Colleagues Vote Lavin Pac-10 Coach of the Year

The strange season of UCLA Coach Steve Lavin took another interesting twist Monday when he was named Pacific 10 Conference Coach of the Year.

Lavin weathered the Rick Pitino rumblings and a 4-4 start, then directed his team to 17 victories in 21 games. He has led the Bruins to the NCAA tournament in each of his five seasons, including once to the Elite Eight and twice to the Sweet 16.

Only conference coaches vote on the award.

“It’s a nice honor because it comes from my colleagues and peers in the Pac-10,” Lavin said. “It’s a reflection of the type of kids we have in our program and the type of assistant coaches that I work with that allow us to have success.”

Lavin got the nod over Stanford’s Mike Montgomery, whose team was No. 1 for much of the season, and Arizona’s Lute Olson, who kept coaching even after losing his wife to cancer.

“Coach Lavin overcame all the scrutiny and criticism and rose above all of it,” forward Matt Barnes said. “We didn’t listen to the media. We didn’t listen to the athletic director when they were going behind his back and talking to Pitino. So you’ve really got to commend him, and now everyone’s on his side.”

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Among the 10 players named to the All-Pac-10 team Monday were Jason Kapono and Earl Watson of UCLA, and USC’s Sam Clancy. Barnes and USC’s Brian Scalabrine earned honorable mention.

UCLA’s T.J. Cummings was named to the all-freshman team, and USC’s Desmon Farmer earned honorable mention on that squad.

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UCLA was issued 350 tickets for its first-round game against Hofstra, and a limited number of those will be made available to the public today at the school’s central ticket office. Information: (310) 825-2946.