I’ve been waiting for this matchup since early Jan. Jerryd Bayless vs Darren Collison. I’m a big fan of several freshman phenoms, and this game promised a freshman scorer vs a veteran jet, plus Jordan Hill vs Kevin Love, and Chase Budinger vs Josh Shipp/Russell Westbrook. This is gonna be a battle for the ages. 5 days before Duke/Carolina – this is the game that had me running for my Tivo.
And from the opening tip, Bayless is clearly bothered by Collison – and nearly throws it away. Off the inbounds – he hits Budinger, who immediately whips it inside to Jordan Hill, which is instantly challenged and the ball tapped away by a swarm of Bruins – where did they come from??? – and suddenly you have a 1 man fastbreak in the motor Russell Westbrook, who just floats in the air for the deceptively easy layup. Wow. 2-0, Bruins.
Then Kevin Love shows his behind to Bret Brielmaier and says “see ya!” as he seals him off and goes up for the easy deuce in the post. Holy cow! Shipp with a great runner that he still manages to toss high off the glass even though he’s careening 70mph towards the exit with a guy all over him and his arm! And one!
Kevin Love is for real. Kyle Singler’s high school nemesis is showing all kinds of moves right now that is completely befuddling the Arizona big men. He’s already got Bret B beat. Now Darren Collison drives into the lane, dishes down a perfect pass to Love, who head fakes, doesn’t get the look he wants, steps back out, there’s only 4 left to shoot, but he shows great poise by going back inside, getting Jordan Hill in the air, and then going up for the easy two. The effort brings his parents up on their feet, the whole student section, cheering for him. What a workhorse. What a beast, both offensively and defensively. How much could they have turned a team around, Kyle and Kevin, if they’d gone to the same college? Much like what Michael Beasley and Bill Walker is doing for Kansas State? If we meet in the NCAA championship game, Duke vs UCLA – and Kyle plays against Kevin again – that will be a dream matchup come true.
Kevin Love is not the only player who knows how to get to the FT line. Jerryd Bayless, quiet so far, gets his man in the air and just kinda leans into him, firing off an errant shot but being rewarded with his real motive – a foul. Sinks the first, misses the second. 6-12 right now, 14:33 to play.
Nic Wise comes in, and it goes completely haywire. He can’t hang with Collison, Hill is forced to step outside for a long jumper, and suddenly the Bruins are racing the other way again. Hill tries to intercept a pass to Love – but Love, steamed about not getting his mail delivered, goes right after him – and steals it right back! Mbat a Moute scores after the shot clock is run down to 3, and in the blink of an eye, its 6-16, UCLA. Kevin O’Neill (KO), clapping and trying to cheerlead his team on a minute ago, immediately calls for a timeout. They better get Bayless untracked, fast. 13:18.
Jay Bilas is hilarious. Pac-10 is the best league, Pac-10 is the best league – okay, okay, I got it. How about the ACC, with two top-5 teams in Duke and UNC? Can you say that about any other league? Sure, there’s a mess down beneath, but you cannot just say that the rest of the leagues are “pillow-fighting” while the Pac-10 are going bare-knuckles at it. You think Duke – Miami today was a pillow fight, with 54 fouls? You think going on the road to Maryland, we’re checking out our sneakers and their cheerleaders? If you want to talk about pillow fights, talk about the C-USA, where Memphis barely squeaked by UTEP – yeah, check out their RPI! – at home.
The Bruins are playing stifling defense, at times making Arizona look like a JV team. A long pass off a miss is thrown out to Love ahead of the pack – but Arizona grabs it right back – only to get it stolen again by the Bruins! Except Mata-Real can’t hit the easy dunk, is stripped by Wise, and Bayless tries a transition 3 – which bounces off badly. It swings to Shipp, who slows it down to a more moderate pace. Another timeout is needed by AZ. Hmm, is Bayless wearing 2 kinds of shoes? Ah, they’re dual-colored, white on one side and red on the other. Yeah, nothing too exciting to write about here: 6-19.
Jesus. KO is forced to call his 3rd timeout, and maybe he should also call a 4th and 5th and 6th if he had them, cuz otherwise 8-23 will start looking real good later on if he doesn’t. 8:56 left to play, and Arizona can’t seem to get anything going. I have not seen a team struggle so much since Duke put Princeton on the ropes in the first Maui game – and this is actually a quality team!! But when you’ve got a team as dependent on 2 big stars, Budinger and Bayless, as much as Arizona, with nobody to bring off the bench – how can you respond to a defensive monster such as UCLA? Who can basically lock you down and keep throwing fresh bodies on you, even as you struggle through it? Watching these two teams – it’s like a poor guy going up against a rich guy – the prince and the pauper. You’ve just got no chance at all, no resources at your disposal to win. Why I ever thought it might be a great game, I don’t know. This ain’t a great game. Bayless is so frustrated right now that he stuck out his right foot to trip Josh Shipp coming down the mid-court as he got a loose ball. This is a kid averaging 20+ points ever since he got back from his knee injury, and he’s been channeling all his frustrations at having to sit on the bench watching his team lose while he was out onto the hardwood. Now, he can’t even get a decent shot off that’s not contested or a bit forced coming off a screen.
