Coaches Poll Does Lavin No Favors

It’s one thing when the sportswriters disrespect you because, well, what do we know?

And you sort of know what you’re up against when your athletic director freezes you out for weeks, passing on a vote of confidence when you really need it--hello, I’m at Cal, can you throw me a rope?--then gives you the approval stamp in the afterglow of three consecutive road victories, two over ranked opponents.

But what must UCLA Coach Steve Lavin--battered, bruised, bullied, redeemed?--think when the choir turns against him?

This week, an esteemed panel of 31 Division I-A coaches surveyed the national landscape, examined their consciences and left UCLA out of top 25 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.

Confounding?

You bet.

Even the Associated Press poll voters, not all Phi Beta Kappas, grasped the significance of UCLA’s road sweep and pushed the Bruins into the No. 24 position in the rankings.

Either the voting coaches are not paying attention or, worse, they are paying attention.

“It is certainly troubling to me,” said Arizona State Coach Rob Evans, the Pacific 10 Conference’s only voting coach.

“I would hope coaches look at things in a serious light and understand that when teams are playing well, especially like UCLA, that they deserve to be in the top 25.”

Evans, for the record, said he voted UCLA “very high.”

You be the judge. Here’s what UCLA did last week:

Coming off a victory over then-No. 1 Stanford at Maples Pavilion, UCLA whipped archrival USC at the Sports Arena, then hopped on a red-eye to Chicago and defeated DePaul two days later.

The sweep lifted UCLA’s record to 15-6. Of the schools ranked in the coaches’ poll, the Bruins have defeated Stanford, Kentucky and USC (twice).

Nine schools in the coaches’ top 25 have as many or more losses than UCLA.

Hmmm. Very curious.

My argument to Evans was that polls don’t mean anything in college basketball because the NCAA tournament decides the champion.

UCLA’s poll ranking will have almost no bearing on its tournament seeding. The more important figures for the Bruins are how well they finish the season and their power rating. This week, UCLA is a heady No. 8 in the Ratings Percentage Index.

Evans said I was wrong.

“I take it seriously,” he said of his voting role. “I think even though it’s ceremonial, it is important because recruits look at it. A lot of people look at it and see that you’re in the top 15, 20, 25 and that’s important. When guys work hard, they deserve it.”

Maybe the coaches’ snub of UCLA was mere oversight.

My guess is many voting coaches still don’t trust the Bruin brand as a top-25 product.

We trust it isn’t anything more sinister.

MORE POLLS

UCLA isn’t the only school getting shafted. St. Joseph’s has yet to crack either poll despite a 20-4 record and top billing in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Hawk Coach Phil Martelli said top-25 teams are like baseball managers.

“It’s all recycled,” he said. “If you’ve been a baseball manager once, you’re pretty sure you’re going to get a second crack.”

He notes that only eight schools that started the year in the AP top 25 aren’t ranked in this week’s poll.

“The best part about college basketball is they call names in March and say, ‘You play them,’ and you find out who’s good enough to be around,” he said. “So those numbers in front of teams don’t mean anything.”

Martelli said he doesn’t take the snub personally.

He said there are generally 10 teams with a legitimate shot at the national championship . . . and everyone else.

“From 11 to 35-40, there are a bunch of the rest of us who are fighting, scratching, clawing, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle,” he said. “You know what? Some days we’re 13th. And some days we’re 40th. And no one out there could possibly know. There aren’t enough hours in the day for a person to study.”

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

No sport is more picked over than college basketball, with its scores of Internet experts, recruiting reports and talent evaluators.

Yet, the beauty of the game is that no one knows everything.

Kids are kids, and mysteries often abound after center jump.

We dedicate time and space to a category called “Did Not See This Coming” in recognition of hoop that has thrown us for a loop.

1. BOSTON COLLEGE

The Eagles (18-3) are this season’s biggest out-of-nowhere story, Tuesday night’s loss at Connecticut notwithstanding, rising from 13th in the Big East last season to No. 9 in this week’s AP poll.

