They Haven’t Lost That Lavin Feeling

Quiz time: You’re a major college basketball coach. Your team is trailing by one on the road with about 10 seconds left. Your player is 10 feet in front of you with the ball but in an awkward position. Do you:

A. Tell your player to call time out. B. Tell your player to pass to one of the five best shooters in the country, who is open at the top of the key. C. Jump up and down like a zoo animal.

If you chose “A” or “B,” you’re likely one of about 250 Division I coaches. If you chose “C,” you’re Steve Lavin.

Craig Dunkin

Tujunga

*

I actually became physically ill when I read the Steve Lavin spin piece “Me and My Shadow” in Thursday’s sports section. This two-bit huckster has sunk to a new low. To use the personal correspondence of legendary John Wooden as a prop in a pathetic attempt to legitimize his dismal basketball program is beyond the pale. Lavin’s hideously coached teams are the very antithesis of Wooden’s superior disciplined squads. He should be selling used cars, not coaching UCLA basketball.

Jeff Johnson

Culver City

*

Steve Henson provides another attempt to raise Steve Lavin to martyrdom status in his “Me and My Shadow” article. It’s interesting how he implies that UCLA’s basketball expectations are unrealistically high, yet having lofty expectations always seems more acceptable for schools such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina. I think the reality is, only a fanatic few truly expect UCLA to approach or match the accomplishments of 30 years ago.

What I also find interesting is that despite the number of Coach Wooden’s insights offered, one of his main tenets was excluded. “Success is the satisfaction in knowing you did the best with which you are capable.” I think not living up to this principle has more to do with the disappointment than simply a 17-7 record.

Cliff Chew

Los Angeles

*

It is incredible how UCLA fans are calling for Steve Lavin’s head in the middle of the Pac-10 season. How soon we forget the Walt Hazzard years.

While Lavin does lose some conference games in the middle of the season, his team always is at its best at the end of the year. As he becomes more experienced, he will lead UCLA to the promised land. I’d rather have Steve Lavin losing to Arizona in the middle of the season and going to the Sweet 16 than being unbeatable during the season and then losing in the first round like Roy Williams or Jim Boeheim does every year.

Troy Schell

Rancho Cucamonga