UCLA PreGame Links

This game should get plenty of hype...hopefully the players can pull one out for coach. 




"Delicious" typically does not apply to basketball games, but it describes Saturday's game at Pauley Pavilion between St. John's and UCLA.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/01/SPCE1HHJHS.DTL#ixzz1CrqUjGtN

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0204-ucla-basketball-20110204,0,5665933.story

UCLA's players don't remember Steve Lavin
St. John's coach made his mark at UCLA, but well before the current crop took the court.

Steve Lavin figures to evoke strong reactions on Saturday in his return to Pauley Pavilion.

Just not from the UCLA players.

Several Bruins seemed mildly confused when asked about the St. John's coach, who guided UCLA to the NCAA tournament six times in seven years before being fired after the 2002-03 season.

----

Howland said the game against St. John's was part of a home-and-home series that had been in the works before Howland arrived at UCLA. The Bruins are scheduled to play the Red Storm next season in New York.

The last thing UCLA coach Ben Howland needs is heading his way with the force of the Santa Anna winds.

Native Californian Steve Lavin, the hip, first-year St. John's coach with the smile as bright and big as the iconic Hollywood sign, is returning to UCLA as a coach for the first time since he was fired as the Bruins' coach in 2003 and replaced by Howland.

Howland is an Oregonian and as solid as Pacific Northwest pine. His team's halfcourt, physical style has been described as exciting to watch as changing color of leaves. Lavin, on the other hand, likes to run and press, and, in the case of Wednesday night's 58-56 win over Rutgers, draw up a winning play that had not been practiced.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/ucla_coach_hears_lavin_coming_footsteps_MST5B073h3awe9pxjc5IcM#ixzz1Czm23cBc

http://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/2011/2/4/1974713/10-questions-on-steve-lavin-hate-and-ucla-with-bruins-nation

A question exchange with Bruins Nation, the UCLA site that hates Steve Lavin with an extreme passion.

The story lines seemed to write themselves.

Steve Lavin returns to UCLA. Ben Howland matches wits with the Big East once more. New York versus Los Angeles, Gotham clashes with Tinseltown.

http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/02/uclas_game_against_st_johns_is_about_two_programs_returning_to_greatness_not_just_former_coach_steve

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/ncb/columns/story?columnist=darcy_kieran&id=6088770

It's almost too delicious to be true. But the game was actually scheduled before Lavin got his new gig.

Regardless, from the day Lavin came aboard in Queens, it's been circled on many college hoops fans' calendars.

On a conference call with reporters Thursday, after touching down in L.A., Lavin recalled that he first learned about the scheduled St. John's-UCLA tilt during his initial interview with St. John's athletic director Chris Monasch at Dylan Prime, a steakhouse in Soho.

"We just kinda smiled about it," Lavin said. "I right away thought about all the positives of getting back to Southern California because naturally it's going be an area that we recruit from -- the 20 years I spent here. As you guys know, I have such an affinity for the school -- 12 years in Westwood -- so to me it was just a real plus."

Seth Davis picks UCLA at home

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/02/04/weekend.picks/index.html

Rumble in the Garden Preview: http://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/2011/2/4/1975368/preview-game-22-at-ucla-bruins-steve-lavins-return (similar to the Jungle one)

The end of Steve Lavin's UCLA coaching career was foreseen each season. On the seventh try, the Cassandras got it right.

Lavin went 145-78, the worst winning percentage by one of John Wooden's successors except for Walt Hazzard. Only his first team, in 1997, landed in the final wire-service Top 10. That also was the only one that reached the Final Eight and that won a Pac-10 championship.

(a photo essay)

http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lavin-287015-one-final.html

A week or so after being fired by UCLA in 2003, Steve Lavin got together with successor Ben Howland over margaritas.

"Mine were virgin and I'm sure Ben's were as well," Lavin said. "We talked about the lay of the land at UCLA. He wanted my perspective on things."

Lavin surely had a lot to say.

Now he's returning to UCLA for the first time as an opposing coach, leading St. John's (13-8) against the Bruins (15-7) on Saturday in a nationally televised matchup of teams from the country's two biggest media markets that begins at 10 a.m. PST.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/ncaa/02/04/lavin.ucla.ap/index.html#ixzz1D2N9t8ij

As UCLA gets ready to host St. John’s in a nationally televised game Saturday afternoon, Bruins coach Ben Howland has more to worry about than the game itself.

He needs to watch out for Steve Lavin coming into his backyard and making off with top California recruits.

http://www.zagsblog.com/2011/02/04/lavin-poses-major-recruiting-threat-on-west-coast/#more-46531

Steve Lavin was searching for a lunch spot near his TriBeCa loft one frigid morning a few months ago when a St. John's athletics official walking alongside the coach mentioned a few details about his remodeled basketball office.

As Lavin had requested, the wall facing an adjacent hallway had been replaced by floor-to-ceiling glass to provide an increased sense of accessibility. There was also something Lavin hadn't asked for: a cross bearing a likeness of Jesus that had been left behind by the previous occupants.

"Big footsteps to follow," Lavin said, chuckling. "I thought John Wooden was tough."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0205-steve-lavin-20110205,0,5921083.story

Preview with Lappas

St. John's vs. UCLA Preview - CBSSports.com College Basketball Video

Steve Lavin has never been in the visitors' locker room at Pauley Pavilion.

Through five years as an assistant at UCLA and seven more as the coach from 1997 through 2003, he spent so much time in the iconic arena he says, "Every time I go in it's like coming home." He has been in every nook of the place except that one room. Saturday he returns as the first-year coach of St. John's and sets up shop in it.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2011/02/05/2011-02-05_lavin_looks_to_storm_ucla.html#ixzz1D5qfz3mA

St. John's coach Steve Lavin has a seemingly impossible task at hand.

He must find a way to span 14 years, cross 3,000 miles, lead a team of players he didn't recruit into Pauley Pavilion and try to post consecutive wins over storied programs -- Duke and UCLA -- and perhaps change the perception of who is Steve Lavin.

And he thought playing eight ranked teams in a row earlier this season was daunting.

"Big week," St. John's assistant coach Rico Hines told The Post. "But Steve's one of those bigger than life guys. He's Supercool."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/lavin_new_life_qMGNNhakBCOlF7Bja7m65M#ixzz1D5rWSpkE

Here, it matters. Inside the living history museum that is Kami’s Hair Cuts on Gayley Avenue in Westwood Village, Steve Lavin’s return to the neighborhood is a big deal.

As the St. John’s coach walks in the nondescript door and up the staircase, past the picture of himself hanging outside and into the half sports den/half-1960s lair that is Kami’s, Lavin is greeted like royalty.


http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/22567/mixed-emotions-upon-lavins-return-to-ucla

Steve Lavin spent countless hours in Pauley Pavilion during his seven seasons as UCLA's head coach and five seasons before that as a Bruins assistant.

He's been back numerous times since he was fired by UCLA in 2003, covering games as an college basketball analyst for ESPN.

But Lavin, now the head coach at St. John's, fears he might get lost when he brings his team into Pauley Pavilion for Saturday's nonconference game against UCLA. Tipoff for the nationally televised game is 10 a.m. PT.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncb/news/story?id=6091141