At Least Amy, Tonya Are in Lavin’s Corner

So who gets knocked out first? Tonya Harding, Amy Fisher or UCLA?

Trick question--UCLA won’t open the NCAA tournament until a day or two after Harding and Fisher meet in a March 13 three-round boxing match for Fox.

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AS EVERYONE knows, Coach Steve Lavin is at his very best with his white shirt pressed to the wall, and if he doesn’t get a win in the first round of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament this week, the Bruins can still win their 20th game of the season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Or, the NIT.

It’s all about redemption, as Harding and Fisher can tell you, and Lavin has two huge chances to solidify his reputation either way--albeit as the coach who has the Bruins playing their best when it counts, or the coach forever in over his head.

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THIS BULLETIN JUST IN FROM PAULEY!

UCLA’s fine crop of freshmen and sophomores dazzled the crowd and befuddled Pac-10 Conference champion Oregon with their frenzied play for one glorious stretch Saturday, prompting Lavin to say, just picture how good they’ll be after he works with them for the next few years.

Please, ladies and gentlemen, no screaming or cursing while running out of Pauley Pavilion.... Players have been known to improve on their own, you know.

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MAYBE IT wasn’t such a good idea putting all those youngsters into the game at the same time--and on Seniors Day. I wonder, did the older, slower, departing group sitting on the bench look as promising four years ago as the speedy kids who were throwing a scare into Oregon?

Some people might take heart in the Bruins’ ability to stay close to Oregon--making it real tough for the Ducks to win for the first time in Pauley Pavilion since 1984. Maybe that’s considered a step forward these days for UCLA basketball.

In Lavin’s postgame news conference, no one asked him why he didn’t use one of his remaining timeouts with 13 seconds to play and trailing Oregon by three points. Instead, the reporters dwelled on the positive play of the youngsters, the media apparently already moving on to next year and no longer interested in chronicling Lavin’s last-minute frazzled thinking.

After eight consecutive weekends of split decisions, the Pac-10 tournament is a life preserver for Lavin & Co., providing the Bruins an additional chance to build momentum. There’s no reason to believe the Bruins won’t make it into the Pac-10 title game at Staples Center, of course, and then ride that wave into another Sweet 16 NCAA finish, because that’s the Lavin way until proven otherwise.

If proven otherwise, Harding and Fisher just might have their cornerman.

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WHEN FOX announced the Harding-Fisher bout, which will have Partridge Family bully Danny Bonaduce taking on the older-than-he-looks Barry Williams from the Brady Bunch, the network declined to say who would be fighting it out in the third match of the night.

When Kobe Bryant treated Samaki Walker like a sparring partner, I should have guessed, but it wasn’t until after he popped Reggie Miller and I took a look at the Laker schedule and noticed the team isn’t playing March 13 that I figured it out.

What do you think? Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal in a tag-team wrestling match with the Miller boys, Reggie and Brad? Talk about a night of tried-and-true Fox entertainment beginning with Tonya and Amy, and maybe the winner guaranteed a shot at Darva Conger. And after Danny and Barry go toe-to-toe, Fox’s own Lisa Guerrero could make an appearance as ring girl for the NBA smackdown. Tell me that wouldn’t be must-see TV in your house--if your wife would let you.

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THE MADE-for-TV movie, “A Season on the Brink” with Brian Dennehy playing Bobby Knight, will be simulcast on ESPN and ESPN2 at the same time, one with cursing and one with the cursing deleted. No indication what ESPN2 will run when its version of “A Season on the Brink” runs an hour shorter than the cussing version.

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NOW HERE’S what you like to hear from one of the new Dodgers, pitcher Omar Daal: “I don’t feel I have to prove anything to anybody,” after giving up five runs in 12/3 innings of work.

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I SEE in the paper that USC Coach Henry Bibby attributes four close defeats--including three conference losses--to a lack of leadership from his players. Good thing Bibby isn’t coaching at UCLA, or those losses would be blamed on the coach.

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THE TROJANS have a go-to big-game winner in Sam Clancy; UCLA’s Jason Kapono took two shots in the second half against Oregon.

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BEFORE SATURDAY’S game, Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry said it will probably take 45 wins to make the playoffs.

After beating the Warriors, the Clippers have 22 games remaining, which means they’ll have to go 15-7 without Corey Maggette and Lamar Odom. Turn out the lights, the party’s over.

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MOST PEOPLE thought Dennis Miller talked over the heads of the “Monday Night Football” audience, and now they’ve got a guy in John Madden who has made a career of dumbing down football to everyone and treating the audience as if it’s a convention of cavemen who just love it when he yells, “boom,” and draws a circle around the big belly of an offensive lineman.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Mitchell Kim:

“How dare you talk about those players like that. You have some nerve to pick on them. That was totally biased, unfair and uncalled for.”

I don’t know which players you’re referring to, but I’m sure you’re correct.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.