At 7-2, There Is a History of Success

UCLA is 7-2, two games behind first-place Arizona at the halfway point of the Pacific 10 Conference season, and Coach Steve Lavin, not surprisingly, put a positive spin on the situation.

“I told our team, in ’95 we were 7-2 at the swing. We’d lost to Oregon and Cal,” Lavin said, referring to the conference- and national title-winning Bruin squad. “Last year, we were 7-2. We’d lost to Stanford and Oregon [and won the Pac-10 before losing in the Midwest Regional finals].

“So we’re at the same point we were in ‘95, the same point we were last year. We’re in pretty good shape. We still have lots of deficiencies, but I think probably by mid-February we can be a good team.”

The Bruins also won the Pac-10 title in 1996, after starting 8-1 in league play.