School Colors Shine Bright

It’s March, which means that even the Lakers’ playoff push has to take a temporary backseat to the NCAA tournament.

The players are breaking out the brackets, talking trash, going through the highs and lows in the office pool. Devean George looked more upbeat than we’ve seen him in weeks after a successful first day of tournament picks. The usually approachable Luke Walton cast a wary eye at reporters the day after his beloved Arizona was dumped in the first round.

School ties and regional bias weigh heavily in the players’ picks. Walton had Arizona, Oklahoma State, Gonzaga and Stanford going to the Final Four.

Brian Cook picked his alma mater, Illinois, in addition to Kansas (his college coach Bill Self’s new team), Gonzaga and Stanford.

The only other Laker player with his school in the tournament was Rick Fox, who, of course, said North Carolina was going all the way. Oops. (North Carolina has the most active NBA players of all tournament teams, 11.)

Maybe it’s better to be objective. Kareem Rush, whose Missouri Tigers didn’t make the tournament, still has his Final Four of Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Duke alive.

Gary Payton (Oregon State) is going with his favorite player, Oklahoma State’s John Lucas. “He’ll pull up in your grill,” Payton said. He has the Cowboys joined by Kentucky, Duke and Stanford.

And which teams does Kobe Bryant, who didn’t go to college, have going to the Final Four?

“Don’t care,” he said.

Sights

Shaquille O’Neal, active on the boards and talkative in front of the microphones again. After failing to reach 10 rebounds in three consecutive games, he has pulled down double digits in his last seven games, topped by his season-high 23 against Orlando.

“I’m just doing whatever it takes for us to win,” O’Neal said.

On Tuesday he ended his weeklong media boycott that started after official Bob Delaney ejected him from an eventual loss at Utah.

“I just wanted to save my words,” O’Neal explained Friday. “I was sitting back, relaxing, doing other stuff.”

Sounds

Fox, on what concerns him about the team right now:

“Teams that are great in this league are the ones that play defense, the ones that can go through a drought on the offensive end and still beat a team by 10 points. [What] you see Detroit doing right now, they’re serious contenders. They are defending at a championship level. The San Antonios know how to do that. Sacramento’s still trying to outscore you, but Minnesota is a defense-minded team.

“We haven’t shown that side of our season yet. And with 13 games left, it has to show up before the playoffs come around. Because that’s definitely one thing you don’t just turn on. You don’t just turn on your defensive intensity.”

Faces in the Crowd

Michael Chiklis, Monday vs. Orlando.

Adam Sandler, Sean Astin, Pete Sampras, Dave Winfield, Wednesday vs. Clippers.

David Hasselhoff, boxer Corrie Sanders, Friday vs. Clippers.

In a Word

“Proverbial.”

When O’Neal was asked if the Lakers could throw the “proverbial switch” and turn up their game after a string of lackluster games, O’Neal mulled the word then gave it a slight pronunciation twist.

“Perverbial,” he said. “Is that a derivative of pervert?”