What Must Bruins Do to Gain Some Respect?

Let’s see if I understand this. At the beginning of the week, UCLA was 15-6, and USC was 16-6 (comparable records), but UCLA was 8-2 in conference play, while USC was 6-4. The Bruins had an RPI ranking of 8, based on the second-strongest schedule in the country, and USC came in at 20th. UCLA just last week upset the No. 1 team in the country. In head-to-head competition, the Bruins have swept the season series against the Trojans, and yet the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll has ranked USC at 23rd while once again completely overlooking the Bruins.

Can someone explain this to me? I just don’t get it.

ELI EISENBERG

Agoura Hills

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So Peter Dalis has given Steve Lavin the “vote of confidence” Lavin has been asking for. What are the likely scenarios behind this?

1. Dalis did it so know-nothing national geeks like Dick Vitale will stop talking about it for the one or two UCLA games a year they actually watch.

2. Dalis did it so Lavin will stop talking about it. The self-deprecating jokes aimed at making himself a lovable martyr are getting really old.

3. Dalis is retiring earlier than we all thought and is going to leave the dirty work to his successor.

Regardless, I will go sit in my cheap seats at Pauley and root hard for the Bruins, realizing that every win brings me closer to being stuck with Steve Lavin for another unenthralling year. Meanwhile Rick Pitino will settle in at Nevada Las Vegas and promptly take most of the hot L.A. high school recruits right out from under Lavin’s nose.

TONY SIRACUSA

Pasadena

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I don’t care how many times UCLA upsets Stanford, Steve Lavin cannot coach. With a legitimate Division I coach, the Bruins would be a top-10 team. They are undisciplined and wild. They can be great one day, and horrible the next. It all comes down to coaching. Of course, Jim Harrick was not a great coach either, but Lavin makes Harrick look like Hank Iba.

JACK WOLF

Westwood

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For those longtime UCLA basketball fans who suddenly are on the Steve Lavin bandwagon after the team’s recent successes, I have a simple, four-word message:

Remember Cal State Northridge!

JOHN SNYDER

Los Angeles

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That Steve Lavin says “I guess because it’s UCLA, every game is a must win” after beating Arizona clearly shows that he does not understand the frustration of Bruin fans. We don’t expect him to win every game. We would like him to have the team well prepared, focused, conditioned and ready to play every game. We would like the team to not be put in a position to be humiliated. These should be things that we expect, but sadly, under Steve Lavin, we do not.

LARRY FURST

Woodland Hills

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I love Steve Lavin. I love Steve Lavin. I love Steve Lavin.

Please help me pay off a bet by printing this.

JON BANKS

Westwood

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UCLA beats Stanford, Arizona, and USC (twice). Does The Times question the coaching abilities of Mike Montgomery, Lute Olson, or Henry Bibby? No. Yet, victory after victory, reporters with less basketball knowledge than Steve Lavin’s little finger question his ability. J.A. Adande asserts UCLA shouldn’t have lost a big lead to Arizona, as if the Wildcats are a team incapable of mounting a comeback.

The Times may claim they didn’t start this fire. Pete Dalis was caught holding the match. But The Times is certainly fanning the flames.

J. DAVID JONES

Monterey Park

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No atmosphere? No home-court advantage? Why don’t you go ask Arizona what they think of the Pauley atmosphere?

ERIC RUDIN

Westwood