CATHERINE JAYIN JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior
forward Jason Kapono scrambles for the ball in a
game against Oregon this past season.
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
The fate of the 2002-03 UCLA men’s basketball team could
very well be decided in the coming weeks, when sharpshooting
forward Jason Kapono decides whether to come back for his senior
year, or declare for the NBA draft.
The common feeling among UCLA brass is that Kapono will be back
because he is not likely to be a lottery pick in this year’s
draft.
If he returns, he will be UCLA’s top ““ and possibly
only ““ scoring threat, because of the departures of Matt
Barnes, Dan Gadzuric and Billy Knight.
“He’s so close to getting his degree, breaking
records and going down as a top-five scorer at UCLA,” Lavin
said at a press conference last week. “I have a hunch
he’ll come back.”
Lavin’s opinion is a switch from earlier in the season,
when he wasn’t factoring Kapono into his future plans. In
fact, he convinced junior guard Ray Young to redshirt this season
in order to have a senior leader on next year’s squad.
“We’re working under the assumption that Jason is
not coming back,” Lavin said in November, when explaining why
he wanted Young to redshirt.
If Kapono does return, he will be just one of two seniors on the
team, along with Young. But the squad will also include juniors
T.J. Cummings and Jon Crispin, and sophomores Andre Patterson,
Cedric Bozeman, Ryan Walcott and Dijon Thompson.