Sweet 16 vs Western Kentucky

I'm definitely not taking anything for granted because the Bruins seem to be winning in spite of themselves lately.  Not intending to put too much credit in the RPI, but Texas A&M was 41st and Western Kentucky is a bit better at 39th (on the other hand, it sure would've been nice if San Diego had won, because they were 94th).  So I'm still worried about Thursday's game.

I know that I've been beating on Shipp for a couple of months now and I certainly didn't see anything last night to cause me to change my mind.  I can understand Mbah a Moute being a bit rusty and at least Westbrook started to show some life at the end of the game.  But I'm about to start a petition drive to have Shipp benched in favor of Keefe or even Lee at this point!

The only silver lining about Josh's horrible performances over the past few months is that he's clearly killed his NBA draft value for this year and should return for another year if he wants to have any chance of being drafted in a respectable spot.  And maybe he can learn how to shoot again during the offseason...

The key for the Bruins is to play their style of basketball, tough D and quick outlets to Shipp and Westbrook.

Western Kentucky will be a tough team but UCLA should pull through as long as they play Bruin basketball

Cheers!

UCLA is probably at its best when running a fast paced game. We can run with the best of them, and not get as winded as others. Collison & Westbrook are an awesome pair, and with an upbeat tempo, you can look for more of the same as last night's game.

Our defense is excellent at controlling the speed of the game, so if they want to slow WKU down, they will. Usually, they can stun a team by making a steal and going for the fast break to the bucket. We may not explode at the beginning of the game, but when WKU is worn out from trying to outrun UCLA, the Bruins will get things going - kinda like a second wind. But actually, just good strategy.

UCLA should not only win this game but dominate the Hilltoppers. UCLA's athletes are on another level compared to WKU. If they come out flat and are behind once again, i think we should be concerned because this is a team we should not be losing too.

Texas A&M had good athletes and faced pretty good opponents in the BIG 12, UCLA fell behind but clamped down on defense and won the game with 9 seconds to go. If UCLA does this with the HILLTOPPERS from the Sun Belt conference....i would start to question the team.

I feel like UCLA can turn on that extra level when they need to.  They proved time and time again that they can win close games and come from behind and pull off the W. I saw a stat that when a 1 seed faces a 12 seed in the Sweet 16, the 1 seed is 16-0.

Given all this UCLA should be a lock for the Elite 8 and match up with XAVIER. I know when Ben Howland has a week to prepare for opponents, UCLA does not lose. I just hope our shooting improves and once again we can become a 3 point threat.