Sizable Victory Picks Up Bruins

As the protector of this city’s most venerable college sports institution, the UCLA basketball coach has to first protect the ball.

He has to make the smart pass. He has to take the sure shot. He has to see the entire court.

Much like the players he has sometimes struggled to teach, Steve Lavin has not done this.

He has been sloppy with his dribble. He has been wild with his jumper.

Even this season, despite knowing that his team’s big losses and dumb losses and Detroit Mercy losses have made him vulnerable, Lavin has continued to run and gun.

It is no surprise, then, that these latest controversies are beginning to look like a full-court press that could strip him of his job.

His boss has already stated he has talked to a prospective replacement.

His friend Kevin Malone has nearly landed the Bruins in NCAA jail by talking to a recruit.

He showed poor judgment in assisting with the university admission of the son of a prominent high school coach.

His players’ grades in this first semester are apparently just as poor.

At times during his five-year tenure, Lavin has appeared trapped by the relentless fury of big-name suspensions, NBA defections, huge defeats.

But he has never been surrounded like this.

With three Sweet 16 appearances in four years, his teams have always been talented enough to guide him through the pressure and out of danger.

But this year’s team is not.

If this winter continues at its current pace--big losses followed by little revelations--he will not continue as Bruin coach.

Lavin will be fired at the end of the season, possibly even earlier, if he continues giving university officials the only ammunition they can use.

It won’t be about team wins. It will be about personal turnovers.

Lavin’s current 102-43 record is too good to warrant dismissal. His postseason accomplishments--matched by only Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo and Gene Keady during that time--are too impressive.

The basketball criticism of Lavin, while mostly well deserved, is too difficult to quantify.

He doesn’t prepare his team. His players don’t improve. His practices are lax. His game management is disorganized.

All of those things have been true. But how do you measure any of them?

Some people around the university, on their own, are working overtime to find other ways to drop the sword. They want him fired, but they need the documentation.

In this case, they figure their best chance is by discovering and exposing rules violations.

A similar campaign worked against Jim Harrick, and he won a national championship, which should explain the odds against Lavin.

Will the ultimate outcome be fair?

In the case of Harrick, who lied to his bosses after several questionable off-court dealings, it was absolutely fair.

If Lavin has indeed made poor ethical decisions, if he truly has allowed academics to suffer, if he has placed the school at risk for NCAA probation, then this is also fair.

Taken individually, nothing that has been reported so far has been job-threatening.

Taken together, it is a swarm of darting hands that are increasingly dangerous. One or two more swats, and the next turnover could be his last.

In the eyes of many folks in town, perhaps, this latest stumble has been his biggest.

Anyone whose child has tried in vain to be admitted to UCLA surely will grow pale when reading how Lavin assisted the son of Gary McKnight, Mater Dei coach, in being admitted under easier standards as a walk-on basketball player.

It is bad enough that on a squad where walk-ons are considered so valuable they actually started in three of Lavin’s five years, Geoff McKnight isn’t even on the team.

Worse yet, McKnight’s dad is the coach of two top recruits, one of whom, Cedric Bozeman, will actually attend UCLA.

While none of it has been declared against the rules, from a distance the entire thing stinks.

So how come Lavin couldn’t smell it up close? So how come Lavin didn’t realize that, silly rules or not, he probably shouldn’t be involved in this situation in the first place?

Why didn’t he protect the ball?

While not part of any concerted effort, university officials are separately waiting to grab it.

Heck, they’ve already been given subtle approval from the athletic director.

Pete Dalis, by speaking to prospective coach Rick Pitino and later acknowledging it several weeks ago, sent a message to attack.

For all of Lavin’s faults, he didn’t deserve such a public knife from someone he has treated with such loyalty.

Lavin and his staff have struggled in many areas, but they are hard workers who have shown nothing but class in dealing with the quirky Dalis.

Despite Mike Garrett’s problems at USC, he handled the firing of Paul Hackett with the sort of grace that Dalis should find instructive. Never once during Hackett’s last weeks would Garrett comment on his situation.

Garrett allowed the Trojan football team to finish the year with as few distractions as possible, which was possibly one reason they upset UCLA.

There probably will be no such heroics at Pauley Pavilion.

Too many injuries, too many defections, too many distractions.

The coach is exposed. There’s increasingly nowhere to hide. The full-court press is on.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.