By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
Just when you thought the Bruin-Trojan rivalry couldn’t
get any more heated, the Lexus Cup comes along.
The Lexus Cup, starting this year, keeps tabs on all
head-to-head matches that the Bruins and Trojans play, and awards
points to the winners.
A total of 110 points will be awarded. Men’s basketball,
football, women’s volleyball and women’s basketball
will be worth ten points each, and the other sports will be worth
five.
The school that racks up the majority of the points will not
only get the bragging rights in Los Angeles, but will also be
awarded the Lexus Gauntlet.
“It breeds good competition, and it adds a little more
spice to (the rivalry),” UCLA men’s tennis head coach
Billy Martin said. “If teams concentrate on it, it will be
kind of fun.”
Former UCLA point guard and USC head basketball coach Henry
Bibby agrees with Martin’s assessment of the rivalry.
“The USC-UCLA rivalry is unique,” he said in a
statement. “Nowhere else in America are two schools of such
national stature and tradition located in the same city.”
Teams like tennis that play two dual matches during the season
will get half the points each if they split, or all of them if one
team sweeps.
If teams split during the year, and then meet again in the
postseason, the winner of the postseason match will be awarded all
the points.
For men’s and women’s golf, points will be awarded
based on the Pac-10 Tournament finish of the teams, since they
don’t play dual matches.
Not all people think the policy of awarding points based on dual
matches is fair. In sports like track and field, both UCLA and USC
are allowed to award 12 scholarships. UCLA splits the scholarships,
thus allowing about 30 athletes to come here.
USC doesn’t split scholarships, thus giving them a
disadvantage in dual meets but an edge when the NCAA Championships
come around.
True to form, UCLA beat USC in their lone dual meet competition
last year, but USC edged UCLA in the NCAA Championships.
“It’s not valid,” USC track and field head
coach Ron Allice said. “But if you give me the format,
I’ll deal with it.”
If the Lexus Cup existed last year, UCLA would have edged USC
53.25-50.75.