lavin 3 titles

SoCalHoops College Basketball News

Lavin Thinks He Should Win 3 National
Championships: Really, He Does.--(Oct. 9, 1998)

Maybe you caught the article in the Daily Bruin yesterday, October 8, 1998 in which Steve Lavin was quoted as saying "If I don't win at least three National Championships with a line-up (with as much talent as) this, I sure can't coach."

Lavin made the comment during a speech he delivered at the LA Athletic Club in which he was previewing the upcoming season and the recruites. The speech was delivered at the Annual College Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon held Wednesday at the LA Athletic Club, and featured 10 other NCAA Division I had coaches who also gave speeches and shared their thoughts about the state of their teams and college basketball in general.

The luncheon is part of the public relations process that takes place in selecting the winnner of the Wooden Award, which is college basketball's version of the Heisman Trophy.

According to the Daily Bruin article, Lavin spoke first, because he had to leave early to catch a plane to Europe. The LA Times this morning also confirmed that he is reportedly going there to visit with Dan Gadzuric's parents in the Netherlands, and then he will go to Guadaloupe, the French Island where Jerome Moiso's parents live.

During his speech on Wednesday, , Lavin talked about each member of this year's incoming class, and reportedly made the remark about winnning 3 titles. Lavin is now in his third year as head coach of the Bruins. On Wednesday, he said that this year's team is by far the most competitive team he has ever been around. He also expressed a sense of relief that the team will now have two players in the seven foot height range, with 6'-11" towers Dan Gadzuric and Jerome Moiso. Actually the Daily Bruin said that Moiso is a "seven-foot" player, but unless he's grown some since he got to town, he has always been listed as 6'-11, and last spring when he played at the Eddi Jones Classic, he was only 6'-10". Gee, the Bruins aren't even wearing those platform Reeboks anymore. Wonder if adidas has some similar shoes.

Among the coaches in attendance was USC coach Henry Bibby, who joked about the Los Angeles area recruits he "stole" from Coach Lavin. According to the account in the Daily Bruin, Bibby expressed his belief that the Trojans' starting point-guard, Kevin Augustine, is one of the top play-makers in the country. Bibby also said that while USC has some great incoming players, no one on the roster this year is really rated as a top center, and so the the job will fall to Jarvis Turner (6'-8"), Brian Scalbarine (6'-9"), and Greg Lakey (6'-8"). The Daily Bruin reported that "Quincy Wilder should provide skill and maturity to help the Trojans be competitive in the Pacific 10 conference," but the way they reported it made it sound like he was potentially one of the centers. Hey, the guy is a 6'-3" shooting guard, not a center. Just thought we'd straighten that one out.

Pepperdine coach and former Bruin assistant Lorenzo Romar invited all basketball fans to come see the re-emergence of his Wave team at the Pepperdine Midnight Madness a week from Friday, October 16. Last year, the Waves finished with a 7-20 record but they are looking for a much more positive season with some returning players, including Wooden Award semi-finalist 6'-6" senior guard Jelani Gardner.

The Wooden Committee announced the list of 25 finalists for this year's award in late July. The list includes Bruin sophomore guard Baron Davis and many prominent Pac-10 seniors, including center Todd MacCulloch of Washington, guard Jason Terry of Arizona, center Tim Young and point guard Arthur Lee of Stanford.

The Daily Bruin also noted that the Wooden Award was first given out in 1977; the first recipient was UCLA player Marques Johnson who played for the Bruins from 1974-77 and averaged 14.4 points per game, scoring 1,659 total points in 111 games. Since then, the
only other Bruin to win the award has been Ed O'Bannon, who received the honor for his senior year during the National Championship season of 1995.

University of North Carolina junior Antawn Jamison took home the hardware last year. The John R. Wooden Committee conducts a poll of college basketball experts to determine the pre-season top 25 candidates for the Wooden All-American Team. On March 23, the 10-player Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced. One member of the team will be selected as the recipient of
the Wooden Award trophy, as the nation's "Most Outstanding Basketball Player of the Year."