OH, WHAT a pretty move! Just as I’m looking for a Wildcat to do something, anything – Bayless grabs an iffy pass right out of midair, charges into the post, and lays one up off the glass in a hurry. Boy, when he sees daylight, there’s almost nobody faster than him at getting to the rim.
Aaaaaaaaand – that was about the only highlight of the half. UCLA reels off a bunch more points, including another Love-fest in the post, and Josh Shipp left all alone under the basket for what must be the easiest bucket in the world, and its running away from Arizona again, 14-29, 6:30 remaining. I mean, this is Arizona, with 3 NBA prospects playing. They have 3 MickeyDs. This ain’t exactly Arizona State (no offense). But will they be run out of the building like State was, to the tune of 33 points??? We’ll see. As KO calls his fourth timeout.
WooooooooW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jerryd Bayless needs to do that more often!!! Like every time! He’s dribbling, staring Collison down, and once he makes up his mind, he’s gone. He zips right by Collison, leaving him in the dust, the guy doesn’t even try to go with him, no one rotates over, and suddenly Bayless is all alone in the lane with an uncontested, beautiful layup off the glass. 18-34, is there still hope left?
Another great drive by Bayless, but what happens next’s got to dishearten him. Off the make, Love takes the ball out of the hoop, makes a 50-feet chest pass to a running Darren Collison on the dime, who passes the torch on to Shipp, who finishes the play – all in about 3 seconds. Wow, wow, wow. And the crowd LOVES it. They rise for a raucous standing ovation as Collison dribbles down the clock, holding for the final shot. 42-22 at the half.
Man, do I wish I could hear what they’re saying in the Arizona locker room. Remember – this is a rivalry game. It’s a Pac10 league game, an ESPN primetime showdown. It’s not a non-conference game, and its certainly not a non-conference game at Memphis, where the Wildcats were shorthanded with a surprise injury to Bayless just one day before the big game. Even on that day, they were never embarrassed, and lost by a respectable 10 points. But not here. Not like this. This is embarrassing, and I don’t know how much more KO can do, having burned through 4 timeouts already. Maybe he just can’t. Maybe this is the national championship team. Let me tell you, I have not yet seen any team play with the poise and the swagger that the Bruins are displaying right now. This is brutal. Losing Arron Afflalo, in hindsight, is no big deal – gaining Kevin Love is. Maybe this is the freshman that will finally lead UCLA past the dreaded runner-up spot, and into the record books as the national champion.
5 minutes into the second half and nothing’s changed. Arizona is able to get more stuff run, more open looks, but UCLA is answering right back. Love is cleaning up off the glass, grabbing rebounds, and impressing the hell out of Jay Bilas. 30-49. What’s this about KO being more of a defensive coach than Lute Olsen? How come I haven’t seen one crucial stop that really tells me Arizona is in it for real?
Wow. I know I’ve said this 5 times already, but – Wow. This is the difference between Chase Budinger and Kyle Singler. I’m just amazed. Sure, I know he’s a “3” playing the “4”. And Kyle’s a “3” playing the “5” sometimes. But when Kevin Love got Jordan Hill to bite on a head fake and then stormed in for a dunk – I mean, Chase Budinger got out of the way. He said, nope, I’m not rotating over, I’m not laying my body down for that runaway train wreck, I’ll much rather just let him have the 2. I mean, you team is down by 21, Chase. And now 23. It’s a nightmare. And yet, you won’t go out of your comfort zone for a little defense? I know you guys are thin, etc, only playing 6 or 7 guys. But you cannot win ballgames this way. And with 12:56 remaining, Ben Howland’s been kind enough to call 2 timeouts now after great UCLA plays to let Arizona talk it over and decide whether they want to be in the game or not. You have to guard, and you have to do better than let a guy like Kevin Love, who is not exactly Mr. Explosive First Step, get to the rim so unimpededly. Kyle Singler would be looking for ways to get stops, to make plays, and to take away the driving lane by laying his body down for the charge. Chase Budinger has let Russell Westbrook do whatever the hell he wants, and now, here, Kevin Love.
Holy cow, COLLISON! Flipping a behind-the-back dribble, refusing the ball screen, penetrating deep into the lane to dish a point-blank pass to Aboya right under the basket who unfortunately can’t finish – but Love is there to clean it up! Then, with a steal, he just streaks upcourt and lays it in, end to end. The strong, 50 to 70 foot chest passes from Love . . the flying athleticism of Westbrook . . and the speed and vision of Collison. I don’t want to sound like Bilas, but this Arizona team is giving me no choice. Bayless has been the only bright spot for the Wildcats, but he’s only gotten 4 or 5 shots off, tops. 40-64 with 10:45 remaining, and Arizona is not making a comeback. That’s an affirmative. I just got the memo, 30 minutes too late.
