EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; UCLA freshman forward Trevor Ariza said
following Saturday’s game that he would consider having his
NBA draft stock evaluated after the season. “It depends on
what happens with this year,” Ariza said. Ariza is considered
to be UCLA’s best professional prospect following a solid
season in his first year out of Westchester High School in Los
Angeles. The 6-foot-7-inch small forward is the Bruins’
third-leading scorer with 11.5 points per game and second-leading
rebounder with 6.4 RPG. The move would be similar to what senior
forward T.J. Cummings did after last season, as NCAA rules allow
athletes to request information about their market value without
losing amateur status. Ariza will have some more time to think
things over now that UCLA has gained entry into the Pac-10
tournament, and he will also spend it trying to recover from the
flu. “I had no energy (against Oregon) nor against Oregon
State,” Ariza said. UCLA coach Ben Howland said Ariza’s
mother, Lolita, told him that Trevor became sick after going with
her to visit a family friend in Las Vegas following the Notre Dame
game last Saturday. Ariza, who suffers from asthma, was said to
have been irritated by cigarette smoke in casinos, but he
downplayed that notion. “My mom”¦,” Ariza said
sheepishly. “I don’t know where I got (the flu)
from."
TOUGH TASK: UCLA might have been lucky just to
make it to the Pac-10 tournament, but they still got a decent
match-up in No. 2-seeded Washington. The Huskies (17-10, 12-6) made
headlines Saturday by stopping top-ranked Stanford’s 26-game
winning streak, but they are the only team in the conference the
Bruins have swept this season. “They’re the hottest
team in the league,” Howland said. “It’s hard to
beat a good team three times, but I imagine our guys will have
confidence.” The Bruins won a tiebreaker over Washington
State for the No. 7 seed by virtue of beating Washington twice.
R&R: UCLA will not practice Monday in order to rest up before
Thursday’s opening-round Pac-10 tournament game against
Washington. It will mark the first time in two months the Bruins
will have had two consecutive days off from basketball
“It’s almost like you’re giving up if
you’re not practicing,” Howland explained.
DRIBBLERS: An Oregon fan held up a sign that
read, “Ryan Hollins = Juwanna Mann,” referring to the
UCLA center and his apparently likeness to the drag-dressing
basketball player that actor Michael A. Nunez, Jr. portrayed in a
2002 movie “¦ Howland said because guard Brian Morrison is
still slowed by an ankle injury, he has been forced to use more
zone defense rather than the man-to-man defense he prefers. Still,
it was zone defenses that keyed UCLA’s good stretches against
Oregon State and Oregon “¦ Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks,
who missed 10 games after breaking his hand by smacking it in
frustration on a Pauley Pavilion basket support in January, scored
eight points in 22 minutes Saturday.