UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / ROBYN NORWOOD : Baker Could Lose His Early Recruit

Cal State Long Beach is reveling in its upset of No. 1 Kansas. Nevada Las Vegas can be smug in the knowledge that it taught Georgetown a thing or two about the Big Other Side of the Country.

And over at UC Irvine, it gets worse and worse.

Losses. Injuries. An ugly postgame fight with Cal State Fullerton that resulted in two player suspensions. Losses.

Did we mention losses?

The latest might be a little bit of Irvine’s future.

Coach Rod Baker and the men’s basketball program might lose their only early recruit for next season, Daniel Lyton, because the 6-foot-7 forward has left Riverside College.

Lyton, a two-time transfer who signed with Missouri out of Detroit’s Cooley High but never played for the Tigers, has quit the team and returned to Michigan, Riverside College announced Tuesday.

And because Lyton left before first semester exams this week, it appears it will be difficult for him to fulfill transfer requirements to be eligible at Irvine next season.

“I still don’t know that this is an unsalvagable situation, and neither does (Riverside Coach Bob Schermerhorn),” Baker said. “It does not look good. That’s the best I can tell you.”

Not much looks good from where Baker sits.

In a news release, Schermerhorn said Lyton left because of frustration with his academic progress and personal problems in Michigan. He left the team briefly in December to return home for the funeral of an aunt.

Baker was seeking to contact Lyton on Tuesday, but most of his information about the situation came through Schermerhorn.

“He was doing poorly in school, and he felt as though his chances of coming here were in jeopardy, so like any other young kid, he bailed,” Baker said.

Lyton, who missed most of preseason practice after undergoing ankle surgery, was averaging 12.5 points and had fallen out of the starting lineup. As a freshman last year, he averaged 15.5 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Lyton left Missouri in 1989, during the fall of his freshman year, and transferred to the University of Detroit. Later, in exchange for his cooperation with an NCAA investigation into Missouri recruiting, the NCAA granted Lyton and another player limited immunity from punishment for any involvement in NCAA violations.

Lyton will have one year of eligibility remaining if he is able to fulfill transfer eligibility requirements for next season. But because he was not ruled a “qualifier” out of high school under NCAA academic regulations, it appears he must obtain an associate of arts degree from a two-year college and fulfill a number of other requirements in order satisfy NCAA rules.

Baker is searching for a bright side. Could there be one?

“There’s a negative and a positive,” he said. “Obviously we (could) lose a high-level player who we had in our plans for next year. On the other hand, we (could) have another scholarship at a time when (the NCAA is) cutting scholarships back.”

*

Are there two 0’s in doubleheader? The Anteater men’s and women’s basketball teams--both winless in the Big West Conference--play the University of the Pacific on Thursday in the Bren Center, the women at 5 p.m. and the men at 7:30.

Baker’s team, picked to finish fifth in the Big West, is in last place with an 0-5 record.

“This is a big home stand,” Baker said. “We have three games at home. We need ‘em. We’ve got to have ‘em.”

The women’s team is 0-7 in the Big West.

*

Stat of the week: During its seven-game losing streak, the 2-10 men’s basketball team has been outscored from the free-throw line by 54 points, an average of 7.7 points.

Irvine’s average margin of defeat in those games? Seven points.

That helps to explain how Irvine outshot and outrebounded three of those seven opponents--Houston, Cal State Fullerton and New Mexico State--and still lost.

*

More foul news: Irvine’s last seven opponents have combined for 57 more opportunities at the line than the Anteaters, who have made the discrepancy worse by shooting only 55.4% from the line during the losing streak.

Baker has blamed officiating several times--for the discrepancy, not for the shooting--particularly at Houston. But he also faults his players. For instance, inside players Dee Boyer and Elzie Love each picked up three fouls in the first half against New Mexico State, and Baker called four of those six “dumb.”

The foul trouble affected Irvine’s ability to guard New Mexico State’s seemingly endless string of forwards. “All of a sudden (Anteater players) don’t play with the same ease,” Baker said.

Baker maintains his practices aren’t going to turn into no-fouling seminars. “We’re not going to change the way we play,” he said.

*

When the men’s volleyball team played Pepperdine last Thursday, Coach Andy Read faced a team he was a part of last year, as an assistant coach.

“I enjoyed it, having known all the players and coached there for three years and been fortunate enough to be a part of a national championship,” he said. “I’m 100% Irvine now.” Irvine lost to second-ranked Pepperdine, 15-4, 15-13, 15-8.

“In Game 2, we were in the lead, 13-10, and had an opportunity here and there and weren’t ready to convert,” Read said. “Game 3 was close ‘til the middle of the game, when they kind of pulled away. At this point, we’re not ready to beat Pepperdine yet, but I look forward to playing them again.”

*

In case you wondered what sending his Boise State team against UC Irvine was “like” for former Irvine tennis coach Greg Patton, a renowned master of similes and metaphors: “It was like seeing your first love, but you’re with your true love,” said Patton, whose team was beaten by the Anteaters, 4-3.