LOS ANGELES >> Brad Leaf remains the No. 7 scorer in Evansville basketball history.
In 1982, he played a NCAA tournament first-round game against Marquette, which had Glenn “Doc” Rivers. The Aces lost that game, and Leaf was a fourth-round pick by the Indiana Pacers and wound up playing in Israel, when Euro basketball wasn’t such a cushy option, when the 6 o’clock news would tell you never to remove your gas mask.
He spent 18 years there. It was OK.
“When I went over there,” T.J. Leaf said Tuesday, “and I’d be walking around, and people would say, ‘Hey, you’re Brad Leaf’s son.’’’
You wouldn’t know it by appearance. Brad was a guard. T.J. is 6-foot-10. He pumps iron, but not to any visible effect.
Yet he has handled the freshman year bump-and-grind well enough to convince most people that he won’t be a sophomore at UCLA. In the CBS Sportsline mock NBA draft, Leaf goes 14th in the first round.
“A ‘stretch four’ with a 2-to-1 assist-turnover ratio,” said coach Steve Alford. “That stuff’s unheard of.”
The Bruins are 10th ranked. Oregon is No. 5. Both are 21-3 as they meet in Pauley Pavilion Thursday, another Big Night at a place that used to have them weekly.
Leaf is UCLA’s top scorer and rebounder, at 17.1 and 8.9. When he scores 14 or more, UCLA is 15-0.
Brad Leaf played for Galil Elyon and for Club Maccabi, the traditional powerhouse in several Israeli sports. He was an MVP of the Israeli League. He and his wife Karen became naturalized citizens, and T.J. was born there.
“There was the Lebanon War and the Gulf War when we were there, but it’s not like what people think,” Brad said. “We loved it there. The people are great. I didn’t know if we’d ever come back.
“But playing in the Euroleague, every trip can be a trek. You’re going to France, Italy, Spain. I wanted to get into coaching and we ran into some friends from San Diego, and we decided to move back. When we did, it was culture shock all over again.”
Brad coached Steele Canyon High in San Diego and then took the job at Foothills Christian, which sits amid industrial parks in El Cajon. His son Troy became a Division II All-American at Azusa Pacific and is now an assistant coach at The Master’s.
“T.J. got into the eighth grade and was about 6-foot-2 and we realized he might be something special,” Brad said. “He was always a perimeter player, and then he just took those skills into his height.”
Sometimes the Leafs would work out at the small gym at Foothills where, as T.J. says, “the wall is the out-of-bounds line.” Mostly they worked at 24 Hour Fitness. T.J. would pick out moves from players he’d watch, like the Euro step that was pioneered by Manu Ginobili, and make them his own.
“I got dunked on a lot by Troy and his friends,” T.J. said, grinning as he sat on a courtside chair, wearing his Padres cap.
“I remember the first time I beat him one-on-one because it seemed like it took forever. He wasn’t the same type of player I was — he was a jacker, from outside — but he was tough on me as a player. He helped me.
“People may look at me and think I’m not very physical, but I’m not an all-finesse guy. I’m not overpowering by any means, but I don’t have trouble getting in there and roughing it up.”
The Bruins’ winter carnival melted a bit when they lost to Arizona and USC. After a week-long break, Leaf scored 32 at Washington State. He also played well at Washington, where Brad was stranded by snow on Monday. Brad continues his quest to coach every Foothills game and see every UCLA game this season.
Last season Leaf’s team lost three times to Lonzo Ball and undefeated Chino Hills, including a 2-pointer when Leaf scored 43. “It seemed like he scored 60 on us,” Ball said at the time. “I can’t wait to play with him.”
Chino Hills beat Foothills by 20 in the CIF State regional semifinals, but Leaf still got 36 and boosted his prep career total to 3,022.
“He can hurt you so many ways,” Alford said. “We lost to Arizona and USC. Those weren’t two of his better games. So he’s a big key for us, and now he’s back to being aggressive again. With he and Lonzo, you see a new freshness to them.”
In Israel, they’re watching. They know the Leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree.
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