Bruins in Ruins: The Saga Continues

As Dirty Harry said: “A man has got to know his limitations.”

Bob Toledo never understood this and Steve Lavin doesn’t. It is obvious to everyone associated with UCLA that Lavin, like Toledo, is inept at what he does. The final sentence of Robyn Norwood’s Sunday column (after the loss to Arizona), that Lavin will “continue to try to coach,” is exactly the problem. He tries to coach, he doesn’t coach.

Dan Guerrero should break his promise and make a change now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team starts to defect.

Douglas Peake

Murrieta

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Having followed UCLA basketball for many years, I think the fans and media are giving Steve Lavin a bum deal. Nobody wants to admit that UCLA simply doesn’t have enough good players to compete. The Bruins are inconsistent, have no hustle, are immature and are poor shooters with a few exceptions.

Basketball is a team sport and requires better players than they have now. Another coach would make no difference, unless they get better players.

Hank Schroeder

Simi Valley

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As a UCLA season-ticket holder for the past 10 years, I am tired of being characterized as an ungrateful fool who will accept nothing less than a national championship. I am sick of hearing that UCLA fans are too demanding. We are well aware that there will never be another Wooden. We get that.

We are also well aware that this is a team of talented athletes who have no clue what to do on the court. I guess it’s just too demanding to expect a team at this level to execute the fundamentals of the game.

I heard someone in the media say that he wouldn’t wish the UCLA coaching job on his worst enemy. I guess coaching at a school that expects the coach to do more than grant interviews and sign lucrative shoe deals is too demanding. It’s too demanding to expect the coach to actually teach the game. Too demanding to think that guys who come into the school as high school All-Americans should actually improve in four years. Too demanding to ask a team to hustle and play with heart for 40 minutes.

Each year I have to pay more for my tickets, and each year the product gets worse. Yet I’m the one who’s too demanding.

Steve Kehela

Studio City

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It has become so tiresome and misleading to hear Steve Lavin and his defenders rely on Sweet 16 appearances as the benchmark for success over the past six years, and moreover, using it as a means to draw comparisons with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. But why must they always stop there?

Why not compare the number of Final Fours made or conference championships or NCAA titles or even weeks being ranked? They should also compare the number of home losses, blowout losses and losses to inferior teams each has suffered through. But I guess it simply comes down to unrealistic expectations at UCLA. After all, wouldn’t most teams with UCLA’s talent level be thrilled with a 4-9 record?

Cliff Chew

Irvine

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Chris Dufresne concludes his piece covering the Bruins’ record loss to No. 2 Arizona last Saturday by pointing out that “you can’t rewrite history, you can only learn from it.” Has Dufresne learned from history? His smart-alecky remark that the Bruins’ chances of winning the Pac-10 tournament are as great as someone who can’t tie his shoes winning a marathon ignores one of the greatest feats in all sports history.

Didn’t Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila win the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic marathon running barefoot? Sports are inherently unpredictable. UCLA can certainly win the Pac-10 tournament.

Dufresne again ignores history when he suggests former Jim Harrick assistant Lorenzo Romar may be qualified to lead the Bruins because Romar worked his way up the Division I ranks. Last I checked, UCLA recently defeated Washington and Washington is behind UCLA in the Pac-10 standings. Romar’s 100-96 career record in seven seasons pales in comparison to Lavin’s. In fact, history reveals that entering this season, Lavin was No. 1 in wins and percentage (135-59, .696) in the nation among current collegiate Division I head coaches entering their seventh season, including Messrs. Romar and Gottfried.

Ruben A. Vassolo

Santa Barbara

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I can’t wait to read Coach Lavin’s upcoming book “The Pyramid of Failure,” subtitled “The Inverted Pyramid of Success.” On the other hand, why wait for the book, when you can experience it live at Pauley every week!

David M. Pepper

Malibu