The Word Around UCLA Is Discipline

The Pacific 10 Conference on Monday reviewed the actions of UCLA Coach Steve Lavin and guard Baron Davis during Sunday’s game at Washington and hinted that Davis may be disciplined.

Commissioner Tom Hansen would not speculate on the chances that Davis would be suspended for saying that the Bruins got “cheated” by referee Terry Christman in the 93-83 loss in Seattle.

Lesser penalties could be private sanctions or a public rebuke. A decision probably will be made today.

Such disciplines are rare in the Pac-10 but Hansen left no doubt he was bothered by Davis’ postgame statements more than he was by the sight of Lavin having to be restrained by Bruin coaches and players from trying to get at Christman.

“I am distinguishing between the conduct of the coach and the comments of the player,” Hansen said. “The conduct of the coach was unfortunate. The comments by the player were disturbing.”

Lavin said he was feeling bad Monday because he’d wanted to set a better example for players about maintaining their composure in tough times.

In fact, one of the first things he did after the loss was to apologize to the players.

“To me, part of growing up is falling down,” Lavin said. “Hopefully, we learned from this. I apologized because my actions were inexcusable. And the first thing I did when I came out and talked to the press was congratulate Washington for the win. I never want our players to search for excuses for losses, so I didn’t want what had happened to take away from my belief that Washington out-played us and that Bob Bender did a great coaching job.”

Lavin might have avoided conference sanctions because he never mentioned Christman by name, though he did detail the four UCLA games the referee has worked this season and note the discrepancy in free throws in favor of opponents.

Also, Lavin had never been charged with a technical before 4:34 remained in Sunday’s game, when he went on the court and crossed midcourt to confront Christman and had to be restrained by players and staff members after being ejected.

Davis, meanwhile, said, “I just feel we got cheated. That’s how I feel. We got cheated. It’s that Christman, and he’s been cheating every time. Every time. I don’t know. Maybe he’s got it out for us. I’m tired of holding it in. Somebody’s got to say something about it.

The outburst by Lavin was not only significant in that it led to four Washington free throws, besides the two the Huskies got for Davis’ technical, but because he seldom has been that angry.

“It’s unusual to see him like this,” Jim Saia, a UCLA assistant and boyhood friend, said after the game. “He’s always under control and very sound. People always say they can’t believe how composed he is, even when he took the job over. That’s always been one of his strongest qualities.

“He was upset, but not to where he was out of control. He wanted to make a statement, and that’s how he showed it. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Such as focusing attention on the disparity of free throws in the four games Christman has worked.

The confrontation between the team and the official will not keep Christman from doing another UCLA game this season. But, as it turns out, he is not scheduled to do more.