By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA women’s basketball sophomore guard Nicole Kaczmarski
will miss the first seven games of the season due to personal
reasons, the school announced late Tuesday.
Kaczmarski, who started all 29 games and averaged 11.7 points
last season, was given permission to take the fall quarter off. She
is currently in her Long Island, N.Y. home receiving treatment for
a foot injury she suffered during the summer.
She is expected to rejoin the team by Dec. 16.
“Kaz went home and she saw her doctors,” UCLA
women’s basketball head coach Kathy Olivier said. “She
wants to be 100 percent when she comes back. She’s taking
care of some personal issues.”
Kaczmarski was rated by several publications as the No. 1 high
school recruit when she signed with UCLA in 1998.
She turned down several East Coast women’s basketball
powerhouses, including Tennessee, to come to Westwood. Her father
Peter Kaczmarski, who has a close relationship with his daughter,
was against the decision.
Kaczmarski stated last season that her first few weeks at UCLA
““ some 3,000 miles from home ““ were difficult. Toward
the end of last year, Kaczmarski said she had gotten over her
homesickness.
Olivier said she didn’t feel homesickness had anything to
do with Kaczmarski, who attended summer school at UCLA this summer,
taking the fall quarter off.
The Bruins will face some competitive teams without their star
guard. Some notable games she will miss are against Duke in the
Women’s Sports Foundation Classic, and against both BYU and
Colorado on the road.
“I think we will definitely be challenged the first few
games, but I think this group is a close group to overcome
that,” Olivier said. “I think the team chemistry is
very good and they work hard together.”
The news comes at a time when the team is trying to rebound from
the losses of six seniors last season, including UCLA women’s
basketball second leading all-time scorer, Maylana Martin.
Kaczmarski, who earned Pac-10 all-freshman honors, was expected
to pick up the reins from the departing seniors.
“I would love to see her have a breakout year this season,
but I think right now we have some other people that are stepping
up,” Olivier said. “They see an opportunity and they
are working hard to take advantage of that.”
Among the players UCLA added over the offseason was 6-foot-1
forward Jamila Veasley from Valley Christian High School in
Cerritos. The Bruins also got junior college transfers 6-2 center
Shalada Allen, 6-foot forward Stacy Robertson, and 6-2 center
Malika Leatham.
In addition to Kaczmarski, the Bruins will also be without
senior guard LaCresha Flannigan, who is academically ineligible for
the fall quarter.
Flannigan, who averaged 6.7 points last season and was expected
to see considerable playing time this year, is not currently
enrolled at UCLA, but plans to reapply to the school for the winter
quarter.
Olivier feels Flannigan will meet the academic requirements to
rejoin the team.
“I think (her chances of coming back) are good,” she
said. “She has to take care of some business. She knows what
she has to do. I think that LaCresha really wants to be here and
she misses the team.”