For His Next Trick: Tonight’s Winning Lottery Numbers

I would like to commend Tim Kawakami on his expert pregame analysis of the Iowa State-UCLA game. His pregame report read: “This game parallels the Bruins’ second-round game two years ago against Missouri, which was hot enough from the outside to take a big second-half lead and force a Tyus Edney scamper for UCLA to win.”

Although this was a fairly logical prediction to make, knowing the teams, their styles, and their media sound bytes throughout the week, Kawakami hit the nail on the head.

GLENN MAHONEY

Encinitas

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Pete Dalis must feel as though he has just won the lottery. That Steve Lavin is a quantum leap over Jim Harrick is beyond doubt. Even when he was No. 4 on the staff, Lavin seemed to be the Bruins’ hardest-working, most animated coach.

With all due respect to Dean Smith and Roy Williams, the best young coaches today are creating themselves in the image of Mike Krzyzewski (like Beethoven or Mozart, John Wooden can never be cloned). Lavin may be a tireless stroker in rose-colored glasses, but he’s beginning to look like a first-class, Coach K-style stroker, one who understands the great mystery of how to mold this adolescent generation of players into a team.

The day of the hard-core autocrat like Bobby Knight is over (take note, Henry Bibby).

CHARLES CHICCOA

Reseda

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UCLA faithful should be eternally grateful that former assistant Mark Gottfried has departed Westwood and moved on to that pantheon of college basketball, Murray State, with Steve Lavin safely at the helm of UCLA’s basketball destiny.

In a news conference [Times, March 14] reeking of the stench of sour grapes, Gottfried accused Lavin of being disloyal (“I could have helped Jim Harrick survive. Part of being an assistant is being loyal.”), attributed Lavin’s success to blind luck (“Steve inherited what may be the most talented team, one through six, in the country.” Remember the Princeton game, Mark?) and prematurely predicted Lavin’s failure and demise (“It may be a lot more difficult to recruit and compete against the Bobby Knights and Dean Smiths.” Having a hard time, are you, Mark?)

I trust that UCLA fans will be eager to see, through the years, whether Gottfried’s mark on Division I basketball is anything more than a knife in the back of a fellow assistant.

TOM LALLAS

Los Angeles