UCLA Sits Alone at the Top

I was at the UCLA game last night, where I foolishly decided to just make "mental notes" as I went along rather than write things down. Unfortunately, if my brain is like a chalkboard, then beer functions as one giant eraser. Luckily, the box score really tells the whole story.

It was a complete team effort, with four Bruins scoring in double figures, and more importantly, nobody was in foul trouble the entire game. UCLA likes to play a physical brand of defense. They'll bump you as you're coming off screens or moving through the paint. They'll put a body into you as soon as the shots up, and they're always reaching for the ball. If the officials are whistle happy, then the Bruins are susceptible to getting into foul trouble, as they did against Stanford. But when refs let the teams play, then it's really tough to score on UCLA's defense. By the way, Dave Libby wasn't officiating this game, and there were half as many fouls called on UCLA vs Oregon as there were against Stanford- coincidence? (Ok, Oregon is also a lot smaller than Stanford, but I still wish Dave Libby would retire.)

Staying out of foul trouble really benefited Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who was finally able to get into the flow of a game and have an impact defensively and on the offensive glass. His final line:
15 pts on 6-6 shooting, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocked shots in what was easily his best game of the year.

Lorenzo Mata looks miserable whenever he gets fouled and has to shoot free throws. He walks to the line with the same hesitancy as your dog does when you call for him after you've discovered that the trash is lying all over the floor. Now Ben Howland has no choice but to bench him during the last five minutes of the game, which is a shame because Mata has really come along nicely on the defensive end and as a rebounder.

On the flip side, his benching gives more playing time to Alfred Aboya who is just beginning to blossom into the player I think he can be. He still makes one or two bad decisions a game, but his energy, attitude, and athleticism are huge assets to the team.

I knew Oregon was never going to have a chance in the game when I took my seats down at the baseline where the visiting team's cheerleaders are usually positioned and there were no Dancing Ducks to be found. C'mon Oregon- it's your biggest road game of the year, and you don't bring your cheerleaders along? I know not many fans are going to travel from Eugene, but there's still karma involved. Didn't you know the basketball gods would be watching? And the basketball gods love a coed in a skirt!

UCLA had their own issues in the spirit department. Four enterprising young students opted to go shirtless and paint their chests to spell out, "U-C-L-A." in blue and gold. But two of the guys opted to first paint their entire chest yellow, and then paint their letter in blue over it. What they failed to realize during their warroom meeting is that yellow and blue, when combined, make green. So these guys ended up looking like they were covered in yellow and green- Oregon's colors! Oops.

Also...A juggler? The Bruins still have a friggin' juggler at some home games?! Really? Here's an imaginary conversation I had with a Ducks fan at the end of the game:

Me: Hey- 69-57, and UCLA's defense shut down Aaron Brooks all night long. What do you think of the Bruins now?
Duck fan: You've got a juggler who balances his hat on his nose.
Me: F*ck. You win.

West Coast Bias

If you're going to have a coming-out party, ya might as well make it a block party. Stanford freshman Brook Lopez set a school record by blocking 12 shots en route to his first career triple double (18 points, 11 rebounds). USC kept driving into the paint, and Stanford defenders kept swatting it away. When the final seconds had ticked off the clock in the Stanford 65-52 victory, the Cardinal had amassed a grand total of 19 blocked shots. The Trojans had 67 field goal attempts in all, so that translates into nearly 30% of SC's shots not ever making it to the rim. You'd think at some point, the Trojans would have learned that trying to score from the low block was a bad idea. But this is Southern Cal we're talking about, and learning isn't really that high on the priority list over there.

The depth of young players in the Pac-10 is astounding. One week, it looks like Spencer Hawes is the best freshman in the league. Then it's Chase Budinger who starts to dominate with his play. A few weeks later, Ryan Anderson puts a few good games together, and his name starts to get mentioned as a Freshman of the Year candidate. Now, the Lopez twins have announced their presence in the conference. You could put together a team of just the best freshmen in the Pac-10, and they would be a top 10 team in the country. I just hope they decide to stick around for a couple years.

The headline at Yahoo Sports reads, "Torrid Huskies Upset Ducks." Obviously, the headline writer doesn't also read the Yahoo odds page, or he would have known that by tipoff, Washington was a 4.5 point favorite in the game. (By the way, if you ever do encounter a torrid husky...well, you don't want him around if you're wearing short pants- if you know what I mean. A word of warning though: If he does lay into you, it's best to just let him finish.) Still it was a much-needed win for the Huskies, as any hopes they had for making the Big Dance (save for winning the Pac-10 tournament) would have been pretty much eliminated with a loss Thursday. As it is, Washington is 2-6 in the Pac-10 with 10 conference games remaining. They probably need to go 7-3 in those games to have a shot at an invitation. One of those games will be a visit to Eugene, Oregon for a rematch against the Ducks, where I'm sure the team will remember the "overrated" chant that came from the Huskies faithful tonight. That may have been a miscalculation on the part of HuskyFan.

UCLA now stands alone atop the Pac-10 after overcoming a slow start (boy, does that sound familiar) to beat Cal 62-46. Once Arron Afflalo began to heat up and the UCLA defense tightened up, Cal lost any hope they had for an upset bid. The Bruins now go to Palo Alto, which over the last decade, has been a nightmare game for UCLA. The Bruins will have to play 40 minutes of energetic basketball if they hope to escape Maples Pavilion with a win. I'm not so sure that they'll win, but I do feel pretty confidant that they won't get swatted 19 times. That's just the type of preparation you can expect from Ben Howland. Well that, and the Bruins don't have a single reliable scorer in the low block. Thank heaven for small favors.