Bruin basketball righting itself?

Well that was more like it! In the game against New Mexico State the Bruins looked much more like a Ben Howland team, playing pretty good team defense and -- wonder of wonders! -- making open shots when they had them.

I know NM State might not be much of a test, but the Bruins looked like a different team than the one that was blown out by Mississippi State. And they played somewhat competitively against Kansas, now the #1 team in the country. So there's a chance that by the time the real Pac 10 season rolls around, the Bruins will competitive, especially since it's supposed to be a down year for the league. We'll have a better idea after Saturday, when they play Notre Dame at South Bend. It's still a young team full of frosh and sophs, with Michael Roll, who had been a substitute the last couple of years, expected to be the stabilizer. Having James Keefe out for a few weeks with a shoulder separaion also won't help. More mistakes and probably a few more bad games are virtually inevitable, but I have a modicum of hope now.

Not pretty, but solid, 64-53

I'm not counting USC tomorrow, given that they beat Cal and the team is fully healthy for the first time this season. But the way the Bruins ground this one out gives me a certain amount of confidence. Holding WSU to 30% shooting (even though some of it was just off-target shooting on their part) was impressive. If they keep playing defense that well -- it's been shaky more often than one would like or expect from a Ben Howland team -- they'll go deep into March. I think.

UCLA loses -- to USC!!

None of the USC graduates who work in our office took me up on my offer to put a little money on the UCLA-USC basketball game, even though I explained that USC had a talented team that was taking a while to put things together and would be very good once they did. Well, they put it together Saturday night -- or UCLA played complacently, figuring they could put together a run at the end, as they had done several times this year. I can't figure out which. Anyway, USC won and did so rather decisively, and congratulations to them.

I don't live and die with sports exactly, but I didn't take that loss well. I'm preferring to think it will be a reminder that they aren't invulnerable, giving them motivation to come out with more intensity and discipline for many games to come. But we'll see, won't we?