Basketball Notebook

Wednesday, February 3, 1999

Basketball Notebook

Davis given warning

After criticizing the officiating of Sunday’s game in
Washington, Bruin guard Baron Davis was issued an official
reprimand by the Pac-10 conference on Tuesday.

According to current Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen, Davis broke
league policy when he singled out referee Terry Christman in his
comments after the game.

Davis is now considered on probation by the conference, and is
threatened with "a substantial penalty" if he comments on
officiating again this season.

He also faces a suspension from Thursday’s game against Oregon
if he fails to issue a public apology.

"While Mr. Davis spoke in the aftermath of a loss in an
important conference game, Pac-10 rules prohibit public comments on
officiating and any individual official. He broke those rules,
implying the officials had been unfair, and his comments are
totally unacceptable," said Hansen.

Lavin’s outburst

triggers reaction

Since being tossed from the game against Washington, Bruin coach
Steve Lavin has gotten a great deal of feedback, both from his
players, and from other coaches.

"The kids were funny," Lavin recalled, "They came in gave me
hugs, high fives and told them how proud of me they were. That was
the end of the fuse of three or four weeks and it was an
explosion.

"They said, ‘We’re putting that on Jerry Springer, coach.’ "

Though the comments from other coaches such as Pete Newell and
Mike Krzyzewski were mostly positive, Lavin remains regretful for
his actions, which he calls "unjustified."

Lineup

constantly changing

Over the course of the season, the Bruins have started 14
different starting lineups, in a total of 20 games thus far.

Though each one has included sophomore guard Earl Watson, a
total of nine different players have accompanied him on the court
to start the game. These include Davis, freshmen Dan Gadzuric,
Jerome Moiso, JaRon Rush, Ray Young and Matt Barnes, sophomores
Travis Reed, Rico Hines and Ryan Bailey, and junior Sean
Farnham.

Lavin admits he still doesn’t know what his starting lineup for
the tournament will be, and often tailor-makes his lineups for the
teams he will be facing.

Fouls smokescreen other highlights

Because of the media blitz surrounding the technical fouls given
to Lavin and Davis, and their reactions to them, several key
performances went unnoticed.

Watson, who led the team in minutes with 39, scored a
career-high 24 points. To complement this great performance, Moiso
had 20 points and two blocks, and Gadzuric had 12 points and eight
rebounds in just 18 minutes.

Also unnoticed in the fuss over the officiating was the absence
of Bailey, who was serving a one-game suspension for violating team
rules while on the trip to Washington.

Notes compiled by David Arnold, Daily Bruin Contributor.

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