SoCal College Basketball News

Big Surprise!!! UCLA Fully Reinstates Johnson--(December 9,1997)

What more do we need to say. Kris Johnson will return for Saturday night's game against Cal State Fullerton this Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. He's been fully reinstated.

UCLA issued a press release today, in which Coach Lavin said "Kris has made progress and done everything we have asked of him." "He met with (athletic director) Pete Dalis (today) and was reinstated. We are happy to have him back on the squad because it means he has accomplished the goals we set for him back in September."

Johnson, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman, was suspended for violation of athletic department policies and team rules on Sept. 29, and reinstated for practices on Nov. 17. Junior center Jelani McCoy, also suspended 2½ months ago, was reinstated for practices on Dec. 1. but he can't play yet. "Yet" is the operative word. Take that, Dick Vitale.

In case you've forgotten, and it's been so long that it's excusable to have forgotten, Johnson averaged 10.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in helping UCLA win its third straight Pac-10 championship last season. As a sophomore two years ago, he
averaged 12.5 points and 4.4 rebounds. Seems like the distant past. We wonder how he'll fit into the current rotation, which seems to be working ok with only two seniors and three freshmen. Can't have six men on the court at the same time, and our guess is that Kris will be coming in off the bench, at least for the first few games.

The UCLA press release also had Johnson saying "I am excited to be back on the team and look forward to playing with my teammates. Once again, I want to thank the administration, my coaches and my family for their support. I made a mistake and I'm hoping that everyone, especially our fans, will accept my apology."

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