KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior guard
Ray Young has had to look within himself for
patience and strength while he waited for the playing time he
wanted on the court.
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
He knows what hardship is all about. He knows that what
doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.
Ray Young also realizes that UCLA is where he wants to be and
where he needs to be.
The McDonald’s High School All-American doesn’t talk
very much about the road that led him to Westwood. After
frustrating freshman and sophomore campaigns that saw Young average
16 and 19 minutes respectively, he feels that those who dwell in
the past are doomed to repeat it.
“You get frustrated when you know where you think you
should be,” he said. “But people who know me and see me
have always said that I will have my time to shine. You just have
to keep your eyes above it all.”
The lack of playing time for a blue-chip recruit was damaging.
At times, Young felt his progress might be better elsewhere. The
possibility of a transfer almost became a reality.
“I’ve been there,” Young said. “I know
that feeling. I’ve called my mom crying many times,
“˜Mom, I want to leave. This isn’t the place for me;
they are taking away my game.'”
But patience is the virtue that the junior guard, like
UCLA’s other upperclassmen, preaches to his team.
“I think everyone goes through their ups and downs,”
said senior guard Earl Watson. “It doesn’t matter where
you go (to school). Most guys on the team have gone through a
period of adjusting.”
Because Young attended St. Joseph’s of Notre Dame High
School in Alameda, he also faces the constant references to the
school’s most distinguished alum: 2001 NBA All-Star Jason
Kidd. And it doesn’t seem to bother him now.
“There was never any pressure about proving who was the
best player to come out of the Bay Area,” Young said of
Kidd’s status as a Bay Area prep legend. “If anything,
he helped me to improve my game. He would come to practice and work
out with us. When we talked, he always encouraged me to do
well.”
Another person who was instrumental in forming Young’s
down-to-earth attitude was his high school coach, Terry LaPorte,
who died before Young’s senior season. LaPorte taught Young
how to keep his head up when times were difficult and how to
maintain confidence when the world challenged his game.
“I still think about Coach LaPorte all the time,”
Young said. “Of all the coaches that I have had, he was by
far the best. I always respected and admired him, not just for
basketball, but for the kind of person he was. He was like a second
father to me in high school. There were a lot of things that he
tried to teach me that I did not always fully understand when I was
younger. Now that I am getting older and a little wiser, I can see
why he pushed me so much and was so hard on me.
“He just wanted me to be a better player and
person.”
That’s what Young has tried to focus upon in his
collegiate basketball experience. There have been just as many
successes to match the valleys No. 34 has faced.
He awaits his chance to prove himself within the structure he
previously saw as handcuffing his high-energy, spirited game hoping
to duplicate the 18-point, nine-rebound effort against then-No. 17
Arizona earlier this season.
“Ray is so energetic,” said fellow backcourt
teammate Billy Knight. “He is highly active anywhere on the
floor. It really picks everyone else up.”
“He still has yet to realize his maximum potential,”
Watson added. “But he comes up big in big games for
us.”
Young exhibits a dual-personality when he is on the floor. When
he’s on defense, he plays with energy and excitement,
characteristics that some think make him risky and erratic. When
he’s on offense, Young is a calming presence on the floor,
the definition of poise. This was demonstrated in his 20-point
display against Southern California. Making 9 of 10 from the
charity stripe, Young stifled USC’s late effort to prolong
the contest.
Young is maturing, and he looks to the pros ““ his hopeful
future stomping ground ““ as a model for his life, school and
the game.
“I definitely look to Ray Allen of the (Milwaukee)
Bucks,” Young said. “I like to model my game after him,
because he is so laid-back and makes everything look so easy.
He’s not flashy, he just loves the game.”
Young knows that this season, his third for UCLA, can be
considered successful, and therefore, his decision over California,
Stanford and Arizona was justified.
“It was the right thing to do and honor the commitment I
made to UCLA,” Young said. “Things happen for a reason
and there are always blessings in disguise.
“The better attitude that you bring to the game, the
better success you are likely to have.”