Dalis Is Pleased by Lavin, Bruins

UCLA’s basketball team is regaining respect nationally--and perhaps also on its own campus as Athletic Director Peter Dalis said Monday that he approves of Coach Steve Lavin’s performance.

“I’m very pleased with the effort of Steve, the rest of the staff and the student-athletes,” Dalis said. “I think they’re playing extremely hard and they’re very competitive. And you can’t ask for more than that.”

It was the first time Dalis has spoken publicly about Lavin’s job performance since telling reporters last month of two conversations he had with Rick Pitino, long rumored to be interested in the UCLA job.

Asked whether Lavin will be back next season, Dalis said: “[Reporters] are the ones that made that an issue. I haven’t created this thing.”

It essentially was a vote of confidence from Dalis, who went as far as he could without guaranteeing Lavin will be back next season. Lavin has a six-year roll-over deal that could be bought out at the end of this season for $765,000.

Lavin, whose team resurfaced in the Associated Press poll Monday at No. 24, said the 10 days after the Pitino disclosure were the most difficult of his career. Winning has soothed that; the Bruins have won 11 of 13, including road victories over then-No. 1 Stanford and then-No. 22 USC.

“Since then, we’ve really hit a nice groove as a basketball team,” Lavin said after Saturday’s victory at DePaul. “I’ve really been able to put my time, energy and thoughts into practices and games.”

The Bruins have a tough task Thursday against No. 15 Arizona, which defeated them by 25 at Tucson last month. UCLA probably will be without 6-foot-11 center Dan Gadzuric, who suffered a sprained left ankle Saturday against DePaul and Monday was hobbling around on crutches. He is considered doubtful for the game, meaning freshman T.J. Cummings will get more work this week.

“We’ve gone long stretches when we’ve played with Dan in foul trouble and on the bench,” Lavin said. “We just have to be resourceful. We’ll need kind of a collective effort to guard the post and do an adequate job on the boards.”

Speaking of rebounding, the Bruins have bounced back in a big way in the wake of their humiliating, 29-point loss at California less than two weeks ago. They stunned Stanford at Maples Pavilion, completed a season sweep of USC, then closed the road trip by defeating the Blue Demons on national TV.

The Bruins made it back into the AP poll for the first time since the week of Nov. 27, when their loss to Cal State Northridge days earlier cost them their No. 15 ranking. USC fell out of AP’s top 25 this week, although the Trojans still are No. 23 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll and UCLA is unranked.

Regardless, UCLA coaches and players insist they are not concerned about the polls or how the team is viewed by the nation. At 15-6, UCLA needs three more victories to feel safe about making the NCAA tournament.

The endorsement of his boss has to leave Lavin feeling more comfortable too, although Dalis has made it clear that he doesn’t assess the performance of coaches solely on wins and losses. He said part of the process involves players’ performance in the classroom and the community at large. Dalis also has said he is disappointed about declining attendance at Pauley Pavilion.

Lavin, who has consistently defended his team’s academic record by pointing out his nine juniors and seniors are on track to graduate, said he has given up trying to predict his future.

“It’s pointless to try and guess, or look into the crystal ball, or play the clairvoyant,” he said. “What I’ve tried to do is not worry about the future, and instead try to control today.”

Filling the seats at Pauley won’t be a problem this week. As of Monday, there only were a handful of tickets remaining for the game against Arizona, which trailed at halftime but came back to rout the Bruins the first time..

Bruin point guard Earl Watson, who sat out most of the second half of that loss because of back pain and foul trouble, said he’s confident UCLA will make a much better showing this time.

“We feel like [the Arizona loss] was an embarrassment,” he said. “I’m used to playing 35-plus minutes a game, and I only got to play 19. We had a lead at their place. Stanford went there and beat them, and we beat Stanford on their home court. So we know what we’re capable of doing.”