Los Angeles — Call T.J. Cummings a "surfer dude" and you'll likely get sand kicked in your face.
"He is the opposite of what people think of UCLA. They think we're soft prima donnas," senior guard Rico Hines said of the Bruins, who when wearing their powder blue uniforms don't always look like the toughest brutes on the beach. "With T.J., it's none of that. It's all grit. He comes at you every time."
Other Bruins, like 6-foot-11, 240-pound senior center Dan Gadzuric and 6-8, 215-pound junior Jason Kapono, also are anything but pushovers on the court.
But Cummings who averages 11.0 points and 3.9 boards for the No. 11-ranked Bruins just might provide the strongest opposition for KU's big men during today's KU-UCLA battle, set for 2:05 p.m. Lawrence time at Pauley Pavilion.
"He's hurt everyone on this team," junior forward Kapono said of Cummings, who scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Bruins' 99-98 loss to Kansas at last November's season-opening Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic in New York. It was the most points ever scored by a UCLA freshman in a debut.
"He's given stitches. He's bruised knees. He's blackened eyes. He's our tough guy. It's a thuggish thing, right out of the streets," Kapono added.
Cummings learned how to defend himself early in life, playing pick-up games with his dad, former DePaul standout and NBA great Terry Cummings.
"I used to beat him up physically," Terry Cummings told the Orange County (Calif.) Register. "If we wound up on the floor I wouldn't help him up. If he wanted a foul, he wouldn't get one. I'd tell him, 'You don't get any calls here.'''
Playing 1-on-1 against his dad at a private club in downtown Chicago definitely toughened the younger Cummings.
"He'd rip my shirt," T.J. Cummings said. "He'd bust my nose. He'd bust my lip. He treated me like I wasn't even his son."
T.J. fought back during his high school years, working on his game when his dad was out of town.
"I'd shoot until my arms wouldn't go up anymore," T.J. said.
"He was killing me," Terry said, "posting me up, doing it all."
Now just a sophomore, he's the inspirational leader of UCLA's team.
"He has a great passion," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said of Cummings. "He loves to compete and I knew coming in here he'd be a natural leader because he seemed so outgoing, verbal and enthusiastic," Lavin added of the player who likes to slam the floor when the Bruins need a defensive stop and scream after plucking rebounds.
Slick hairdo: Lavin is known for his slicked-down hair style. What keeps every hair in place?
"STP," the 37-year-old, sixth-year Bruins coach says jokingly.
Lavin doesn't take himself too seriously, which has helped him cope with demands of the job at the school John Wooden made famous.
"Laughter," Lavin told Basketball Times, asked how he manages to keep his sanity when fans create Web sites like the now defunct firestevelavin.com.
"UCLA basketball and Notre Dame football are under a microscope. North Carolina gets upset and people talk about balance. We get beat and it's, 'The Bruins are in ruins or the sky is falling.'"
He is one of just three coaches to have taken his team to four Sweet 16s in the past five years. The others: Tom Izzo (Michigan State) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke).
"After coach Wooden," Lavin said, "there were seven coaches here in 24 years. They were shuffling them faster than Domino's delivers pizzas. You have to have stability.
"Just because you lose in the first round is no reason to have the coach's head. Basketball is not a complicated game. We're not reinventing the wheel. We're doing the same thing now we did my first year here."
No early entries to draft: Lavin was happy to welcome back Kapono and Gadzuric this season. Both considered bolting to the NBA last offseason.
Kapono had 22 points and eight boards versus KU last season; Gadzuric had eight points and two boards.
"I could sense everyone wanted to come back," Kapono said. "Leaving was something we thought about for a slight moment. But that loss to Duke (76-63 in Sweet 16 of NCAA tournament) hit hard. We had a chance to win and beat Duke. We didn't want to leave college not having won a Pac-10 title or getting past the Sweet 16.
"I still wanted to be a college kid. I didn't want to have that burden of worrying about money, finance, traveling for 82 games and all that. I want to be a college student."
Added Gadzuric: "Every year I learn something new and start applying it to my game."
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