Alive & Kickin’

Meanwhile, east of Westwood, deep in the land of cotton. . . .

On the day gutty little Gonzaga ran a UCLA all-star team off the floor at Pauley Pavilion, Georgia and its first-year coach defeated No. 18 Wake Forest on a last-second three-point shot.

Victory came in the wake of another last-second upset, Georgia over Georgia Tech.

“I had an unbelievable week,” the Georgia coach said from Athens, Ga. “Unbelievable.”

Jim Harrick’s voice quivered over the phone.

One had to appreciate the juxtaposition: UCLA, as fine a collection of college basketball talent as you’ll unearth, looking anemic against Gonzaga as Harrick’s rag-tag Georgia team was pulling off a mini-shocker.

As questions about UCLA Coach Steve Lavin’s coaching abilities arise and the school revisits the off-court problems it thought it expunged with a housecleaning, the Harrick era suddenly takes on a different shine.

The guy had more skeletons than Boris Karloff, but at least you knew he could coach.

You remember Harrick: short guy, black hair, spoke with a twang, led UCLA to its 11th national title in 1995. Fired by UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis for fudging an expense report.

After taking refuge at Rhode Island and leading the Rams to within a minute of the Final Four in 1998, Harrick accepted the Georgia job last spring after a 24-hour novella in which he briefly reneged on the offer.

Harrick inherited a Georgia team that finished 15-15 last season and had one returning player with Division I experience.

His top recruit, Ezra Williams, the state of Georgia’s player of the year, has been ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA clearinghouse.

Two key contributors, Robb Dryden and Badi Oliver, are sidelined because of foot injuries.

Harrick starts a walk-on at forward, Michael Patrick, recommended by a fan while Harrick and wife Sally were attending an Elton John concert.

Georgia was picked to finish fifth in the Southeastern Conference’s East Division.

Yet, Harrick’s Bulldogs are 5-3 out of the gate and drawing comparisons to coach Hugh Durham’s 1987 “Miracle Workers,” a Bulldog team that finished 18-12 with a dearth of talent.

“These guys listen, they guard people,” Harrick says. “We play very good defense, we rebound the ball and we share the ball on the offensive end. With those three things, you can beat a lot of people.”

Circumstances will forever link Lavin and Harrick. When Dalis pulled his hair trigger on Harrick, he anointed Lavin, age 32, to the throne of a basketball kingdom.

It was a roll of the dice.

Harrick thought it was a mistake then. Does now. He thinks he still should be the coach.

Harrick chooses his words carefully, calling the subject of UCLA “that can of worms.”

Lavin, after all, was his assistant.

But facts are facts.

“Oh, they’ve got tremendous talent, tremendous talent,” he says of UCLA. “On the record, they’ve got top five, six, seven talent in the country.”

Harrick says he doesn’t blame Lavin for taking his job. What guy in his right mind walks away from the opportunity?

“It’s not his fault,” Harrick says.

Harrick was too busy celebrating to see the Gonzaga game. He says he only follows UCLA from afar.

But Harrick thinks Lavin was put in an impossible spot.

“It’s very, very difficult for a coach with no experience to step into a job a magnitude of UCLA,” he says of Lavin. “Or any school in the top six or seven conferences. One is successful out of about 30.”

Harrick is in Athens because Georgia made the mistake of promoting Ron Jirsa two years ago when Tubby Smith left for Kentucky.

“He followed Tubby and that was a disaster,” Harrick said. “And they just got rid of the guy after two years. Thirty-six years old. Never coached.”

Does experience mean that much?

Lavin is going to find out.

His Pacific Conference 10 peers, veterans Lute Olson of Arizona and Mike Montgomery of Stanford, already have their talented teams playing at a high level.

Harrick, 60, says all you have to do is check the records.

“You go back 50 years in the NCAA tournament, to Final Four teams, and check the age of the coaches,” Harrick said. “You’ll find maybe six, seven guys that are under 45. That tells you the story of coaching in the tournament.”

Of course, one last-second win over Wake Forest and a Gonzaga pratfall do not a season make.

Chances are, UCLA is going to get much better and Georgia is going to get worse.

It’s hard to imagine the Bulldogs surviving the SEC meat grinder with fill-ins and walk-ons.

