Former UCLA star wants fresh start with Bandits

Victoria Sun

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 12:15 p.m.

Being suspended for four games during his senior year wasn't what had former UCLA guard Kris Johnson depressed for almost all of the last two years.

It was the scrutiny he faced and the guilt of what he had done that turned him into a bit of a recluse.

"I learned the hard way; I went through it," Johnson said. "I felt like I let down my whole family, I let down my institution.

"My father (Marques Johnson) is a UCLA legend, (an) All-American, and a couple of my aunts graduated from UCLA and I just let them down. I didn't want to talk to anybody. I didn't want to deal with anybody -- during or after the suspension."

Johnson, 6-5, did want to talk about trying out for the Las Vegas Bandits of the International Basketball League.

He is hoping he is one of nine players the Bandits will take to Marseille, France, for the Marseille Basketball Challenge. About 20 players worked out at the team's free agent mini-camp at Doolittle Community Center on Thursday.

Johnson was a freshman when UCLA won the national championship in 1995. In four years there, he helped the Bruins to a 103-26 overall record, 60-12 in the Pac-10. As a senior he averaged 18.4 points and 5.1 rebounds overall while leading the Bruins in Pac-10 scoring with 21.1 points a game.

Before his final season, Johnson and center Jelani McCoy were suspended four games for violating undisclosed team rules.

While Johnson at first maintained the indiscretions were academics-related, he later hinted there was more to it. It has been rumored Johnson and McCoy were suspended for using marijuana.

Johnson wasn't prepared for what happened next.

"I still have a bitter taste in my mouth a little bit," he said. "It's just the way things went down, the scrutiny.

"I mean, I understand that I was a public figure, but they treated it like I was (Bill) Clinton and (Monica) Lewinsky. The day we got suspended, walking back to our dorm room, it was like 10 cameras all waiting for us so we had to hide out for a minute, and it kind of sucked.

"I was young. I didn't know it was going to be like that. When the stuff hit the fan, it was really just like, damn. It was then I realized the magnitude of what I did."

Johnson said that being an athlete and the son of a 10-year NBA veteran always afforded him special treatment, but it paled to what he experienced after winning the title in 1995. Not being able to resist temptation led to the suspension.

"It was a combination of things," Johnson said. "Thinking you're above the system.

"You know after UCLA won the national championship a lot of things came easy to us. You think you're invincible. It's the whole athlete thing. It's like every athlete feels like he can't be touched when we've been pampered all of our lives and everything has been given to us.

"There are certain guidelines that you have to follow and we completely, totally disregarded them. Sometimes the hardest lessons in life are learned the hard way."

Johnson's son, William Grant, recently turned 2. He said he has drastically changed his lifestyle because he wants to teach him right from wrong.

"In college I was kind of wild, just kind of out there," Johnson said. "I have really settled down."

Though he still calls Los Angeles home, Johnson would like to plant roots in Las Vegas by playing for the Bandits.

"I really want to stay here," he said. "I like the situation out here. ... Jackie Robinson (the Bandits' new owner) and my dad were rivals in high school. I would like to continue my career where I have a solid support system and I have that out here."

In the Marseille Basketball Challenge (Oct. 6-7), the Bandits will play Vitoria (Spain), and the winner of that game will play the winner of the Olympic D'Antibes (France) vs. Hapoel Jerusalem (Israel) game.

Bandits head coach Lionel Hollins said the team will announce the squad on Saturday.

"We're trying to take players who can play," Hollins said. "As the days have gone by they have started to separate themselves. It'll be a tough decision."