No, we did not see this coming.

Boston College, 11-19 a year ago, opened the season with an exhibition loss to an alumni squad from the Boston Amateur Basketball Club.

It’s been a different story since.

“Yeah, I’d say,” Boston College Coach Al Skinner said this week from Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Four years removed from the last days of coach Jim O’Brien, who left the program in disgust for Ohio State--and took star guard Scoonie Penn with him--Boston College is off to its best start since 1966-67.

The school replaced O’Brien with Skinner, who led Rhode Island to 20-win seasons.

But that still doesn’t explain it.

The Eagles do not have a top-200 recruit on the roster and start only one player taller than 6 feet 6. Last season, newcomers Troy Bell, Uka Agbai and Xavier Singletary did not mesh with veterans Kenny Harley and Brian Ross, yet this season things have clicked.

“The thing all coaches are trying to acquire is good chemistry,” Skinner said, “which we seem to have. We also know it’s very delicate, and you can get out of whack very easily. And you can’t measure that.”

1-A. PROVIDENCE

The Big East companion story. The Friars finished 11-19 last season, 4-12 in conference, then rang in the off-season by expelling four players for disciplinary reasons. So what gives? Providence is 18-6, trailing only Boston College in the East Division.

2. GEORGIA TECH

When Bobby Cremins stepped down last spring after 19 seasons as coach he said, “I wish I could have left the program in better shape.”

Enter Paul Hewitt, the rising star who brought his fastbreak philosophy from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, where he led Siena to mid-major successes.

The Yellow Jackets finished 13-17 last season and lost two stars in Jason Collier and Jason Floyd. Georgia Tech was supposed to line the bottom of the ACC bird cage.

Yet, Georgia Tech is 14-9, 6-6 in conference. The Yellow Jackets have defeated UCLA and Kentucky and defeated three ranked conference foes in Maryland, Wake Forest and Virginia (twice). The school already has more overall and conference wins than last season.

Guard Tony Akins and center Alvin Jones have thrived in Hewitt’s up-tempo style. Jones, an often underachieving 6-11 center, is averaging 15 points and 9.6 rebounds a game while shooting 54% from the field.

3. ST. JOSEPH’S

A Philadelphia Story.

Martelli’s Hawks were coming off three consecutive losing seasons until a point guard changed everything.

St. Joe’s beat out rival Temple in getting Jameer Nelson, who led Chester (Pa.) to the Pennsylvania AAAA title last year and a sweep over, ta-da, Temple this season.

The 6-1 freshman transformed a team coming off a 13-16 season into a conference powerhouse.

“I thought he could be great as a college player,” Martelli said. “I can’t say that I thought he’d be as great as a freshman as he has been.

“I thought we were going to have to deal with him being 18 years old playing against 22-, 23-year-old men. But he just thinks an older game. From the neck up, he is not a freshman.”

4. MINNESOTA

Jan Gangelhoff, Clem Haskins, the paper trail. Scandals that lead to Pulitzer Prizes are supposed to bury programs.

We filed Minnesota in our dead lettermen’s office in March 1999, when it was revealed Gangelhoff, a tutor, claimed to have written more than 400 papers for Gopher players.

It cost the coach, Haskins, his job and landed Minnesota on NCAA probation.

Yeah, so?

Under second-year Coach Dan Monson, Minnesota raced to a 15-3 start this season before a rash of injuries left the Gophers with only six scholarship players. Still, Minnesota is 16-9, 4-8 in Big Ten play.

Minnesota’s NCAA chances are growing bleaker by the minute, but the National Invitation Tournament beckons.

5. FRESNO STATE

We remember Jerry Tarkanian’s Bulldogs gasping for air last March in Salt Lake City after a one-and-out loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament.

It was the last game for three of the top players in school history--Courtney Alexander, Terrance Roberson and Larry Abney--yet this season’s batch of Bulldogs is 20-3, nationally ranked and dominating opponents with pressure defense.

As they say over in accounting:

Go figure.