It’s December. It’s early.

But it’s interesting.

HERE COMES QUENTIN

More bad news for UCLA?

No. 19 DePaul hits town Saturday just as sophomore superstar Quentin Richardson appears to be hitting stride.

“He seems to be 100% healthy now,” Blue Demon Coach Pat Kennedy said.

Richardson has sat out practice time this season because of an ingrown toenail, dental work and a strained left shoulder, but had 26 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday’s win over St. John’s.

Twenty-five NBA scouts were credentialed for the game.

And although DePaul lost point guard Rashon Burno to a knee injury in the St. John’s win, Kennedy said Blue Demon sophomore center Lance Williams, sidelined since Oct. 17 because of a broken foot, might play some against UCLA. Williams averaged 14 points and eight rebounds last season. Williams, though, may have a tough time cracking the lineup because his replacement, 7-foot freshman center Steven Hunter, has been outstanding.

Hunter is averaging 12 points and five rebounds and posted 21/10 numbers in a recent loss at Duke.

“He can get up and down the floor in five steps,” Kennedy said. “Steve right now is one of our leading players.”

LOOSE ENDS

* Dayton, yes Dayton, started 8-0 for the first time since 1965-66, so why haven’t the poll jockeys taken a flyer on the Flyers? Dayton is not ranked in either the AP or coaches’ poll despite having defeated five schools that played in last year’s NCAA tournament: New Mexico, Samford, Mt. St. Mary’s, Kentucky and Winthrop. Dayton is looking to crack the top 25 for the first time since 1974.

* Say what? There’s a chance the Kentucky football team will end 1999 with more victories than the basketball team. Hal Mumme’s squad is 6-5 with a chance to make it seven against Syracuse in the Dec. 29 Music City Bowl. Meanwhile, the basketball program is on crisis alert. Tubby Smith’s Wildcats are 4-4 and not ranked in the top 25 for the first time since Dec. 4, 1990.

Bottom line: Kentucky has only two players who started more than 10 games last season, center Jamaal Magloire is shooting a woeful 38% from the field and, of course, it’s early. Then again, Wildcat fans are not known for their patience. It could get worse before Y2K, as December games loom against Louisville, Michigan State, Alaska Anchorage and Missouri.

* The most overrated team, hands down, in the top 10 is Auburn, No. 6 in the week’s AP poll. The Tigers struggled to beat Belmont, a Division I newcomer, and Florida State, and have to be concerned with Chris Porter’s production slide. Porter, the 1998-99 SEC player of the year, is shooting 35.5% from the field and averaging only 11 points, down five from last season.

Porter received more preseason hype than anyone and seems to be pressing because of expectations. Or, blame it on the jinx. Porter, after all, did recently make a Sports Illustrated cover appearance.

* Injury updates: St. John’s brilliant point guard, Erick Barkley, is sidelined indefinitely because of a knee injury. Purdue forward Brian Cardinal might be sidelined for a month after suffering a broken left thumb. Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves (broken foot) could make his debut against Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 28. Stanford forward Mark Madsen (hamstring) is close to a return, although there’s no need to risk him this week in home games against Nevada and Sacramento State. Utah star forward Hanno Mattola (knee) has started light running and cutting but probably won’t be back until late in the month.

* If the Wisconsin football team’s defense is half as good as its basketball team’s, Stanford doesn’t stand a chance in the Rose Bowl. Last week, on consecutive nights, Dick Bennett’s basketball Badgers held No. 10 Texas to 45 points and Wisconsin Green Bay to 34. Then again, it was Bennett’s Badgers who scored 32 points against Southwest Missouri State in last season’s NCAA tournament.

* Cincinnati is 7-0 and No. 1 in both polls, but Coach Bob Huggins says the team’s best days are ahead. “The most positive thing is that we can still get a whole lot better.” Huggins says freshman point guard Kenny Satterfield “passes and pushes the ball better than any guy we’ve had, at least since [Nick] Van Exel.”

* Finally: There are strange rumblings out of Utah that likable, quotable, personable Coach Rick Majerus has turned surly, short-tempered and, perhaps, unhappy. According to a published report, he recently moved Utah beat writers from court side to a lofty perch and barred reporters from the locker room. Hmmmm. Was it something he ate?