Bruins back on track?

Of course I would have taken a blowout, but perhaps it was just as well to play a team that wouldn't go away and therefore forced UCLA to pay attention all the way to the end. So 72-61 was just fine. I was impressed by Josh Smith, the Freshman big man; he works hard and seems to be learning how to throw his weight around a bit. Nice to get a win before the league season starts. It will be even nicer to beat UC Davis on Monday.

Wait 'til next year already?

Here's Sports Illustrated:

"UCLA should be a preseason top five team next year. The Bruins, who nearly knocked off No. 4 Kansas last week behind 33 points from Tyler Honeycutt, don't have any seniors, and they have two talented transfers from North Carolina (twins David and Travis Wear) sitting out the season."

Pardon me if I sound like a true impatient UCLA basketball afficionado and hope that a little of next year comes to pass this year. I watched that Kansas game, and a win was certainly possible, which might have changed the character of the preseason -- so far the Bruins have lost the tough games where it seemed as if they had at least a chance to win. They play Cal Poly today (not sure which one) and I'll be hoping for a decisive win. At last.

Perhaps a moral victory?

I know, one is not supposed to be content with moral victories in spots, but I think I'll take a tiny piece of consolation from the Bruins' 77-76 loss to #4 Kansas tonight. UCLA tied it with a few seconds to go, but then a Kansas player was fouled with less than a second and made one of the shots. A lot closer than anybody expected, winnable -- UCLA seemed to have the momentum if it had gone to overtime -- and a far better performance than UCLA's two losses last week. It looks to me as if Ben Howland used the time simnce last week to prepare the Bruins better and teach them a few winning tricks -- and of course Tyler Honeycutt went ballistic with 33 points.

My hope, of course, is that these rough games before league play starts will toughen the Bruins for league play and (hopefully) beyond. I think Freshman Josh Smith will develop into a very good player. I may be a hopeless partisan, but I'm looking for the Bruins to be better -- maybe not past-glory Final Four better, but better -- very soon.

Nice, but not holding my breath

I'm trying not to get too excited, but I was inordinately pleased to see the Bruins beat Arizona this afternoon. The loss to them last week was discouraging because UCLA led for so long and showed it could play with them, but give Arizona credit, when they got hot and the Bruins' defense slackened just a bit, they took advantage. It didn't happen today, and I think, even beyond the points he scored, Reeves Nelson was a big factor. There's just something about the energy he brings and the balls-out way he plays that seems to infect the rest of the team.

Wouldn't it be nice? Cal is clearly the class of the league, but UCLA did beat them (and lose to them). Stanford upset Arizona State tonight. I'm not getting my hopes up too much just yet, but all the so-called experts have been saying for a while the tournament is wide open and the winner could be a surprise.

Bruins, thy name is inconsistency

Those of us who have followed UCLA basketball since the days of John Wooden -- I remember going to the first game then-Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played as a freshman, when there was a separate freshman team, and the freshmen played the varsity in a fun exhibition. That year the freshmen beat the varsity and all of us looked on in awe. Since then there have been a few lulls and mediocre years -- meaning not going very far into March Madness -- but we all thought Ben Howland had brought back the glory days with three straight Final Four visits (though no national championships.

But this year's team turns out to be one of the down years, as Saturday's game with Oregon showed yet again. Yes, yes. Reeves Nelson, the tough freshman who is going to be a force and sometimes is already, was out with an eye injury. And after trailing badly the Bruins came back and even tied the game -- but eventually lost. Inconsistent defense, a listless offense and bad foul shooting. I do think a foundation is being laid for next year. But it seems very strange to try to get solace from good efforts and moral victories. Ah, well. Next year should be better.

Maybe for the Bruins?

It's hard to get this in between lady skaters, all of whom have been simply wonderful so far, but I am so pleased with the way the Bruins played tonight. Their characteristic has been inconsistency, so I don't know about Saturday -- Oregon beat the Trojans , who slaughtered the Bruins. But they came out with energy, withstood a couple of runs, and played solid defense,. Tyler Honeycutt looks like a star of the future -- and to some extent the present.

