COLLEGE BASKETBALL 1991-92 : UCLA Seeks One for All, All for One : Bruins: It’s an attempt to replace the ‘All for Me’ trademark of last season, which ended with potential unrealized.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —  Before the opening of practice last month, UCLA basketball players gathered at a Westwood restaurant to tell themselves what many others already had ascertained:

They weren’t much of a team.

As a group of highly talented individuals, they were good enough to win 13 of their first 14 games last season, 23 of 32 overall. They won the Great Alaska Shootout, embarrassed Pittsburgh on national television, climbed as high as No. 5 in the rankings--their loftiest poll position in eight years--and earned a third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament.

But in tight situations, the Bruins splintered into self-interest groups, often to the detriment of the common cause, which was to win.

Never was that more evident than in UCLA’s first-round flameout in the NCAA tournament, a 74-69 defeat against Penn State in the East Regional at Syracuse, N.Y.

The Bruins’ high-scoring forwards, Don MacLean and Tracy Murray, touched the ball fewer than 10 times between them in the second half.

As the Bruins stumbled down the stretch--they were 10-8 in the last two months of the season, 11-7 in the Pacific 10 Conference--Coach Jim Harrick preached patience. He said that, in college basketball, teams are remembered by how they fare in the NCAA tournament.

He was right.

It was a long summer.

Rumors were floated that several players wanted to transfer.

“It crossed everyone’s mind,” said swingman Mitchell Butler, whose name surfaced in the rumors. “People just doubted whether it was going well enough for them. But it’s us. It’s not the coach. And we’ve got to come to terms with ourselves and realize our capabilities and what we can do.”

Ultimately, only Zan Mason left. The reserve forward transferred to Loyola Marymount, hoping to spend less time on the bench.

But those who stayed hoped to forge a new attitude.

A meeting was called--players only.

“We just sat in a room and we went one by one--let everybody in the room know where we were coming from,” senior guard Gerald Madkins said. “We just hammered it out.”

It was a cathartic process.

“A lot of guys had animosity toward other guys,” Butler said. “It really cleared the smoke and allowed everybody to come to practice with a clear mind.”

And a clear purpose--to bond.

“We want to get (to the Final Four), and the only way to get there is to play as a team,” Madkins said. “We know we didn’t do that last year. Instead of pulling together when things got rough in the Penn State game, we spread apart. That’s a bad feeling when you’re out there all alone. You’re busting your butt, and you feel like there’s nobody behind you.

“Most of the guys said, ‘I don’t want that feeling.’ ”

And so, as UCLA prepared for tonight’s opener against Indiana at the Springfield Civic Center, it did so with more of an all-for-one, one-for-all approach.

A new attitude is probably what was needed most, because, essentially, this is the same group that left the NCAA tournament so ignominiously in March.

With freshman forward Ed O’Bannon not expected to return from knee surgery until next month, personnel changes among the regulars have been few.

In the seven-man rotation, 6-foot-9 sophomore Rodney Zimmerman has replaced Keith Owens, the former walk-on who was valuable as a reserve last season before graduating last spring and making the Lakers this fall.

In the starting lineup, Zimmerman has replaced the 6-5 Butler, giving the Bruins a true center and a more conventional look, and 6-5 sophomore Shon Tarver has replaced 5-11 senior Darrick Martin, giving UCLA more size in the backcourt, and, Harrick hopes, more consistency.

Instead of three guards and two forwards, the lineup last season, Harrick will start two forwards, a center and two guards, although Butler may start in place of Zimmerman tonight to take advantage of the matchups presented by Indiana’s smallish starting five.

“I had enough of getting my brains beat out,” Harrick said of the switch to a bigger lineup, which should make the Bruins a better defensive team. “When you play three guards, you’re going to be mediocre. You can get by for five (to) seven minutes a half, but you can’t win the league (championship) with that kind of (lineup).”

Zimmerman averaged less than eight minutes last season, played only one minute in two games against Arizona and didn’t play at all against Penn State, but Harrick likes his size, strength and ability to defend, rebound and block shots.

Zimmerman probably won’t be counted upon for scoring.

The 6-10 MacLean and 6-8 Murray were the highest-scoring duo in UCLA history last season.

MacLean, the Bruins’ leading rebounder last season and their leading scorer for three consecutive seasons, is on pace to replace Arizona’s Sean Elliott as the Pac-10’s all-time leading scorer. In the process, he will replace Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Bruins’ all-time leader.

MacLean considered making himself available for the NBA draft last spring but decided against it, in part, he said, because of the way the season ended.

Murray will have to make a similar decision next spring.

His averages of 21.2 points and 6.7 rebounds were only slightly below MacLean’s 23 and 7.3, and Murray is one of the college basketball’s most dangerous three-point shooters. Last summer, he played for the U.S. team that won a bronze medal in the Pan American Games at Havana.

“Most teams would be fortunate to have one forward with the ability of a Don MacLean,” Harrick said. “We have two.”

UCLA’s starting guards, Madkins and Martin, also return.

But Harrick said this week that Martin has been moved out by Tarver, who is a better defender and a more explosive scorer.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve settled on this, but I’m going this way for a while,” Harrick said. “Shon Tarver has been pretty difficult to keep out of the lineup.”

Tarver averaged nine points in 19 minutes last season.

Martin has been a starter since midway through his freshman season, 87 consecutive games. He averaged 11.6 points last season and led the Pac-10 with an average of 6.7 assists, but Harrick has long wanted him to be more a distributor, less a scorer.

“The thing I’m not sure of is our fast break,” Harrick said. “I don’t want to lose my fast break because it’s so good, and Darrick is so good on the break.”

The three guards will get equal playing time, Harrick said. He is looking for steadier play from his backcourt.

“Our No. 1 problem last season, despite all the . . . that was talked about, was inconsistent guard play,” Harrick said. “If we’d had somebody step up at the guard line and be consistent throughout the year, we’d have been better.

“We go up to Stanford and my guards are fabulous. Then, other nights, they weren’t seen anywhere.”

Backing up the guards, and also spelling MacLean, Murray and Zimmerman, will be Butler, who in his new role as a reserve may play more than he did last season, when he averaged about 22 minutes as a starter.

“Mitchell will play everywhere--forward, guard, center,” Harrick said.

Finding time for Butler will be a little more difficult if and when O’Bannon returns to full strength, but Harrick welcomes such a problem.

“Everybody says, ‘You’ve got all this talent,’ ” Harrick said. “Well, that’s not true. We’re not nine and 10 and 11 deep in players.

“I like my seven guys, but I wish Ed were ready and roaring.”

Among those who are ready but not expected to play much, at least for now, are two freshmen, 5-10 guard Tyus Edney from Long Beach and 7-0 center Jiri Zidek from Prague, Czechoslovakia, and 7-6 transfer Mike Lanier from Hardin-Simmons. Zidek has been bothered by heart palpitations.

Richard Petruska, a 6-10 transfer from Loyola Marymount, is ineligible, but his impact has been felt by MacLean, who is bumped, bruised and bullied by the aggressive Czech every day in practice.

Until O’Bannon returns, Harrick will have to make do with basically the same cast.

For the seniors--MacLean, Madkins and Martin--it’s their last chance to show that an appearance in the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 two seasons ago was more indicative of their talent than last season’s first-round defeat.

“If we don’t get it right, we’ll never get another chance,” Madkins said. “And that’s a terrible feeling--to know that we never reached our potential.

“Who knows what the limit is for this team? It could be the Final Four. It could be the final eight. It could be (the round of) 16. But to lose any time sooner. . . .”

It would be like last year.

Unfulfilling.

* USC: Guard Harold Miner is determined to lead the Trojans back to the NCAA tournament, where last season they lost in the first round after qualifying for the first time since 1985. C6

* PACIFIC 10: Arizona is favored to win its fourth consecutive conference title and its fifth in the last six seasons under Coach Lute Olson. C6

UCLA Schedule ALL TIMES PACIFIC

Date Opponent Time Tonight Indiana(atSpringfield,Mass.) 6:00 Nov. 30 Long Beach State 7:30 Dec. 7 Pepperdine 7:30 Dec. 14 at San Diego State 7:30 Dec. 20 Loyola Marymount 7:30 Dec. 23 Cal State Fullerton 7:30 Dec. 28 Oral Roberts 7:30 Jan. 4 Georgia 7:30 Jan. 9 at Arizona State 6:00 Jan. 11 at Arizona 3:00 Jan. 16 Oregon 7:30 Jan. 18 Oregon State 3:00 Jan. 23 at California 7:30 Jan. 25 at Stanford 3:00 Jan. 29 USC 7:30 Feb. 2 at Louisville 10:30 a.m. Feb. 6 Washington 7:30 Feb. 8 Washington State 3:00 Feb. 13 at Oregon State 7:30 Feb. 15 at Oregon 3:00 Feb. 18 California 8:00 Feb. 20 Stanford 7:30 Feb. 22 at Notre Dame 11:30 a.m. Feb. 27 at USC 6:30 Mar. 1 Duke 1:00 Mar. 5 at Washington State 9:00 Mar. 8 at Washington 3:00 Mar. 12 Arizona 8:30 Mar. 14 Arizona State 3:00

UCLA Roster

No. Player Pos Yr Hgt Wgt 23 Mitchell Butler G Jr 6-5 200 11 Tyus Edney G Fr 5-10 145 22 Steve Elkind F Jr 6-5 205 55 Mike Lanier C Jr 7-6 300 42 Don MacLean F Sr 6-10 235 12 Gerald Madkins G Sr 6-4 200 15 Darrick Martin G Sr 5-11 170 30 Tracy Murray F Jr 6-8 225 34 Jonah Naulls G Fr 6-5 200 31 Ed O’Bannon F Fr 6-8 215 21 Shon Tarver G So 6-5 200 14 Rodney Zimmerman C So 6-9 235 25 Jiri (George) Zidek C Fr 7-0 245

Coach: Jim Harrick.