Lavin, Bennett silence critics with huge victories
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
The criticisms aimed at Steve Lavin's coaching ability and Dick Bennett's system during the season were unnecessary and unwarranted.
Pundits in Los Angeles were quick to point out Lavin's faults during UCLA's erratic season. A poll run on the Los Angeles Times web site openly questioned Lavin's coaching ability. His dismissal was regular grist for the coaching rumor mill, with Rick Pitino, Rick Majerus and John Calipari as prospective candidates. There were even calls for the UCLA assistants to be examined.
|  | | Head coach Steve Lavin and the Bruins are headed to their third Sweet 16 in four years. |
Meanwhile, Bennett was blasted in Madison, Wis., for playing a style considered too
boring -- dating back to when the Badgers tallied an anemic 32 points in a first-round loss to Southwest Missouri State in last year's NCAA Tournament. Questions arose if the 56-year-old coach should look at retiring sooner rather than later.
Two rounds into the NCAA Tournament, no one is challenging
Lavin's coaching ability and few would dare call Wisconsin a bore after it blew out out Fresno State and
Arizona.
So, what happened? Both coaches were given up on too soon, without
most critics showing any patience or examining all the facts.
Lavin has had nine lives since he arrived at UCLA. In his first
year, he reached the Elite Eight before Jelani McCoy got hurt. In his
second, they reached the Sweet 16 after Baron Davis tore up his knee against Michigan in the second round. In his third, the Bruins were bounced in the first round by Detroit.
This year, Lavin had to go through the first few games without Matt
Barnes (academic suspension), and then the next 24 without JaRon Rush (NCAA
suspensions). He also endured the continued erratic play of a shooting guard in a point guard's body (Earl Watson), two still-maturing foreign forwards
(Jerome Moiso and Dan Gadzuric) and a freshman leading scorer (Jason
Kapono).
Before Rush returned, UCLA had won three in a row to move to 16-11. With him, the Bruins have rattled off five more wins without a loss and are starting to play like the team they were billed to be
at the beginning of the season -- when everyone was thought to be healthy and eligible.
Lavin admitted he failed to adjust properly in an early-season loss
to USC. But a week later, he went to a zone against North Carolina and won
in Chapel Hill. The Bruins nearly took out Syracuse on the road before
settling down to make a run at the NCAA Tournament.
They needed to beat Stanford to ensure a spot. Two wins later, they had earned a No. 6 seed. They've been playing more like a No. 1 since the tournament began. The Bruins are still in a
loaded bracket, but have a legitimate shot to push Iowa State in the Sweet
16 mainly because they can run Moiso and Gadzuric at Marcus Fizer.
Eleven losses may have put them on the bubble, but this is a different team than the one that flirted with .500. A Final Four run is not out of the question.
Can't coach? Check the results.
Trying to change Bennett was even more ridiculous. OK, the Badgers
aren't a draw for television, but the system takes time to develop. In early
December, when the Badgers lost at Wake Forest, they weren't good. But later
in the month, they beat Texas and Temple. Offense became less of a
problem after Duany Duany and Jon Bryant found their shots and Mark Vershaw
started to finish around the basket.
The defense was always sound, with the Big Ten's premier defender Mike Kelley leading the way. The system still scared teams, and it wasn't until the Badgers
beat Indiana to close the regular season that the nation started to wake up to
the possibility that this team was a threat.
The Badgers needed that win to get a bid. They beat Purdue in the
Big Ten tournament to ensure a No. 8 seed. They took apart Fresno State in
the first round and rendered Arizona's inside game of Richard Jefferson, Michael
Wright, Justin Wessel and Luke Walton punchless.
Remember, Wisconsin's last three losses were to Michigan State (twice in the regular season, once in the Big Ten tournament). There's no shame in that. Beat LSU and the Badgers -- yes, the 20-13 Badgers -- would be on the verge of the
Final Four.
Boring? No, that would be quite entertaining.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. |