UCLA 77, Stanford 73

The commentators talked of Honeycutt, Reeves, and Michael Roll knocking down free throws late in the game. However, I'm taking full credit for this marvelous victory. At halftime, with the Bruins down -- what was it, 6? -- I donned my UCLA sweatshirt and put on my ugliest old-school Bruins cap in corduroy(!) baby-blue as a rally cap, cracked open a beer, and went to our outside room where I could smoke, yell and cuss without disturbing Jen, and carried them through.

Seriously, they're starting to make a believer of me. And it's worth noting that while the Pac-10 may be a bit down as a power conference this year, a consequence is that the teams are fairly evenly matched and prone to lose games you would think they should win. That makes for generally interesting games, especially if you watch, as I have several non-Bruin Pac-10 games, without a particular favorite in your heart, almost all the games will be tightly contested and generally won by 5 points or less. An example: Cal lost to USC 66-63 tonight, and I think that puts the Bruins, improbably enough, in a tie for first. Those are the kinds of games that, as a generic basketball fan, I most enjoy watching. Every team has one 0r two really top-notch players -- Landry Fields on Stanford was amazing tonight. Of course if you have a favorite in the game, as I did tonight, it can make for tense experiences too.

Back to inconsistency -- or were the Ducks better?

I knew it would be tough to win in Oregon, but the Bruins came so close to pulling it out that it was frustrating to watch. Even wearing my cap backwards as a rally cap didn't seem to help. I'
ll give them that they kept battling and never conceded the game, but for stretches in the second half it seemed as it there was a lid on the basket. Don McLean said the Bruins were playing good offense in the first half, but I'm not sure I agreed. They hardly ever penetrated and were content to take three-pointers. Roll hit a key one to send it into overtime, but as so often happens in overtime, when one team got more than a one-possession lead it was able to pull away; trying to come back makes for desperate plays.

Still, Nelson and Honeycutt are going to be good players and the Pac-10 is tangled, with no one quite pulling away yet. Let's hope for better on Saturday.

Will the Bruins have a real team yet this year?

The UCLA basketball team has shown me a bit over the last week with wins over Washington and Washington State. But the Pac-10 is profoundly unpredictable this year. Everyone says it's a down year for the league -- some sportswriters have speculated it may get only one invitation to the dance -- and it seems to be. But almost every school is at a similar level, which means that unless somebody busts through and wins 4 or 5 in a row, it could be close until the end, with nobody having an especially impressive record. It makes for interesting, competitive games from top to bottom. Cal is probably the class of the league at this point, but it's not beyond imagining, despite inconsistency thus far, that the Bruins could be that team. A handicapper would probably make them favorites at Oregon and Oregon State this year -- except that they've been terrible on the road and both Oregon schools have arenas thast are especially unfriendly to visitors. Looking forward to Thursday.

Nice game for the Bruins

I must confess that after the USC blowout I was about ready to give up on this year's version of UCLA basketball and write this off as a rebuilding year. But I decided, since the electricity had come back on, to watch tonight's game. Well, the Bruins came out with energy and played Washington pretty evenly throughout the game -- 13 lead changes, neither team able to pull ahead by more than about 6. Made for an exciting game. The Bruins were able to cut down on turnovers and played tight defense in the second half. And it came down to 3 lead changes in the last 8 seconds, with walk-on Mustafa Abdul-Hamid (boy have the names of athletes gotten more diverse since I was in college, which says something nice about America, I think) sinking the final shot with 0.2 seconds left to win it for the Bruins.

Marques Johnson on tonight's broadcast jokingly suggested the Pac-10 might end with all the teams at 9-9. A super longshot, of course, but the league does seem to be balanced and unpredictable -- no dominant team has emerged yet -- and a lot of the games are cvlose, which makes for good watching, especially if you don't have a favorite in your mind.

Well, maybe we have a team after all

The first half of the UCLA-Cal basketball game was a little dispiriting. I know it's a young team with Freshmen who could use some experience and seasoning, while the Cal team was mostly veterans -- they had a third player reach the 1,000 points in a career plateau, which means a lot of games. However, although there have been close games and losses in the past, frankly this veteran fan was not accustomed to seeing UCLA playing from behind with me trying to feel encouraged that they were "hanging around" by staying only 9 points or so behind. Too many turnovers, too many rushed shots or ill-advised shots.

