IT’S Hard TO BE Humble : Even After Being Punched, UCLA’s MacLean Still Lets Opponents Know About His Scoring Prowess

While he was being wooed by virtually every major college basketball coach in the country during his years at Simi Valley High, Don MacLean once told a reporter his greatest fear was that his friends might consider him big-headed.

At UCLA, his every on-court action bespeaks arrogance.

Explaining the contradiction last week at a Westwood restaurant, MacLean said: “If somebody thinks I’m cocky on the court, that’s fine, because I portray that image.

“But I never want people who are close to me to say, ‘Don’s not the same anymore. He’s gotten too big for us.’ ”

His on-court defiance, in other words, is a facet of his game, as much a part of his success, perhaps, as the extraordinary shooting touch that has enabled him to climb into fifth place on UCLA’s all-time scoring list going into today’s nationally televised game against Arizona at Pauley Pavilion.

Among former Bruins, only Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, scored more points in fewer games than MacLean.

But probably no former Bruin scored his points more noisily.

Some people, including a few opposing players, find MacLean irritating. Others believe that his haughtiness is part of the junior forward’s particular charm.

Those who know him best say his off-court personality isn’t anything like his on-court persona.

Pro scouts aren’t sure what to make of him. They love his ability to score--”MacLean is as fine around the board as any 6-10 man you’ll ever see,” former UCLA Coach John Wooden said last year--but question his defense and on-court belligerence.

“I don’t mind being honest and saying how I feel,” MacLean said. “It kind of bothers me when a guy scores 60 and he says, ‘I’m just glad the team won,’ because that’s a crock and everybody knows it.

“People feel like it’s their duty to be modest or nobody’s going to like them. Well, people like me and I say what I’m thinking. People probably like it. First of all, they get a kick out of it. I have fun with it. I like to see people’s reactions when I say what’s on my mind.

“I’ve caught some (flak) for it from coaches and our sports information guys, but this is America. I can say what I want.”

On the court, however, MacLean said he has toned down. Only when prompted, he said, will he carry on a running dialogue with an opponent. Since he is often prompted, that change may be difficult to notice.

But center Shaun Vandiver of Colorado, who has watched the Bruins on television, said that he has seen a change.

“I think he’s learned a lot about the do’s and don’ts on the court--about throwing elbows and antagonizing people,” Vandiver said last week.

If MacLean has, indeed, learned to turn the other cheek, it is probably thanks in part to Vandiver, who helped turn it for him.

Last May, after taking an elbow from MacLean during a scrimmage in tryouts for the U.S. team that would play in the Goodwill Games, Vandiver expressed his displeasure with his fists. After both players had showered and dressed, Vandiver punched MacLean, knocking him down.

MacLean, with a cheekbone broken in three places, was forced to return home early from the tryout. Vandiver was dismissed.

Vandiver declined to say any more about the incident, which left a humbled MacLean clearly chagrined.

“I was pretty down, only because of the way it ended,” MacLean said of his tryout. “It kind of looked like I got knocked out and couldn’t defend myself. I’ll be ready next time something like that happens.”

So far this season, MacLean has kept his cheekbones intact and his scoring on the rise. He has averaged 23.6 points and 7.4 rebounds while making 56.4% of his shots and 82.4% of his free throws.

“This year, I’ve let a lot of it go,” MacLean said. “A lot of guys have come up and tried to bump me and started talking. I’ve just started scoring on them and they’ve shut up because they know they’re getting killed.”

Off the court, MacLean isn’t nearly so “highly spirited,” to borrow a favorite euphemism of Bruin Coach Jim Harrick.

His mother, Pat, described him as quiet and sensitive.

“He has a good sense of humor,” she said. “He’ll come out with something out of the clear blue and it will be quite funny.

“In describing Don, you wouldn’t say, ‘Now, there’s a kid with an outstanding sense of humor,’ but he does have a sense of humor.”

Her son tends to keep to himself a lot, she said.

“Because of the pressure that he has been under from a young age, he needs his alone time,” she said. “He’ll come home even now and go into his room. He needs time to himself. I don’t know what he does, except maybe regroup, relax, kind of unwind.”

Outsiders tend to misinterpret her son, Pat MacLean said.

“People misread his energy,” she said. “He’s not a hothead. He does have a bit of a temper, but if we’re pushed hard enough, we all do.

“I think, basically, Don is a competitor. The only time he gets upset is when he thinks that things aren’t fair. If he’s being hammered underneath the basket and fouls aren’t being called--that is when he gets angry.

“That spirit you see on the court is his competitiveness. He wants to do well. He’s his biggest critic and always has been. He’s a perfectionist. His inner drive for sports is a self-motivation (and has been there) since he was a little boy.”

MacLean attempts to keep it in check when he is not competing.

“I’m so intense during practice and during games that if I was that intense all the time, I’d probably end up shooting myself,” he said. “I spend a lot of quiet time. I have a few places I like to go. I like to go up on mountains or out to the ocean and look at the view.

“I go by myself or with somebody who wants to talk. I feel like I really need that. I’m so intense most of the time, I need to let the air out of my sails.”

An avid golfer, MacLean recently bought a set of clubs. He also enjoys playing tennis.

He listens to a variety of music, he said, preferring hard rockers such as Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult.

Quiet and sensitive?

Aerosmith?

If he stays in school and maintains the pace he has established through his first 2 1/2 seasons in Westwood, MacLean will replace Arizona’s Sean Elliott as the all-time leading scorer in the Pacific 10 Conference.

