WALBERG CATCHING WAVES OF ATTENTION PEPPERDINE'S FIRST-YEAR HOOPS COACH A STAR ATTRACTION.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE  Staff Writer

MALIBU - They line the sidelines at every practice, clipboards at the ready, pens out and jaws dropping at an offense that's become something of a national phenomenon in the past year.

There's no telling who might show up at a Pepperdine men's basketball practice these days. One day it could be Memphis coach John Calipari, the next a group of high school coaches from Connecticut.

The Denver Nuggets ... Well, they just fly him out to training camp on a private plane.

``It's the new hot offense,'' said Michael Steward, a high school coach from Arizona who was one of about 230coaches who attended Pepperdine's coaches' clinic last weekend. ``That's why everybody is coming out here.''

Said Clovis West High coach John Bliss: ``Once people see this, it'll be too late to get tickets.''

The star attraction, first-year Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg, is taking all the attention in stride. He's flattered to be the basketball guru du jour, but there's a pretty big job to do here.

Turning around a team that lost its top three players from a seven-win squad takes more than flash. So does getting players to buy into an unorthodox system from a coach with no career DivisionI victories and a resume of high school and junior college championships.

``The players have been very receptive,'' Walberg said. ``If we didn't get their buy-in, it'd be real tough.''

The Waves don't have the ideal personnel to run Walberg's offense this year, but averaging 106.7 points a game during a four-game European tour this summer was a pretty good start.

Statistically, it was even better than Walberg's teams at Fresno City College that averaged 104 points for four years while racking up a 133-11 record.

But you might get the wrong idea about Walberg's progress by cruising outside the Waves' locker room after practice.

``My legs feel like gum,'' senior guard Gregg Barlow said. ``I can still run, I just can't feel my legs.''

Barlow isn't moping, though. Despite his weary gaze and shaky legs, he's practically bursting with excitement.

``We know he's making the jump and how much pressure he's under. That makes us go even harder. We already play for him. We want to win for him.''

The cynics out there will say Walberg's won the players over with the promise of career-high scoring statistics and an 11-man rotation.

``It's a dream come true,'' senior guard Marvin Lea said. ``It's like playing in the park again.''

But if that were all there was to it, that goodwill would evaporate within the first 10 minutes of practice. There are no breaks for lengthy explanation, no horsing around. If you want a water break, you sub out.

``I told the guys, `Your hard and my hard are different,' '' Walberg said. ``You think you're going hard, and you probably are for you, but not for me.''

So what makes the players play so hard for him?

For one, the players seem to respect what it took for Walberg to get here. Every year for 19 years he spent oneweek learning from some of the top college coaches in the country, all the while, putting off a jump to the college ranks to be around his kids while they were young.

Now, the tables have turned. Coaches come from all over the country to learn from him. Walberg likes to keep things small, though. His wife, Rose, bakes chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies for the team about three times a week. At lunchtime, Walberg and his assistants are constant visitors to the school cafeteria.

``You can tell there's a real sense of family here,'' Lea said. ``Everybody loves him''

It's hard to imagine this flying at, say, UCLA or Indiana or Connecticut. But it works here. It's refreshing. And it makes you wonder why it wouldn't work at a UCLA or an Indiana or a Connecticut.

``The kids will see through it if you're a phony,'' Walberg said. ``But I think they know I care about them and want to see the best for them. ... Believe me, I know how lucky I am. But we're not here to just go through the motions.''

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Coaches come from around the country to Pepperdine to pick the brain of new basketball coach Vance Walberg.

(2) Pepperdine basketball players practice first-year coach Vance Walberg's methods of speed attack.

(3) Pepperdine averaged 106.7 points a game during a European tour this summer.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) PEPPERDINE VS. CAL BAPTIST

(2) New Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg spent one week every year for the past 19 years visiting some of the top college programs in the country. Here's his travel schedule: