Dan
Guerrero, the UCLA Athletic Director, ought to knock on Steve Lavin’s
door, if not only to notify him of the season already starting but
also to inform him that his job is on the line. In a press conference,
after firing Football coach Bob Toledo, Mr. Guerrero clearly laid out
the goals that he anticipates the football team accomplishing. Those
goals were Pac-10 titles, beating USC and getting involved in the BCS
Bowl games; High standards indeed. I ask this question, if the UCLA
football team is expected to compete as one of the nation’s best then
what are the expectations of the basketball team? I am going to
speculate but it seems that Guerrero would like to see UCLA basketball
be the Duke of the west. Conference championships, top 10 rankings and
great 8 and final four appearances seem to fit the mold based on his
football expectations. Dan Guerrero clearly should have sent a message
to Steve Lavin regarding his teams goals as well as his own job
security.
Last year Steve Lavin’s team, pre-season ranked
#5, finished 6th in the Pac-10
Conference, lost in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament and got
to the sweet 16. In a press conference after the season, Lavin claimed
that the season was successful even though he did not achieve ANY of
the goals that he himself set before the season. From the looks of
things, Steve Lavin is going to have to set his standards much higher
than ever before if he wants to keep his job. Unfortunately, for Lavin,
this year’s team has some HUGE holes and will not be able to
accomplish much of what Mr. Guerrero expects.
This year’s team is clearly off to a slow start.
After losing both exhibition games they opened the year at Pauley
Pavilion with a loss to University of San Diego. Jason Keep, a 6’ 10”
Oklahoma St. transfer, led San Diego with 30 points and dominated the
paint. Brad Holland, San Diego’s head coach and a former UCLA
basketball standout, might have already passed the first round of
interviews for the upcoming UCLA position, with the victory over his
storied alma mater.
The next game put the Bruins against Duke. This
is a game that matched the only two coaches in the past 6 years to go
to the sweet 16 in 5 of them. That in my opinion should be the last
and only comparison between these two coaches. Mike Krzyzewski led his
younger and more inexperienced, Lavin’s current excuse for a slow
start, Blue Devils to an easy win over the Bruins. UCLA opened the
2002-2003 season 0-2 and that is the first time in 41 years that UCLA
has started 0-2.
The Bruins were back at Pauley Pavilion for
their 3rd game of the season, their opponent, Long Beach State
University. The 49ers have had some very good teams in the past decade
but this is clearly not one of them. Long Beach was 1-3 heading into
the game with losses against Charlotte, Pepperdine and Southern Utah.
They average just over 66 points a game and almost 20 turnovers. The
Bruins won this game in the second half after a very competitive first
half. The Bruins were too talented for Long Beach St. and it clearly
showed as the game went on. However, I do not think that this should
be a measuring stick for improvement; this Long Beach State team would
clearly struggle to win a game in the Pac-10.
The Bruins next two games should be fairly easy
wins, at home, against Portland and N. Arizona. However both these
team will be significantly better than Long Beach State. Portland is a
team that shoots a ton of threes and with UCLA’s defense they should
be able to get a lot of good looks from behind the arc. Look for Ryan
McDade to make an impact for N. Arizona. He is a bulky 6’7” inside
player who is averaging over 10 rebounds a game. He is not a big as
Jason Keep but should cause the Bruins weak interior some trouble. All
of this leads to the team’s first barometer game, a December 21st game
at Kansas. I am sure that Dan Guerrero will be watching this game
closely to see where Steve Lavin and the Bruins are, on a national
scale. They have already dropped a nationally televised game to Duke
and a loss to Kansas would surely make an impression on an Athletic
Director evaluating his coaching talent.
Email: David Bartman
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