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SoCal College News

UCLA Closes ALL of it's Practices--(October 28, 1997)

Ok, so prior to this season, all of UCLA's practices, in a tradition established by John Wooden, were open to anyone who cared to watch. Then, this season, in the wake of the suspensions of McCoy and Johnson, coach Lavin announced that practice would only be open to the public on Tuesdays at 3:00 and Fridays at 4:00.

A visitor to SoCalHoops left a message on our college board asking for information on UCLA practices. Several other visitors were kind enough to offer the previous information noted above, i.e., that practices were open on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Oops. The operative word is "were". It seems now that even limited access to practice by the public (and those mysterious "internet" guys) was too much for Lavin's liking. According to Rich Meyer's Pacific 10 Basketball, in a report published today (October 28, 1997), coach Lavin sent all of his trainers around Pauley Pavilion today at 3 p.m., to make sure that only folks with press passes were allowed in the building. Apparently the Tuesday practices are now closed to the public. The Friday "scrimmages" apparently will still remain open according to Meyer.

So what does this mean? I guess that only Frank Burlison is now allowed to tell us about how practice is going. But we want to keep it a secret don't we, Steve, so we'll let in a guy who can publish the details in the P-T (which also has an internet site); but don't let in guys like Rich Meyer and Michael Miller. . . they're "internet" guys. I guess I just don't get it. I thought UCLA was a public institution, run by public servants paid with your tax dollars and mine. Now I'm all for secrecy and all that, but I don't think that Meyer and Miller were actually selling state secrets to the Russians by telling us on their websites that "J.R. sat out" during one practice, or that most of the team looks to be all about the same height, or that "Dave Parker is still playing water polo".

To close practice or not: This might be an interesting question for Lavin and Wooden at this weekend's coaching clinic. Hmmm. Let's see. . .Wooden wins how many NCAA's with open practices? Harrick won one with open practices. Lavin's got how many? We'll see.

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