By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
[email protected]
Glance quickly as UCLA freshman Michael Fey runs the floor for
Hank’s Big Time at the Nike Say No Classic, and you
can’t help but see a passing resemblance to former Bruin Dan
Gadzuric.
Don’t expect too many rim-bending dunks or air-balled free
throws from Fey, though. The resemblance is strictly
superficial.
“He’s not the same kind of power player as
Dan,” said Fey’s summer coach Michael Wolf.
“He’s a very skilled player for a kid his size. You can
tell he’s been playing basketball for a lot
longer.”
During his team’s July 13 victory over Hoopmasters, the
6-foot-11 Fey finished with a smooth baby hook, came out to
challenge a shooting guard on the perimeter, and drained a 19-foot
jump shot ““ things UCLA fans haven’t been accustomed to
seeing from the center position.
“I’ve always worked on my jump shot,” Fey said
after the game. “I want to have at least a 15-foot jumper so
I’m not just playing with my back to the basket all the
time.”
Fey, who planned on joining the Bruins last fall but failed to
achieve a qualifying test score, took a year off of organized
basketball while attending junior college in his home state of
Washington. The layoff showed a bit, as he labored near the end of
the game.
“I need to get in a little better shape,” Fey said.
“I’m used to pickup games and felt a little winded out
there. I just need to be lifting and playing as many games as I
can.”
Fey is listed in the Say No Classic program at 240 pounds
““ the same as Gadzuric in the UCLA media guide. The figure
might be generous, as Fey’s frame appears a notch smaller
than the imposing Gadzuric.
What Fey doesn’t yet have in build, he compensates for in
mobility and smoothness of movement. When an opposing power forward
surged to the basket from outside the three-point arc, Fey stayed
with him down inside and closed off the lane. Later, he caught a
guard napping on the outside to steal the ball and generate a
fast-break basket.
“He’s not a back to the basket kind of player right
now,” Wolf said. “He passes well and is a nice
finisher. He’s a lot like (former Stanford center) Curtis
Borchardt.”
Fey seems the natural choice to start down low for a team
otherwise lacking a true center. He would then free up junior T.J.
Cummings to play a more natural power forward position and allow
for UCLA’s bevy of long sophomores to create matchup problems
for the opposition at small forward.
Fey isn’t worrying about logistics. He’s just glad
to have seen the standardized test cloud drift away from over his
head
“I was more relieved than happy,” he said. “I
was so close, wondering if I could ever get over the hump. Then I
came to the Kansas game two days after passing my test and people I
don’t even know were coming up and congratulating me.
“It made me feel good and makes me want to play hard for
them.”
This is the first in a three-part series profiling three UCLA
basketball recruits at the Say No Classic.