 in the Big West, plays the University of the Pacific at 7:30 Thursday night at Heritage Park in Irvine. Pacific ended a streak of 30 consecutive losses to Irvine this season.

Newland’s career mark is 501-179-5.

Anteater Notes

Tickets are on sale for all men’s basketball home games, including the Nevada Las Vegas game Jan. 17. For information call 856-5000. . . . The men’s swimming and diving team, led by Mat Curry, opens the season with a dual meet against USC at 3 p.m. Friday at Heritage Park. Curry, a senior from Saginaw, Mich., was the Big West 100-meter freestyle champion. The women’s team, led by school record-holder Danielle Pajer, plays the University of San Diego at noon Saturday at Heritage Park. . . . The women’s soccer team (6-11-2) ends its season with a match against U.S. International at 3 p.m. today in San Diego. The men’s team ends its season Friday at UC Santa Barbara.