But the second half was another matter entirely. The Bruins kept chipping away and finally pulled ahead. Cal drained one to force overtime. UCLA led through most of it, but Cal scored with 21 seconds left to go up by one. Then after a botched pass Michael Roll got a lucky bounce on the rebound and put it in for the game winner. Nikola Dragovic was hitting threes in the second half (as was Roll), and finally they all played together just well enough to win.

I have expected that Ben Howland would push and prod them into a team eventually, but this one tonight was sweet!

Bruin basketball: not too discouraging

Most of the sportswriters seemed to think that the Bruins' performance against Notre Dame last Saturday showed that this year's UCLA basketball team is in serious trouble. While I've certainly beeen disappointed by their performance so far, I watched the game and I'm not sure I agree. Of course it was disappointing that they couldn't hold their early lead, and they made a lot of mistakes and turnovers and took some ill-considered shots. But while early in the second quarter I had pretty much abandoned a realistic hope they they might win, even though I put my hat on in several different rally configurations (though my ugly old baby-blue corduroy UCLA cap, which I didn't wear, might have done the trick.

Still, they never gave up, and they kept whittling the lead down to single digits (eventually losing by 11). Notre Dame was obviously the better and more experienced team, but the Bruins didn't let them make it a complete blowout. I still think they have the potential to be a decent team this year. The proof will be in the playing and in the W-L stats, of course. But I'm holding onto hope.

I'm thinking tonight's game (not on TV so I didn't see it) helps to make my case. They came back after a sloppy performance for most of the game and beat Colorado State

Bruins going bowling

Well, it's not exactly the top bowl in the world, but the UCLA football team is going bowling, to the EagleBank Bowl in Wash, DC on Dec. 29, against 9-3 Temple. Guess that means we'll have Bill Cosby rooting against us. It's a definite improvement on last year's 4-8 record, but still hardly what I (and Neuheisel) had hoped for. It looks as if tthey're pumped, so perhaps they'lkl play close to their potential. They lost a couple of games they really might have won this year.

Meantime, the basketball team is really struggling, losing to Mississippi State for its fifth straight loss. I can understand a lot of it -- losing sterling players to the NBA (I guess I support the right of underclassmen to go pro but most of the time I don't like to see it happen), having almost all freshmen and sophomores, losing Drew Gordon after he butted heads with Coach Howland. I think Howland can get them respectable in time for Pac-10 play, but I just don't know.

Bruin football better, basketball not so much

In our department at work almost everybody but me went to USC, so there were some long faces this morning. When I suggested that the USC-UCLA game just might be competitive this year, it was almost too much for them to bear. But the Trojans have obviously been operating on fumes the last few weeks while the Bruins just might be shaping up into a real team. Certainly the Washington State win was impressive -- though WSU unfortunately this year is a doormat for just about everybody. As to USC, we need to think about Arizona State first, while USC has a bye week. I suspect they'll be fired up for the UCLA game, but UCLA could be pretty fired up too.

I just watched the UCLA basketball team lose in double overtime to Cal State Fullerton, breaking a 37-game winning streak against non-conference non-ranked at Pauley (boy is that an ESPN geek type statistic). Having lost four starters and having to rely on a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and having a bunch of injuries, which made for disjointed practices, it is perhaps to be expected that it will take a while for this team to gel. I suspect Fullerton will turn out to be pretty good from the way they played (especially if they stop blowing easy layups). I don't know what to expect from the Bruins. They did come back from a double-digit deficit to force overtime, but all those missed threes and free throws! The sportswriters say there's talent there. I hope so.

Wait 'til next year!

Actually it's much too early to tell about next year yet. We don't even know whether Jrue Holliday will stay, although it would almost certaino6y be in his interest to spend at least another year in college, both because of what he will learn and gain in experience, and therefor in terms of his draft position and starting salary. Assuming he stays and gets better , the othger freshmen develop and Dragovich becomes a leader, it should be a solid team, though maybe not a deep-into-the-tournament team. Or it might just be a top ten team. How's that for brave prognostication?

