Scott Schultz sschultz@media.ucla.edu
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As I prepare to leave the UCLA campus in my rearview mirror, I
still find myself confused and amazed when I try to understand the
thought process of the overly rabid Steve Lavin bashers.
I understand the desire to win championships, and I’m well
versed in the legacy left by the great John Wooden. I can even
sympathize with the fans who invest their emotions in the
team’s annual run in the NCAA tournament only to come up
short in the Sweet Sixteen. After all, I’ve been a die-hard
Red Sox fan for 30 years.
However, I believe in giving props when they are due, and Coach
Lavin certainly deserves commendation for his ability to not only
attract McDonald’s All-Americans but his amazing ability to
keep the majority them for their full four years of
eligibility.
Since 1998, UCLA has successfully recruited five
McDonald’s All Americans. With the exception of JaRon Rush,
who was forced to quit school due to the old white men at the NCAA
who punish teenagers rather than the adult agents who take
advantage of them, all of them are still in school and are presumed
to be on target for graduation. That’s a major feather for
any coach’s fedora.
Compare that to coaches who recruit blue-chippers at other elite
academic institutions, such as Duke and Stanford, which have a
combined five early NBA draft entries in just this year, and
suddenly Lavin is looking pretty good.
Or compare our program to other Pac-10 rivals such as Cal, which
is watching Cedric Bozeman’s high school teammate Jamal
Sampson leap blindly into the draft after a mediocre freshman
season. Most draft prognosticators don’t believe that he will
be taken in the first round. It is clear that Lavin is doing a
superior job of integrating his star athletes among the campus
population than other coaches in the country.
And yes, Lavin has committed the unspeakable crime of actually
not winning a national championship in six whole years at the helm
at Pauley. However, I would like to believe that what incoming
athletic director Dan Guerrero and Wooden are ultimately most
concerned with are diplomas and the caliber of people when they
leave the program and not championship banners.
“¢bull; “¢bull; “¢bull;
The NCAA announced this week that it will be scrapping leather
basketballs in future NCAA tournaments for synthetic balls. This
came as a result of pleas from the People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals.
Now, I”˜m all for saving cows, some of my favorite meals
were once cows, but if PETA really wants to make an impact, it
might want to concern itself less with the 500 or so basketballs
and more with the thousands of leather basketball shoes the players
go through each year.
I wonder what PETA thinks of the new Burger King commercial
featuring Shaquille O’Neal wearing a “Shaft” style
leather jacket. That bad jacket has to contain at least a half
dozen cows hides. Shut yo’ mouth.
“¢bull; “¢bull; “¢bull;
The old white men at the NCAA have once again demonstrated that
they have no concern with the well-being of the student
athletes.
On Friday, the organization which appeared on the verge of
joining the rest of us in the 21st century when it allowed players
to declare for the draft without losing their college eligibility,
decided to enforce an arcane and petty rule which will (SURPRISE!)
adversely affect the student-athletes.
The rule, which had already existed but wasn’t being
enforced, says that for every game players participate in at the
NBA draft camp, they will be ineligible for an equal number of
games if and when they return to their college team.
In other words, the association which is supposed to be looking
out for the best interests of the players is actually going out of
their way to discourage players from receiving a legitimate
evaluation by professional NBA scouts.
The whole purpose of even allowing the underclassmen to attend
these camps is so they can determine whether or not they are
risking a potential multi-million dollar guaranteed contract by
returning to college. There is no logical reason for suspending
players for making an EDUCATED decision concerning their
future.
Of course, the NCAA isn’t really concerned with the
players, Not when they have a multi-billion dollar contract with
CBS about to kick in. I’m sure that the association wants to
prevent as many high-profile stars from jumping to the NBA early as
possible.
Besides the draft camp will be a distraction from the 17 new
summer-bowl games that no doubt, some greedy old white man at their
Indianapolis headquarters is concocting.