Monday, August 3, 1998
Just Say No intercollegiate games showcase Bruins skill
CLASSIC: Summer league offers fans cheap fare, talented
competition
By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Staff
You can still watch UCLA basketball this summer. The Southern
California College Open "Just Say No" Basketball League regular
season is winding down, and playoffs are set to run until Aug.
9.
The Just Say No League features four familiar Bruin faces, plus
a new walk-on, competing on different teams every weekend. The
biggest story so far from the Bruin camp has been center Travis
Reed showcasing his basketball muscle. Reed is second in the league
in scoring with an average of 24 points per game.
Although Reed’s team, the Empire Stars, has only one win in
seven games, Reed has impressed many by thoroughly dominating the
post area on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Ryan "Moose" Bailey, who redshirted his freshman season at UCLA,
has been another impressive Bruin. Bailey’s Hollywood Nugget team
is coached by his father John Bailey and also features standout big
man Mike Batiste of Arizona State and Southern Cal’s Greg Lackey.
Moose consistently showed off his ball-handling skills, defensive
prowess, constant hustle and on-court leadership. In a single game,
Moose produced eight no-look passes that directly resulted in
Nugget baskets.
Kevin Daley, scoring at a clip of 18 points per game, has made a
habit out of turning routine plays into high-flying, crowd-pleasing
dunks. He has made WMC Equity one of the most popular teams in the
league to watch. Daley has also been working hard on his open court
skills and three-point shot in an effort to earn more playing time
as a forward for the Bruins.
Todd Ramasar has shown flashes of the type of play that made him
a top 100 recruit coming out of high school a year ago, but his
Empire Future Stars team has struggled, going winless in six of
seven games. Ramasar, a Bruin favorite off the bench, is also
looking to refine his basketball skills in order to compete for
more playing time.
Fans attending the Just Say No games have also gotten a sneak
peek at the newest Bruin team member, walk-on power forward Vejas
Anaya, who stands at 6-foot-8-inch, 235-pound. He is a fearless
inside player who has both power and small forward skills because
"if you’re Lithuanian, anyone under 6-foot-10 is a small forward."
Vejas, in his own words, "shut down" his future teammate Travis
Reed when his Scholars team faced off against the Empire Stars.
The Just Say No games, played at the Los Angeles Trade Tech in
Carson, are very fan friendly. Hot dogs and soda are cheap, and
parking, admission and programs are free. The players are very
accessible; they usually sit in the stands before their own games
and watch the action with the rest of the fans. Sideline cameos by
Bruin celebrities, including former UCLA floor leader Cameron
Dollar and recent graduate Toby Bailey, are not uncommon.
The Southern California College Open Basketball League has been
in operation since 1976. The original purpose of the league was to
train professional referees. Although it still remains a training
ground for referees, the quality of the competition is so good that
it is generally considered the top college summer basketball league
in the country. This year alone, 11 Just Say No players were
selected in the NBA draft.
There are some worthwhile names to keep an eye on at the Just
Say No games. The league’s leading scorer at 29 points per game is
Jeff Hartman of Portland State University and the Scholars team.
Jelani Gardner, of the Pepperdine and ‘SC Posse, is third in
scoring with 21.6 ppg and has looked like a man among boys. Ruben
Douglas of Arizona and Team "Simon" know the Bruins well from
playing pick-up ball in the Men’s Gym and will make the
Bruin-Wildcat rivalry all the more personal in the upcoming season.
Jimmy Miggins, the extremely talented and athletic BWBA wing
forward who just recently decided to attend San Jose State, is also
an exciting player to watch.
* * *
Baron Davis has earned a nomination for the John Wooden Award,
given annually to the nation’s top collegiate basketball player. On
the recruiting front, UCLA coach Steve Lavin and assistants Jim
Saia and Michael Holton are still coveting the 6-8 power forward
from Juneau, Alaska, Carlos Boozer Jr., above all others for one of
next year’s two remaining scholarship spots. The other spot is
tightly contested by three other high school standouts. Power
forward Justin Davis of St. Joseph’s Alameda High School, alma
mater of incoming Bruin Ray Young, is known for his rebounding
prowess and defensive presence. Shooting guard Kareem Rush, younger
brother of highly-touted Bruin freshman JaRon Rush, is a deadly
left-handed marksman from three-point land out of Pembroke Pines
High School in Kansas City. Andrew Gooden from El Cerrito High
School in Northern California, who plays both power forward and
center, could provide UCLA with a big-man rotation that goes five
deep for the first time in recent memory.