UCLA INSIDE LOOK: HOW EASILY WE FORGET BRUINS IN THE SWEET 16 A SURPRISE? NOT TO LAVIN.

Byline: Jon Wilner Staff Writer

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - UCLA's fate tonight against Iowa State in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament depends on which Bruins team shows up - the one that lost six of seven games in mid-February or the one that upset top-ranked Stanford three weeks ago.

``I've heard a lot of people talk about this team being a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,'' said UCLA senior forward Sean Farnham. ``I don't see that. I think it was a matter of going through all the losses like we did. You gain a certain maturity.''

The Bruins are the No. 6 seed (out of 16) in the tournament's Midwest Region. Iowa State, champion of the Big 12 Conference, is the No. 2 seed. But the Bruins have momentum on their side. They have won eight consecutive games and were awesome last weekend in defeating Maryland by 35 points in a second-round game.

Now the team that opened the tournament as a 200-to-1 shot to win the national championship is four games from the throne. If the Bruins defeat Iowa State, they'll play either Michigan State or Syracuse on Saturday afternoon for a chance to go to the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 1-3.

UCLA has won a record 11 national championships.

The Bruins' resurgence has tempered the criticism of fourth-year coach Steve Lavin, who received a death threat last month (via e-mail) during the stretch of six losses in seven games. Lavin's father, Cap, also received a death threat.

``You have to be able to laugh about it when you're in the theater of the absurd that is UCLA,'' Lavin said. ``You have to be able to keep your sense of humor. I understand that's the nature of UCLA. You're never going to make everybody happy.''

But the Bruins (21-11) have proven time and again that past performance is no guarantee of future success. They're as unpredictable as the stock market, alternately awful and awesome, dormant and dominating. When they're right, they're as good as anyone - good enough to beat traditional powerhouse North Carolina and No. 1 Stanford. When they're wrong, they're bad enough to lose at Arizona State by 29 points.

However, Lavin disagrees with the Jekyll and Hyde description.

``I think it's a misperception to think that all of a sudden UCLA is playing good basketball,'' Lavin said. ``People forget we beat North Carolina, we beat DePaul.''

Those games seem so long ago. The Bruins won eight of their first 10 games, but they were derailed Dec. 10 when star forward JaRon Rush was suspended for violating NCAA rules. Rush told UCLA that he accepted approximately $6,500 in cash and merchandise from his former AAU coach Myron Piggie and a Los Angeles sports agent, Jerome Stanley. (Stanley has denied any involvement.)

During Rush's 24-game absence, the Bruins defeated NCAA Tournament-bound teams Purdue, Pepperdine, DePaul and North Carolina. But they also struggled against Pacific-10 Conference competition, losing to USC by 12 points and to Stanford and Oregon by 15. They were lethargic. Theywere turnover-prone. They had difficulty grasping basic offensive tenants.

The nadir came on a Feb. 17-19 trip to the desert, when they lost to Arizona State by 29 points and Arizona by 15. They staggered home with a 13-11 record, needing to win five of their last six games to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

They haven't lost since.

Rush's return helped - he made the winning basket against Stanford in his first game back - but several other factors have contributed to UCLA's late-season surge. Point guard Earl Watson has played very well; he set a school record with 16 assists last weekend against Maryland. Also, the Bruins have increased the intensity and efficiency of their practices. And it took three months, but they finally grasped the offense.

So here they are - two victories from the Final Four, four victories from the national championship.

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