What is clear is that Villanova admninistered an old-fashioned ass-whupping on the Bruins yesterday. I believe in respecting opponents and being able to admire what they do well, but this was painful to watch. At least the Bruins weren't acting as if they had given up toward the end, but for whatever reason they never had close to Villanova's energy. And I have to admit that while Villanova played hard and physical, they didn't really play dirty.

Obama's Baracketology as good as his stimulus program

On the eve of his trip to Southern California, Barack Obama took some time out to go on ESPN and pick winners in the NCAA tournament (for which he took some criticism I thought was unwarranted) -- and picked both USC and UCLA to lose in the first round and the Pac-10, widely considered a relatively weak conference this year, to go 1-5 in the first round. So much for the First Fan's powers of prognostication. USC and UCLA both won (if a little close for comfort in the Bruins' case) and the Pac-10 went 5-1 -- and Cal really should have won too; don't know why they were so listless. He also picked Ohio State to beat Siena, which didn't pan out either. UCLA plays Villanova tomorrow morning, in Philadelphia, in a building where Nova plays at leasst three games a year. I'm hoping the Bruins recover from an inconsistent performance Thursday and really show something.

Whew!! 65-64 heartstopper -- but take that, Barack!

Well, you sure hope this was the kind of perhaps unnecessarily tough first round game that steels the Bruins for the next one -- and the one after that. But that inconsistency after being up by as much as 11 is hardly reassuring. And on Saturday it's almost Villanova's home floor, and they were tough enough to come back from down and win it tonight. I must admit that Eric Maynor of Virginia Commonwealth is a helluva player, and I was deathly afraid he was going to make that last shot. But Collison played solid defense without fouling, and we barely squeaked through. Holliday seems to having his shooting confidence back, Aboya was tough, but Shipp was the indispensable man tonight. I don't know what to think about the rest of the tournament -- the news that Freshman Drew Gordon, who has played well sometimes, has a concussion, is hardly encouraging. but a W is a W.

The shout-out, of course, is due to the fact that President Obama in his televised tournament picks, had UCLA losing in the first round -- though with a question mark. And on the eve of visiting SoCal! He also had USC losing, and it would be sweet if he were proven wrong on that one as well.

Family business

It's been a family business weekend, though hardly one full of unpleasant chores. We went to San Diego yesterday to joine Jen's brother Joe and his wife Alane, who had taken their RV to Campland on Mission Bay. Spent a pleasant day there (though it was mostly overcast and not especially warm) and ate corned beef and cabbage with green beer in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. Campland really is a pleasant -place to vacation -- lots of activities and nice people.

Then today we had chores and shopping to do and didn't get back until fairly late. Perhaps it was just as well. I might have been inclined to be in a funk about UCLA losing on Friday. Can't do anything about it except to congratulate the Trojans and hope for a better-than-seeded run in the NCAA Tournament.

Down by 5 at the half -- maybe not bad

I have to give USC a lot of credit. They came out with more intensity and dominated the first part of the half pretty decisively, going up by as much as 11. And when we pulled to within 3 they went on another run. Considering how hard (and skillfully) they were playing, I'm modestly encouraged to be down by "only" 5 at the half. But it will take the kind of lock-down defense the Bruins showed at times last night to win this thing.

Of course USC has nothing to lose and (maybe) everything to gain by winning tonight. It just might give them a chance to get to the NCAA Tournament, whereas the Bruins are already in, though hardly guaranteed a good seed.

Arizona State, which has beaten UCLA twice this year, was impressive in beating Washington, the champion after league play, in the first game. This is shaping up to be a terrific tournament.

Up by 11 at the half -- but I'm not counting a W yet

It's Pac-10 tournament time. For some stretches during the first half the Bruins looked virtually unbeatable -- up by 20 at one point -- but I suppose I have to give Washington State credit for staying after it even after some stretches when their shots weren't falling. This a pesky team that beat UCLA three weeks ago. The best sign is that for stretches the defense was downright lock-down, but WSU did get some easy shots toward the end, and UCLA committed some silly fouls. Keep up the defensive intensity for another half (without fouling much) and it should be a win, but I'll stay on thre edge of my seat.