Ucla, Notre Dame End 30-Year Tradition

After years of being snubbed by Notre Dame’s powerful football program, UCLA has finally struck back - through its powerful men’s basketball program.

The defending national champion Bruins have pulled the plug on their long-standing basketball rivalry with the Fighting Irish, officially citing a desire to expand their opponent base as the reason behind a recent decision to drop Notre Dame off future basketball schedules.

That means Wednesday’s game in South Bend, Ind., which UCLA won 83-58, marked the end of a 30-year run. During that time, the two teams met annually.

UCLA says the rivalry has not been cancelled permanently, but the Bruins have no plans to schedule the Irish again before the year 2000.

Notre Dame coach John MacLeod learned of UCLA’s decision to put the series on hiatus about six weeks ago when his school contacted the Bruins about possible dates for next year’s game.

“Their response was, ‘There won’t be a next year,”’ MacLeod told the Los Angeles Daily News.

UCLA’s decision is believed to be based, in part, on its frustration over not being able to get Notre Dame on its football schedule, although the schools have agreed to meet on the football field next decade.

Stanford loses Young

After struggling early this season under the weight of great expectations and poor shooting, Stanford has received another crippling blow to its hopes of unseating UCLA as the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball champions.

The Cardinal learned earlier this week that starting center Tim Young will be sidelined for at least three weeks with a bulging disk in his lower back.

“This is not what we needed to get back to where we wanted to be,” coach Mike Montgomery told the San Francisco Examiner after learning of Young’s status.

Young, a 7-foot-1 sophomore, averaged 10 points in Stanford’s first five games, but skipped last Friday’s 97-79 exhibition win over High Five America.

He is expected to miss at least five games for a Cardinal team that is a modest 3-2 after being picked to finish among the top three teams in this year’s conference race.

SU, despite returning five starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, has already lost to San Francisco (59-58) and North Carolina (87-63) this season.

Hi, mom

UCLA’s omm’A Givens, the all-time leading high school scorer in the state of Washington, scored a career-high 18 points in last Monday’s 109-88 rout of Stephen F. Austin and made his mother’s first visit to the Bruins’ campus something special.

Janice Lead traveled from Aberdeen to watch her son, a 6-11 sophomore center, play at Pauley Pavilion. It was the first time she’d seen him play college ball in person. Now Givens wonders if his mother should consider a change of residence.

“When I’m out there, I try not to think about anything,” he said after the Stephen F. Austin win. “But, of course, I’m going to play better when she’s here. It’s more fun when she comes down periodically, but maybe I should (move her down here).”

Givens scored 2,300 points as a Washington prep standout. He played his first two seasons at Raymond, a Class B school, before transferring to Aberdeen for his junior year.

Well rested

Washington State, which took 11 days off earlier in the year following a 90-58 rout of Eastern Washington, is in the middle of another 10-day layoff built around final exams.

The Cougars (5-1) beat Idaho 66-54 last Saturday, but do not play again until Dec. 27, when they travel to San Jose State. They face UC-Irvine the following Friday before opening Pac-10 play Jan. 4 against UCLA at the Spokane Arena.

“It’s not ideal,” coach Kevin Eastman said of the gaps in his schedule. “But every team in the Pac-10, because of the 18-game league schedule, ends up with a long layoff sometime during the early part of the season.”

3-pointers

WSU guards Isaac Fontaine, Donminic Ellison and Shamon Antrum have combined to make 38 of the 75 3-point shots they have attempted this season. … All five Arizona starters are averaging in double figures. … Arizona State guard Lenny Holly is expected to miss Friday’s home game against Northern Arizona because of a seizure disorder. … In that game against NAU, Sun Devils senior forward Ron Riley, will be paired against his younger brother Germone, who is a sophomore forward for the Lumberjacks.

, DataTimes