`IT WAS ALMOST UNFAIR' : UCLA CAN'T FATHOM RECORD 48-POINT LOSS STANFORD 109, UCLA 61.Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer He never imagined it would come to this. Not 30 miles from his hometown. Not with his parents sitting 10 feet away. Not the worst loss in UCLA's glorious history on his watch. ``Unfortunately, the asterisk is by my name,'' Steve Lavin Steve Lavin (born September 4,1964), a San Francisco, California native is a former college basketball coach and current ABC and ESPN TV analyst. As UCLA head basketball coach from 1996-2003, Lavin compiled a record of 145-78. said, two months and 11 games into his head coaching career. ``I never thought it could happen to this degree.'' And the Bruins' 109-61 loss to Stanford on Thursday night - the worst loss in school history, breaking the previous most-lopsided defeat by 10 points - could have been worse. A traveling call on Stanford with six seconds left prevented the margin of victory from reaching 50 points against a team 20 months removed from an NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship. ``Nothing went right for us, and they were perfect,'' J.R. Henderson said. ``It was almost unfair.'' Almost? Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery To see the defensive end on the Green Bay Packers see Michael Montgomery Mike Montgomery (born February 27 1947 in Long Beach, California, United States) is the former head coach of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. did all he could to keep the margin reasonable, yanking his top players early in the second half, inserting third stringers to face the UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX starters. He could not stop the onslaught. ``An aberdation - that's what I'd call it,'' Montgomery said. He was being kind. ``If we had played a good game, we still would have lost by 20,'' UCLA senior Charles O'Bannon Charles Edward O'Bannon (born February 22 1975 in Lakewood, California) is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, where he was a star small forward/shooting guard, and a starter on the school's 1995 NCAA Championship team. said. If they had played a good game, they wouldn't have fallen behind 17-1, and 30-12, and 38-15. With five minutes left in the first half, UCLA trailed 46-17 - the same deficit, at the same time, as when it lost to Tulsa in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
``That's what it felt like to me,'' senior Cameron Dollar said. Fittingly, former Bruin Tyus Edney Tyus Dwayne Edney (born February 14 1973 in Gardena, California) is an American professional basketball player, known for one of the greatest plays in college basketball history. , stationed in nearby Sacramento, was in the post-game locker room. The scene was more upbeat than one might expect. Pizza boxes littered the floor as the Bruins (7-4, 2-1) sat in a semi-circle. They appeared dazed daze tr.v. dazed, daz·ing, daz·es 1. To stun, as with a heavy blow or shock; stupefy. 2. To dazzle, as with strong light. n. A stunned or bewildered condition. and confused, but not overly disappointed. ``We aren't down on ourselves,'' O'Bannon said. ``That wasn't us out there.'' ``(The most important thing) is to forget this,'' Dollar said. ``Treat it like a UFO UFO: see unidentified flying objects. (United Functions and Objects) A programming language developed by John Sargeant at Manchester University, U.K. - haven't even seen it. I've already forgotten. I'm ready to play Cal (Saturday).'' But the ingredients to the Bruin debacle - and make no mistake, the blowout loss to Kansas was riveting compared to this - make it difficult to dismiss as ``one of those nights.'' Stanford made 15 of 32 3-point shots. All-conference point guard Brevin Knight played like an All-American, with 25 points in 24 minutes and six 3-pointers in seven attempts. Cardinal center Tim Young dominated the Bruins like he will dominate most Pacific-10 teams. And Stanford's third stringers shot as well as the starters. ``They played at a magic level,'' Lavin said. ``It seemed like they could have drop-kicked the ball from half-court and it would have went in off the boards. ``I told the guys it was like a bad dream . . . it was like when we played 'SC (in 1994) and were up by 50.'' But Stanford's brilliance explains half the equation. And the other half is not as simple. The Bruins' mission remains clear. A victory Saturday against Cal at the Cow Palace gives them the split they need to stay on league-title pace - that has not changed. But what of the repercussions repercussions npl → répercussions fpl repercussions npl → Auswirkungen pl ? Will it puncture the confidence gained by a sweep of the Washington schools last weekend? ``I can't leave this as `one of those nights,' '' Henderson said. ``What went wrong? Everything. If you gave me a list of 10 things, I'd chose them all. But I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. that I can forget this yet. It's too much to let go.'' Lavin's season-long experiment in behavior modification behavior modification n. 1. The use of basic learning techniques, such as conditioning, biofeedback, reinforcement, or aversion therapy, to teach simple skills or alter undesirable behavior. 2. See behavior therapy. short-circuited. He benched center Jelani McCoy for seven minutes to start the second half for poor effort. He pulled Henderson and Kris Johnson for a few seconds for arguing with each other. ``Tonight we didn't deal well with adversity,'' Lavin said. They seemed allergic to it. Strategically, Stanford exposed UCLA's weaknesses like no team since Kansas, and don't think upcoming foes Cal, Arizona, USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. and Oregon won't watch this video. The Bruins attributed the loss to Stanford's improbable 3-point shooting, but they failed to mention that the Cardinal shooters were wide open on most every attempt, or that UCLA's rebounding position was so bad Stanford got second chances on most every miss. Or that Stanford sliced up UCLA's man-to-man defense ``like a side of fries,'' according to Lavin. Open shots, offensive rebounds, dribble-penetration - the Cardinal doesn't have a patent on those concepts. They're salivating in Eugene and Tucson. BAD DAY UCLA's five worst losses in the post-war era. MARGIN OPPONENT SCORE YEAR 48 Stanford 109-61 1996-97 38 Arizona 102-64 1988-89 37 North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. 107-70 1985-86 31 Kentucky 84-53 1951-52 27 Illinois 110-83 1964-65 27 Indiana 106-79 1991-92 CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Chart Photo: (1) UCLA's Toby Bailey watches helplessly as Stanford's Brevin Knight breezes past him in the first half. (2) Jelani McCoy's reaction, center, says it all for the Bruins, while J.R. Henderson, left, and Toby Bailey watch the rout continue. Associated Press Chart: BAD DAY (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion