O’Bannon Awarded Top Honor

Just before his career at UCLA was supposed to start, Ed O’Bannon tore up his left knee. Just after it ended, he won the John Wooden Award as college basketball’s player of the year. O’Bannon, whose final game was a 30-point, 17-rebound masterpiece that led UCLA to its first NCAA championship in 20 years, averaged 20.4 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Bruins, who went 31-2 including a 19-game winning streak to end the season.

The award is named for the former UCLA coach who guided the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span ending in 1975, when Wooden retired. The Bruins beat Arkansas 89-78 Monday for their first title since then.

Wooden, 84, made the presentation to O’Bannon on Friday at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

O’Bannon suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the knee during a pickup game Oct. 9, 1990, and underwent 5 hours of surgery nine days later. He missed the 1990-91 season and didn’t make his UCLA debut until the 11th game of the 1991-92 campaign.”

Williamson bolts

Corliss Williamson, who led Arkansas to the 1994 national title, declared himself eligible for the NBA draft.

The 6-foot-7 junior forward, who averaged 19.7 points as the Razorbacks went 32-7 last season, had said after Monday’s championship-game loss to UCLA that he planned to stay in school. He changed his mind Thursday.

“My emotions took over and made me say that,” Williamson explained. “I didn’t end my college career the way I wanted to. I wanted to go out on top with a victory. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”

Coach Nolan Richardson said junior forward Scotty Thurman also was considering leaving.