Waves Could Rise With Change

MALIBU â€”  The ever-changing profile of Pepperdine’s basketball team has undergone another face-lift. In recent weeks, three players have left the program, two transfers have signed on and two recruits have been hung up in academic limbo.

“I hope we don’t have many more changes,� said Wayne Wright, Pepperdine athletic director. “We’ve had 10 new [team] members in the last year. That’s a lot.�

Of course, after three consecutive losing seasons, change might be the best thing for the Waves.

Coaches in the West Coast Conference certainly think so. They’ve tabbed Pepperdine as WCC co-favorite with San Francisco in a preseason poll, reflecting popular opinion that transfers Jelani Gardner from California and omm’A Givens from UCLA, and redshirts Gerald Brown and Kelvin Gibbs can help lift the Waves’ sagging fortunes.

Those four players occupied seats at the end of the bench last season, watching Pepperdine stagger to a 6-21 record, its worst since the 1965-66 season.

“In the last year, we’ve entirely remade our basketball program,� Wright said. “Where we are today talent-wise is far superior to where we were two years ago.�

Since former UCLA assistant Lorenzo Romar took over as Pepperdine’s coach after the 1995-96 season, five players have left the program for various reasons and five players have transferred to Malibu from four-year schools.

Only three players--Brown, Bryan Hill and Tezale Archie--remain from two years ago.

The latest additions are Nick Sheppard, a 6-foot-11 center from Louisiana State, and David Lalazarian, a 6-8 forward from Notre Dame by way of Tustin High.

After sitting out next season in accordance with NCAA rules, Sheppard will have two years of eligibility and Lalazarian three.

Sheppard, who was born in Los Angeles but went to high school in Louisiana, is one of two players who have left LSU since John Brady replaced retired Coach Dale Brown.

An LSU official said Sheppard showed great improvement last season, starting 22 of 30 games and averaging 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds.

Lalazarian was a reserve at Notre Dame, averaging 5.3 points and 2.3 rebounds.

To make scholarship room for incoming players, including three high school recruits, Romar acknowledged in April a returning player might leave school.

“I’m not going to run anyone off,� he said.

Maybe not, but it was suggested to several Waves that playing time might be scarce if they stuck around.

Reserve forwards Eric Griffin and Billy Jones and guard R.J. Powell, a part-time starter last season, took the hint. They requested and were released from their scholarships.

“It was a mutual decision,� said Griffin, referring to Romar. “I kind of wanted to come home and Coach [Romar] thought it would be good for me. It wasn’t like he threw me out.�

Griffin, a 6-8 junior-to-be from San Jose, said he has talked with coaches from San Jose State and Cal State Northridge about transferring to those schools.

Academic problems contributed to the decisions of Jones and Powell to leave Pepperdine.

The departures should leave Pepperdine with an NCAA-limit of 13 scholarship players, but two high school recruits might not qualify academically.

Neither Kevin Bradley, a 6-1 point guard from Crenshaw, nor Jeremy Vague, a 6-10 forward-center from San Marcos in San Diego County, has achieved a qualifying score on college entrance tests.

Bradley, the linchpin to the Waves’ recruiting class, will take the Scholastic Assessment Test Saturday after his previous test, taken in June, was invalidated because the monitor at Crenshaw High allowed questions to be answered after the time limit.

Losing Bradley, who helped Crenshaw win the state Division I championship last season, would be a blow because Pepperine is thin at guard.

Vague is awaiting the result of his last attempt at taking the American College Test.

Even without Vague, however, the Waves should be well-stocked on the front line. Among four returning starters are Hill, a 6-8 senior who led the WCC in rebounding last season, and junior forwards Marc McDowell (6-7) and Tommie Prince (6-5).

The 6-10 Givens is expected to play center, allowing Hill to move back to power forward. Also in the mix is 6-7 Gibbs, who was contending for a starting spot as a freshman last season before being declared ineligible on an academic matter that was eventually cleared up with the NCAA.

With that kind of crowd vying for playing time, Romar intends to have 6-11 Cedric Suitt, an incoming freshman from Atlanta, use a redshirt year.

At guard, Brown, a two-time All-WCC pick who led the conference in scoring two seasons ago, is expected, along with Gardner, to give Pepperdine much-needed firepower.

The Waves averaged a WCC-low 60.4 points last season and ranked last in field-goal, three-point and free-throw shooting. Brown sat out last season recovering from knee surgery.

All the signs point to improvement, but Romar remains cautious.

“There’s no question our program is headed in the right direction,� Romar said. “But has Pepperdine turned it around? I think that remains to be seen. Until we get out on the floor and put it all together, we haven’t done anything.