First it was a rumor, then it was a question, now it’s almost fact.
Steve Lavin is done at UCLA.
The only rumors now are about who will take over his job, and one of the brightest stars in Bruin history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has expressed interest in the job.
In an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz last week, Lavin, the UCLA head coach, all but admitted he will be fired once the season is over. That could be sooner rather than later for the Bruins, who are in real danger of missing the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament.
“I’m approaching every game as if it’s my last time somewhere,” Lavin told Katz. “The last time at (California’s) Haas Pavilion, the last time at Mac Court. I’ve got a lot of good memories and experiences.”
After that interview, Lavin’s Bruins lost two more games, by a combined 52 points, to No. 1 Arizona and Arizona State. That puts them at 5-16 overall, 2-10 in conference play.
The Bruins currently trail Washington by one game for the eighth and final berth in the Pac-10 Tournament. UCLA still has to play the Northern California teams and Oregon, while Washington has only Oregon as a big road block in their schedule. Still, when Washington and UCLA meet in the season’s final game on March 8, the eighth seed in the Pac-10 Tourney could well be on the line.

Meanwhile, Abdul-Jabbar expressed interest in the possible opening at UCLA. In a conference call with reporters in which he announced he has been hired as a commentator for CBS, Abdul-Jabbar called the UCLA head coaching position “a dream job.”
“I haven’t spoken to anybody at UCLA, but if things change at the end of the season and there is a position open, I hope they would consider me,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
The former UCLA star — playing as Lew Alcindor — Abdul-Jabbar averaged 26.4 points per game and is the second-leading scorer in Bruin history despite playing only three seasons. He will announce first-and-second round NCAA Tournament games for CBS this March.

Maybe the water’s tainted
UCLA isn’t the only struggling Southern California team. USC also lost both games to Arizona and Arizona State, and the Trojans are now two games behind Oregon for fifth in the conference.
USC isn’t listed as a “bubble team” by ESPN, and it looks like the Trojans, who have a 10-11 overall record, will miss the NCAA Tournament.
This comes a week after USC beat Oregon, UCLA and UNLV and had its NCAA Tournament hopes revived. But even if the Trojans win the rest of their games and the Pac-10 Tournament, they’ll finish 19-11.
Oh well. There’s always spring football looming on the horizon.

Rank and file
Once again, parity is the dark horseman wreaking havoc on the Pac-10
conference.
At least, that’s how it looks when you see the latest rankings.
No. 1 Arizona, No. 18 California and No. 21 Stanford were the only Pac-10 teams in the Associated Press rankings for the second week in a row. The
Pac-10 hasn’t had more than three teams in the rankings at one time this season.

Go-go Diogu
After Arizona State and their star freshman, forward Ike Diogu, pummeled USC on Thursday, Trojan coach Henry Bibby called Diogu the “best player in the Pac-10.”
“He gets my vote for MVP,” Bibby said. “The kid is unstoppable.”
Diogu was certainly unstoppable against USC. He missed only two shots and scored 26 points in the Sun Devils’ 108-78 win. Diogu is the top-scoring freshman in the Pac-10, averaging 18.8 points per game.
But is Diogu MVP-worthy? We’ll find out when the awards are dished out after the season.