ANAHEIM, Calif. — The last time Chris Burgess played a game in California was nearly four years ago, when he competed in the CIF Southern Section Championship at The Arrowhead Pond.
Today he's back at the Arrowhead Pond for Utah's game against 15th-ranked USC in the John Wooden Classic at 3:30 p.m. MST on KJZZ-TV. As far as Burgess is concerned he's playing one of his first "real" games since leaving Woodbridge High, where he was named national high school player of the year in 1997 by The Sporting News.
"I consider I've had to sit out for three years now, at least far as my offense is concerned," said Burgess, who wasn't happy with his role in two years at Duke and who sat out last year as a redshirt at Utah.
Burgess' career has been one of unfulfilled expectations ever since he spurned BYU, prompting Roger Reid's famous "letting nine million Mormons down" quote.
Burgess went to Duke in what was considered one of the best recruiting classes of all time, along with Elton Brand, Shane Battier and William Avery. Burgess expected to be heading to the NBA after two seasons, which Brand did, but instead, he transferred to Utah after two seasons.
He hasn't even started a game yet for the Utes, but he's shown flashes of the kind of player he can become, especially last week in Puerto Rico, where he was named to the all-tournament team after some fine performances (eight rebounds in two games, 12 points in two games).
Going back to Orange County this week will put Burgess under the spotlight again, but he's not feeling any extra pressure.
"I'm really excited," he said. "I don't want to put any extra pressure on myself. I just want to come off the bench and play hard and if I get a starting spot, do the same thing — keep us in rhythm and not worry about points."
At the start of the season, Ute coach Rick Majerus was quite critical of Burgess, saying he was out of condition.
"Coming into the season, I didn't start out well in practice," he said. "I felt I had to be the guy on this team and I'm not. I've accepted the role of coming off the bench."
He's fourth on the team in scoring at 8.2 points per game, second in rebounding at 5.0 and the leader in blocked shots.
Burgess said he expects to have a large following when the Utes and Trojans tip it off today.
"I've already called all my boys from high school and let them know they better be there," he said. "That's my backyard where I grew up. Hopefully all my family's going to be there and all my friends from high school and my ward - everyone's going to be there. They always had to watch me on the tube when I was at Duke."
Although Burgess hasn't started a game yet, he did start the second half of Tuesday's game against Cardinal Stritch after acting coach Dick Hunsaker was unhappy with the way the Utes started the first half. Nate Althoff (9.2 ppg) will likely start at center with Kevin Bradley (11.8 ppg) and Travis Spivey (5.0 ppg) at the guardline and Jeff Johnsen (11.8 ppg) and Phil Cullen (7.8 ppg) at forwards. Bradley is a native of Los Angeles, where he attended Crenshaw High School and Compton JC.
In USC, the Utes will face a talented team that returns all five starters from last year, including senior center Brian Scalabrine, senior guard Jeff Trepagnier, junior point guard Brandon Granville, junior forward David Blumenthal and junior forward Sam Clancy, who leads the team with an average of 21.3 points per game.
The Trojans haven't had much competition yet this year in winning three home games against Bradley, San Diego and Loyola Marymount.
"This will be a great test for us," said Hunsaker. "We just need to roll up our sleeves and do the best job possible under the circumstances."
GAME NOTES: The Trojans are coached by former UCLA star Henry Bibby and assisted by Damon Archibald, son of the late Utah coach Lynn Archibald . . . The last time the two schools played in 1995 at the Huntsman Center, Utah cruised to an 84-49 victory. The previous year in Los Angeles, the Utes escaped with a 72-70 win . . . UCLA meets Georgia Tech in the first game of the one-day tourney at noon . . . The Utes played in the 1996 Wooden Classic, losing to Arizona 69-61.
E-mail: sor@desnews.com