C'mon. Let's take a step back. Whatever. Call the block/foul bogus, UCLA is still dancing. Their demise? Greatly exaggerated.
From here on in, let's cede the Bruins a little benefit as far as doubt is concerned with respect to the Texas A&M outcome.
Despite any of the officiating in the game, it wasn't a fluke or an accident that UCLA came back from 10 down on Texas A&M, who by the way, put up one hell of a fight. Seeing this team come up clutch over the last three years, you have to refuse to throw in the towel on them until the buzzer sounds. But the Aggies had this game. I honestly thought that the 9 seed (who played on a level far beyond it) was in total control and on the way to the Sweet 16.
Silly me.
And silly media.
This team has comeback on several opponents this year, but the media's attention is on the late games in conference play and not the entire body of work. Fair enough, but walk-through this with me:
2007-2008 Thrillers 11/20/07: Down 36-25 at the half after being physically and literally dominated by Michigan State, UCLA wins a pre-season tourney over the Sweet 16 bound Spartans.
12/2/07: Getting their sorry hats handed to them by a superior Texas squad by 16 points, the Bruins come all the way back only to lose to the Longhorns on a last second Damion James dunk.
12/8/07: Less than a week later UCLA covers an 18 point deficit and goes on to blast another Sweet 16 sweetheart in Davidson 75-63. A 30 point swing.
2/23/08: Down 11 in the second half, UCLA comes back and then jumps all over a NCAA tournament team in Oregon, besting the Ducks by 10.
These guys are tough and are being lambasted as lucky and even cheaters. Not entirely fair.
Coach Ben Howland is the best unknown coach in the nation. He has been at UCLA four years. He has been to two Final Fours in four years. That's 50%. If he succeeds at the same task this year, he will be at a 60% clip. Ridiculous. He has brought a languishing dynasty back to national prominence. He doesn't allow his teams to give up, let alone quit. The brand of defense he has instilled (a defense that held their first two opponents to an average 39 ppg) is the sort of thing championships are made of. The guy turned Ryan Hollins from a stiff into a solid shot-blocking machine and 2006 West Region MVP. They haven't yet played their monstrous trap defense this tournament though it is still practiced. Their coach is the force that propels this team from first-half somnambulance and their D is the reason vaunted opponent's shooting percentage plummets while turnovers multiply.
But. Here the media goes again. It's a valid argument to call the Bruin players out after their graceless and uninspired loss in the National Semi-Final vs. Florida last year. Freeman's column above stops juuust short of blatant ignorance. I think it has to be hyperbole, right Mike? Wondering if Howland will EVER win a National Championship? That argument has a certain feel -- like a creaking steam locomotive running off the tracks. Rudimentary, impotent, dirty, and just really an awful big mess. Four years and two Final Fours? Take it easy man. I just called in your zoloft refill. You can pick it up anytime after 7. It did give me enough pause at the time to wonder, however, if UCLA's newfound success (and its already existing legacy) will cause the school to supplant Duke as the most hated team in College Basketball.
I shouldn't bring up a 17-point comeback vs. Gonzaga in tourney play 2 years ago or the fact that UCLA has defeated both Memphis and Kansas (respectively) en route to their two most recent Final Four's. I won't cite controversial regular season-closing wins over Stanford & Cal.
I did because pundits and semi-pro bloggers are now, and will continue, harping on West Virginia's two wins over UCLA in as many seasons as evidence they will pull off a third this year (should they meet). Blah blah UCLA came from 20 down in the 1st and only lost by 4 in the closing minute and yada yada played without Darren Collison at West Virginia the second game ... etc. etc.
Let's not count them out. They're a legit #1 and are most definitely for real.
rjucla, even as aWVU alum I agree with you. But I wouldn't write off the Mountaineers as an easy win, if they get passed Xavier. UCLA is immensely talented but not unbeatable.
As you probably noticed, the L.A. Times made some interesting observations earlier this week about the four #1 seeds going into this weekend's SW16 action:
"All four top-seeded teams have advanced to the Sweet 16. North Carolina is 1-0 against other regional semifinalists (a win over Davidson); Kansas is 1-1 (split with Texas), Memphis 0-1 (lost to Tennessee) and the Bruins 7-1. UCLA beat Stanford three times, Washington State twice, Davidson and Michigan State. The loss was to Texas."
I think you and I both know (because we've both probably watched 30+ Bruin games this year) that Collison is the nation's best all-around point guard, but that he and Love can't carry the team to the Championship. I believe the key to that trophy will be (of course) Shipp stepping up with at least 8 points per game (still below his season avg, but come on, the kid's coming off strep throat, which saps you dry), and then between Westbrook, Mbah a Moute, LoMata, Keefe, and Aboya, another 30.
Speaking of LoMata, whom I consider to be the most improved player on the team (yes, more so than Westbrook): Why doesn't Howland ever put he and KLove on the floor at the same time? Give the kid more playing time--he's earned it as the hardest working, classiest guy on the team.
I've got us beating UNC in the final, but that's going to take a huge effort, and some "magic" from either Shipp or Westbrook (taking as a given the continuing clutch performances of our two best players, DC and KL). 100 points in back-to-back tourney games? Good grief! Can we slow them down--yes, if the magic happens.
