7-Foot Czech Center Gives Harrick a Boost : UCLA: Coach unable to land local big men, but he gets a letter of intent from Jiri Zidek of Prague.

Unable last fall to attract the two top-rated big men in Southern California, both of whom signed letters of intent with Duke, UCLA basketball Coach Jim Harrick turned his attention to the East.

As in Eastern Europe.

His recruiting efforts were rewarded when a Czech arrived in the mail Thursday in the form of a letter of intent signed by Jiri Zidek, a 7-foot, 230-pound center from Prague.

Might Zidek, 17, turn out to be as good as 6-11 Cherokee Parks of Huntington Beach or 6-10 Erik Meek of Escondido?

“Maybe,” said Harrick, who has yet to see him play, except on videotape.

Assistant coach Tony Fuller spotted Zidek and another player being sought by the Bruins, 6-7 forward Julius Michalik, when Fuller was in Czechoslovakia last summer recruiting Richard Petruska, a 6-10 center four years older than Zidek.

But when Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver announced last August that they would enroll at UCLA, the Bruins stopped pursuing Petruska, who landed at Loyola Marymount, averaged 16.4 points and 7.6 rebounds a game, made 58.9% of his shots and was the only sophomore named to the All-West Coast Conference team last season.

Petruska, who scored 21 points in a loss to UCLA, also set a school record with 55 blocked shots for the season.

UCLA, of course, would be overjoyed if Zidek produced similar numbers, but Harrick said he isn’t sure what to expect.

“When you get an opportunity to take a guy this size, you want to explore (it),” Harrick said. “You always look. I’ve watched him on tape. It’s hard to tell (anything) because the tape isn’t very good. He’s a big, strong guy.

“He does a little bit of everything. He’s a fair shooter. I don’t know who he’d compare with. I’ve never had big guys before.”

A member of the Czech junior national team, Zidek made a visit to Boston College last fall and was pursued by Wake Forest, which sent a recruiter to Czechoslovakia. Seton Hall also was said to have been interested in Zidek.