NOTEBOOK : Wave Cagers Have Tough Early Schedule, and That’s How Pepperdine Coach Likes It

Whoever drew up Pepperdine’s basketball schedule must believe in shock treatment rather than in getting the Waves off to a running start. Pepperdine opens Nov. 28 at DePaul. And since the series began in the 1982-83 season, DePaul has usually beaten Pepperdine like a drum.

The first two games were fairly close, with the Blue Demons winning by 78-73 and 81-73. But in the last three games, DePaul has blown out the Waves by 90-65, 70-57 and 92-75.

DePaul, often among the nation’s top 20 teams, should again be strong. Pepperdine, occasionally in the top 20, is trying to bounce back from last year’s 12-18 record, Coach Jim Harrick’s first losing season in eight years with the Waves.

Pepperdine did show elasticity toward the end of last season. Though the Waves finished seventh in the West Coast Athletic Conference, in the conference tournament they upset second-place Gonzaga in the first round and knocked out regular-season champion San Diego in the semifinals. They ran out of gas and lost in the finals to Santa Clara.

If meeting DePaul results in another slap in the face for Pepperdine, Harrick has always felt that playing tough teams prepares his Waves for the important part of the regular season: conference play. And he apparently hasn’t changed his mind this year.

He said that Pepperdine “will get tested each time we take the floor. Our non-conference schedule is going to be difficult, but it will certainly prepare us for league play.”

Other non-conference games:

Dec. 1 UC Irvine

Dec. 3 Nevada Reno

Dec. 6 at Arizona

Dec. 12 at McNeese State

Dec. 14 at Oklahoma State

Dec. 17 at UC Santa Barbara

Dec. 21 Cal State Fullerton

Dec. 28 Colorado State at Tennessee’s Volunteer Classic (other teams are Army and Tennessee)

Dec. 29 at Volunteer Classic

Jan. 2 Connecticut

Jan. 4 Marshall

Jan. 7 Texas Arlington

A couple of sports legends will team up in the annual Foot Lockers Partners race, an 8-kilometer for two-person teams that will be run Oct. 4 on the beach at Playa del Rey.

Billy Mills, the Sioux Indian who became the only American to win an Olympic gold medal at 10,000 meters when he triumphed in 1964, and Kipchoge (Kip) Keino, the Kenyan who won individual Olympic gold medals at 1,500 meters in 1968 and in the 3,000 steeplechase in 1972, will be among the teams in the local run.

Some psychiatrists may think they can walk on water. Dr. James O’Brien, a psychiatrist who received his psychiatric training at UCLA, is actually going to try it.

Well, not exactly--but close. O’Brien, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at USC and on the staff of AMI Del Amo Hospital in Torrance, and Orange County attorney Daniel Hodes plan to “skiack” from Marina del Rey to King Harbor in Redondo Beach to raise money for charity.

O’Brien and Hodes, each wearing miniature kayaks on their feet and propelling themselves with 10-foot poles, expect to leave the marina at 6 a.m. Oct. 17 and arrive in King Harbor at about 11 a.m. Skiacking reportedly was developed in Austria in the 1920s.

They hope to raise $10,000 from pledges and donations. The money will be donated to the Richstone Center in Hawthorne, which provides counseling and treatment for physically and sexually abused children and their families.

Tom Peabody, an All-CIF Southern Section point guard at Mater Dei High School, has enrolled at Loyola Marymount University. Peabody graduated from Mater Dei in 1986 and has attended Rice University and Orange Coast College.

Peabody, a 6-4, 180-pounder, was a playmaker for such high scorers as Tom Lewis and LeRon Ellis at Mater Dei, which lost only one game in his last two seasons. He will redshirt this season and will have three years of eligibility starting next year.