There’s Another Side to UCLA’s Situation

I sure am glad I had the L.A. Times to explain the UCLA-Stanford game to me.

While UCLA’s eight-game winning streak was good to see, I originally thought the Stanford loss was disappointing; a sign that UCLA is still not quite ready to compete with the elite teams in the country, as they should be. But The Times pointed out to me that, gosh, this was a swell moral victory because we played hard. Forget that Stanford won the game on the practice court because it was better prepared, better fundamentally and better drilled than UCLA. The Bruins played hard, so there!

And I’m glad I had The Times to tell me that the problems with attendance at Pauley Pavilion were untrue, that UCLA had a real home-court advantage because the Stanford game was sold out. Good thing. I was starting to believe there were problems because the UCLA fans had not filled the arena in the previous 16 home games! Glad to see one game at the end of the season can wipe out such mythical stories.

Thanks, L.A. Times, for helping me see the light . . . your light.

TONY SIRACUSA

Pasadena

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Here’s a rumor I’d like to start: Steve Lavin is talking to Denny Crum about becoming the athletic director at UCLA.

RICHARD MURPHY

Whittier

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If you analyze the talent on the UCLA basketball team, you realize Steve Lavin has done a pretty good coaching job this season.

Kapono--good shooter but can’t create his own shot.

Watson--terrific competitor but still makes unnecessary turnovers at the wrong time.

Gadzuric--limited offensive skills and constant foul trouble.

Barnes--A real worker inside but is not a good shooter away from the basket.

Knight--Terrific shooter when he’s “on” but a real liability on defense.

Young--pretty good defensively but still thinks he can take a shot from anywhere.

Bailey--Nice game off the bench but can’t replace Watson for any length of time.

Cummings--Quality freshman talent but is no replacement for Gadzuric on the boards.

TIM NEWHARD

Irvine

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UCLA Coach Steve Lavin might have been wrong when he called Pac-10 referee Craig Grismor “the worst official in the country.” After watching the crew of Mark Reischling, Stan Reynolds and Ron Filson on March 1, followed by Rich Ballesteros, Tom Nunez and Mark Ayotte two days later, I would say he was a little premature in making that call.

A coach gets criticized if his team is not improving and makes changes to correct it. It’s time the head of officials starts looking a little closer and makes some changes instead of defending all the bad calls. After all, the Bruins did improve by end of season, shouldn’t the officials?

VINCE CARTY

Culver City