It will eventually end on a ladder, under a basketball hoop, cutting down the nets following a NCAA Championship. The uniforms must stay, as certain traditions need to be escorted away - their moments of glory locked away in some newspaper clippings in a file cabinet. There is a more important battle to be fought here, and a more important tradition to be renewed. Steve Lavin needs to take these Bruins, in these uniforms, to a national title. I will guarantee that if UCLA gets to the Final Four, these same fans that are lambasting the dreaded black uniforms will be the same ones sporting the new threads come April.
Old traditions die hard - but if a new, improved tradition begins, nobody can complain.
The black uniforms are symbolic of the struggles and the turmoil that the program went through in the wake of Harrickgate in 1996. As the last of Harrick's recruits leave, the team is in Lavins' sole possession. He makes all decisions, and he will be the one to congratulate when times are good. He will also be the one to reproach when the outcomes are bad. But it's all him.