And he will replace Abdul-Jabbar as UCLA’s all-time scoring leader.

But MacLean has said several times this season that he will consider making himself available for the NBA draft this year.

A chance to climb past Abdul-Jabbar won’t sway him, he said.

“This has to do with money, not records,” MacLean said.

MacLean indicated that he probably will stay in school. During a 60-minute interview, he made several references to next season, at one point lamenting the Bruins’ inability to sign Cherokee Parks, a 6-11 center from Marina High in Huntington Beach who signed with Duke in November.

He talked about UCLA’s planned trip to Europe this summer.

“If I had to bet, I’d say I’m probably staying, but it’s not decided yet,” MacLean said. “If no one else goes out (early), I may have to go. It may be better for me to go this year.”

Would it be a wise move?

“That would be a monumental mistake,” said Roger Newell, a scout and consultant for nine NBA teams. “He’s not ready.”

NBA scouts have mixed opinions about MacLean’s potential, Newell said.

“I probably like him a little better than most scouts,” Newell said. “First of all, he didn’t do well at all at Colorado Springs (in the Goodwill Games tryouts) and a lot of pro people were there. He was very temperamental, just didn’t play well. He played soft.

“So, that has kind of carried over in a lot of scouts’ minds, when they see him yelling at his teammates on the court. They view that as a potential problem--his attitude.

“I don’t view it as that big a problem. I just think he’s got a basketball personality that kind of borders on the Rick Barry-Tom Chambers line. Barry and Chambers were both kind of inward and appeared to be kind of selfish. I think Don’s kind of the same way, but what it is, it’s a competitive, perfectionist mentality.

“I think he’s a winner. He’s got an exceptionally quick release with a range of 15 feet and in. He’ll rebound the ball in traffic. I think he’s a very sound competitor. He wants the shot late in the game. He’s not afraid of pressure.”

But . . .

“He needs to improve, by leaps and bounds, defensively,” Newell said. “He needs to give more of an effort defensively. He just doesn’t work hard enough on moving his feet to fight over the top and deny the ball down at the low post.

“He’s going to have to improve on that because when he eventually goes to the pros, they’ll go right at him.”

MacLean acknowledged his defensive deficiencies.

“I’ll admit it, the No. 1 part of my game is scoring,” he said. “I have to work hard. Defenses are trying to stop me and I have to work hard to get open and to score, and a lot of times I get tired.

“I know I have to improve, but I’m not concerned about it.”

Nor is he concerned about his performance last May.

“I was up there trying to prove that I could play with all these guys and I didn’t really play my game,” MacLean said of his abbreviated tryout at Colorado Springs. “I’ve had the reputation that I’m not strong enough inside and I can’t go to the hole, so I was constantly going to the hole and not playing my game.

“I’m going to get paid good money for shooting my jump shot, so I should have been up there trying to do what I do best instead of trying to prove myself. It hurt me, but I think I’ve more than made up for it this year by adding a few new phases to my game.

“I’ll be all right when draft day comes around.”

A reluctant passer in his first two seasons at UCLA, MacLean has increased his assists significantly this season, getting four while scoring a season-high 39 points against Pittsburgh.

He has developed into an even more productive scorer than he was as a freshman and sophomore, when he averaged 19.3 points and scored more points in his first two seasons than all Bruins other than Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.

And although he hasn’t been quiet about it, MacLean has been quieter. Despite appearances, or what he might say, MacLean doesn’t hold his opponents in contempt.

Still, he said, “I’m confident in my game. Sometimes, I know I’m better than the guy I’m playing. I just go out there and try to prove it. I don’t think it’s anything personal. I probably tell them (I’m better), but I don’t really mean it in a demeaning manner.

“But if somebody’s going to talk with me, I’ll talk. After the game, it’s all left on the court, hopefully. I don’t think people realize that. I’m going to shake hands with the guy afterward. It’s nothing I’m going to take off the court.”

HOW DON MacLEAN RATES

UCLA’s all-time scoring list

Name Games Pts. Avg. Lew Alcindor 88 2,325 26.4 Reggie Miller 122 2,095 17.2 Trevor Wilson 126 1,798 14.3 Bill Walton 87 1,767 20.3 Don MacLean 86 1,753 20.4 David Greenwood 118 1,721 14.6 Gail Goodrich 89 1,690 19.0 Marques Johnson 115 1,659 14.4 Kenny Fields 109 1,638 15.0 Pooh Richardson 122 1,461 12.0

UCLA’s 20-point averages Lew Alcindor: 26.4 Don MacLean: 20.4 Bill Walton: 20.3

UCLA’s great forwards (listed by scoring average)

Name Games Rebs. Avg. Pts. Avg. Don MacLean 86 681 7.9 1,753 20.4 Sidney Wicks 90 894 9.9 1,423 15.8 Curtis Rowe 90 796 8.8 1,371 15.2 Kenny Fields 109 667 6.1 1,638 15.0 Keith Wilkes 90 663 7.4 1,349 15.0 David Greenwood 118 1,022 8.7 1,721 14.6 Marques Johnson 115 897 7.8 1,659 14.4 Trevor Wilson 126 1,001 7.9 1,798 14.3 Richard Washington 87 582 6.7 1,235 14.2 Kiki Vandeweghe 113 569 5.0 1,380 12.2 Dave Meyers 89 497 5.9 1,046 11.8