Lavin, Montgomery Cool It

Does Mike Montgomery believe himself tactically superior to Steve Lavin in the same manner Stanford students believe themselves intellectually superior to UCLA students?

Let’s say there are subtle indications.

Montgomery, the Stanford coach of 17 years, was sarcastic about UCLA’s apparent lack of direction on offense moments after his team lost to the Bruins at Maples Pavilion last season for the third year in a row.

And at Pacific 10 Conference media day last fall, Montgomery made a wisecrack about Lavin’s penchant for being longwinded.

The potshots roll off Lavin like water off a duck -- lame or otherwise. Lavin has been criticized so much that he regards Montgomery’s snipes as too tame to acknowledge.

To Montgomery’s credit, he has backed off now that Lavin is under unprecedented fire for a 4-9 start and six consecutive losses at Pauley Pavilion. In fact, the coaches showered each other with compliments this week.

Said Montgomery, who is 351-160 at Stanford: “I consider Steve a friend. He’s handled a difficult situation from the get-go very well. I feel for him. It can’t be much fun going to the office every day.”

Said Lavin, who is 139-68: “Mike Montgomery is a Hall-of-Fame coach and he has my vote for coach of the year in the Pac-10. He’s done a masterful job of reloading, making adjustments and pushing the right buttons.”

Although Montgomery has eased up, there is little chance his team will do the same. The Cardinal is the surprise team of the Pac-10, beating three ranked nonconference opponents -- Xavier, Florida and Gonzaga.

In many respects, Stanford has faced more adversity than UCLA. The best players from last season’s 20-10 team -- guard Casey Jacobsen and center Curtis Borchardt -- left for the NBA.

Starting point guard Chris Hernandez was lost for the season when he broke his left foot before the first game, and starting power forward Justin Davis has missed three weeks because of a sprained knee.

Davis’ injury left the Cardinal with nine scholarship players, six of whom are freshmen and sophomores. Yet Stanford has won three of four without him.

“We have to fight for everything,” Montgomery said. “We need to improve, get healthy and be careful not to run the guys we do have into the ground.”

Lavin has the same concern, although it has nothing to do with injuries. The Bruins are mentally fragile.

UCLA, however, has been noticeably better away from Pauley Pavilion, where booing has become merciless. The Bruins won at Washington and Washington State three weeks ago.

“We know fans at Stanford will hold up signs and do wild stuff and we can laugh about it,” guard Ray Young said. “We never have a home-court advantage. So getting away is something we look forward to.”

The absurdity of his team relishing the prospect of getting away from home and playing at Stanford and California this weekend got a chuckle out of the beleaguered Lavin.

“I’ve never had that one asked, ‘Are we looking forward to some road games?’ ” he said. “That’s a good one.”

*

TONIGHT

UCLA at Stanford

7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net

Site -- Maples Pavilion

Radio -- XTRA 1150/690

Records -- UCLA 4-9, 2-3. Stanford 12-5, 3-2.

Update -- Cardinal sophomore Nick Robinson will make his fifth start in place of injured forward Justin Davis. Robinson is averaging eight points and seven rebounds in the last four games. Stanford set a school record with 42 three-point attempts in last season’s 95-92 loss to UCLA at Maples, making 14. The Bruins shot 58.2% en route to their highest-scoring total in Pacific 10 play. UCLA forward Jason Kapono, who scored only four points against Arizona on Saturday, had 22 at Stanford last season, making eight of 12 shots and all three three-point attempts. Kapono, like many of his teammates, has performed better on the road. He scored a career-high 44 points against Washington State in the last Bruin road game.