THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504050603
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: SEATTLE LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Memo to Dean Smith, Rick Pitino, Nolan Richardson and all other coaches leading the 3-Point-Shot-Over-America Tour: Check how UCLA won Monday's national championship game.
The Bruins won despite taking only seven treys. They won despite making only two. They won despite being outscored from behind the arc, 30-6.
In a pair of Final Four victories, Jim Harrick's team attempted only 14 3-pointers. Monday night alone, Arkansas heaved 28, the same number North Carolina attempted in its semifinal loss to the Razorbacks.
Perhaps, although probably not, UCLA's championship will convince some coaches that their sport has gone goofy over the 3-pointer.
The slashing, go-to-the-hole style of UCLA's sleek, slick O'Bannon brothers and outrageous freshman Toby Bailey was so much more attractive than the hoist-and-hope nonsense that goes on at so many schools today.
The Bruins' quick interior passing game was designed to move the ball closer to the basket for high-percentage shots. It was something to watch in an era when most passes in college basketball skirt the perimeter of the defense.
The worst thing you can say about the Bruins is that in their hunger for a layup or dunk they sometimes overpassed the ball. Isn't that preferable, though, to a team jacking up prayerful parabolas in the hopes that maybe one out of three will drop?
So often, you hear a losing coach - Smith on Saturday, for example - hinting that his team may have settled for too many jump shots.
Let's face it. Every team settles for too many jump shots. Everybody but UCLA.
Even without Tyus Edney to handle the ball, the Bruins thrived against the Razorbacks' pressbecause they are not the kind of team that wants to pull up for a long jumper.
Coming downcourt at breakneck speed, UCLA was thinking layup and dunk.
``Receive the ball and attack the basket,'' Harrick said. ``That's basically what we wanted to do.''
Arkansas, accustomed to using its press as a club, ran into an offense that was even more aggressive.
``I don't think it was the fact they attacked our press,'' said Arkansas' Scotty Thurman. ``It was how they finished it.''
Despite winning Seattle, UCLA is not a team of the future, or even of the '90s. The Bruins played a retro style of ball. Their game was grounded in an attitude rarely seen anymore in a sport that thinks the 3-pointer is the answer to everything.
In the process of beating Arkansas, UCLA also helped put to rest for the time being this issue of depth. With Edney unavailable, the Bruins made do with six players in a fast-paced title game. This must astound North Carolina fans, who were told all year that their Tar Heels were handicapped because they didn't have eight former high school All-Americans waiting to report to the scorer's table.
Mostly, though, UCLA proved that a team can thrive without the three. What a revelation. May the NCAA take the cue and move the 3-point line back to the international distance.
Maybe, then, there would be a reduction in the one-note offenses so prevalent today.
In winning it all, UCLA played a colorful and classic melody we don't often hear anymore. It was the kind of traditional string music basketball fans could learn to love again. by CNB