Oh no. Mbat a Moute goes down with an injured left ankle. Looks like a sprain. Poor Ben Howland must be fearing the worst, with all the injures his team’s got. I mean, some of them look like they’d just come back from the war, with Collison wrapped on his arm and Mata-Real with thick white wraps left and right. 7:30.
“Chase Budinger just did something that can be interpreted a number of ways.” Oh really? Which are the other ways? In an eerie isolation play, Josh Shipp had stolen the ball, and is streaking up the court with Budinger glued to his hip chasing him, and in a flash of frustration, Budinger just reaches out to shove him, and Shipp, in full speed, tries desperately to get a shot off first before tumbling awkwardly out of bounds. Intentional foul. Oh, no doubt. 2 shots and the ball. C’mon, Chase, what’s gotten into you today? An intentional frustration foul is not going to help your team one bit, and besides, you’re taller than Shipp, you probably could’ve guarded him 1 on 1. 46-72, 6:22 to go.
Well, it’s over. What a terrible game from the Wildcats. UCLA is up 30, and finally shows some mercy by sending in the secondary unit. KO sets out the chairs for one more pep talk that may cut this lead down from an embarrassing 30 to something more swallowable, but still – the damage is done. Whether they ultimately lose by 30 or 13, they know there is a GULF that separates them, from the best in their league. I mean, when Jerryd Bayless got to the FT line like he wanted at around the 4:00 minute mark, and made his first free throw, nobody on his team even cared to give him a slap on the hand for good job done. Nobody. He had to go up to Hill in order to receive one.
I mean, c’mon guys – you’ve got great talent. The final score was 60-82, but should’ve been more like 55-87. It’s not like UCLA has 8 McD AAs. But they work well together as a unit, they communicate on defense, and that’s the difference. And – okay – they can create mismatches. Collison owned Nic Wise. Westbrook beat both Bayless and Budinger on offense. Hill could not contain Love whatsoever. And their coach, KO – has a loooong ways to go before he can teach the kind of defense that Ben Howland has instilled into his team. One thing is for certain: this UCLA team deserves a #1 seed. They responded in tremendous fashion after the USC home loss, and that’s the hallmark of a championship team, to take one loss and extract every kind of motivation from it. Will Arizona do the same?
With 6 weeks left before the start of March Madness, the top 5 teams are pretty much set. UCLA is better this year than they were last year. They are older, tougher, and got a real gem in Kevin Love down low. So is Kansas. So is Memphis, with the addition of freshman stud Derrick Rose. That’s 3 #1 seeds right there. The fourth, is up for grabs. And right now, it’s a titanic fight between Duke and North Carolina. Personally, I do not think UNC is better than they were last year . . but we will see. Whoever wins the ACC – wins the #1 seed – and the surefire path to San Antonio through NC (the state).
Post-game thoughts: After watching this game . . I don’t know, I really felt cheated. I didn’t spend 2+ hours to watch a walkover game for the Bruins. Why couldn’t Arizona at the very least make a run? What, exactly, have they been doing in practice that is making everyone say KO is a defensive coach first? When you fall behind like that . . you gotta have 2 things to go on a run: defense, and furious shooting. By furious shooting I mean grabbing a steal and storming the length of the court, or leaping up – whether you have a hand in your face or not – and firing off that three knowing that it’s going in, or slashing to the basket looking to score even though they foul you in 5 different spots. I didn’t see any of that.
And one more thing: the huddle. Maybe it’s because ESPN didn’t show it, but I didn’t see much of that either. Whenever a Duke player gets whistled for a foul, or draws a foul, they would huddle together and exchange a few words. Whether they’re words of encouragement, or advice, or whatever, you got the feeling that they were in this together – that they believe in collective responsibility, and share every winning basket, every bruising setback, together. Their body language, their hands on each other’s backs, their eyes and focus, are entirely on the team. They had their goal, and they would not be deterred from it. That, is a winning basketball program. Now I’m not saying that Arizona doesn’t have that attitude, just that I didn’t see any of it last night. I didn’t see any fight. Just a bunch of guys, individually, looking frustrated and annoyed. Even after nice baskets and drives, they were frowning.
As the final seconds ticked down, the announcers echoed what Coach K had once so famously said, and what must be swimming through Kevin O’Neill’s thoughts as well: here, is to never forgetting about tonight.
And from the opening tip, Bayless is clearly bothered by Collison – and nearly throws it away. Off the inbounds – he hits Budinger, who immediately whips it inside to Jordan Hill, which is instantly challenged and the ball tapped away by a swarm of Bruins – where did they come from??? – and suddenly you have a 1 man fastbreak in the motor Russell Westbrook, who just floats in the air for the deceptively easy layup. Wow. 2-0, Bruins.
Then Kevin Love shows his behind to Bret Brielmaier and says “see ya!” as he seals him off and goes up for the easy deuce in the post. Holy cow! Shipp with a great runner that he still manages to toss high off the glass even though he’s careening 70mph towards the exit with a guy all over him and his arm! And one!
Kevin Love is for real. Kyle Singler’s high school nemesis is showing all kinds of moves right now that is completely befuddling the Arizona big men. He’s already got Bret B beat. Now Darren Collison drives into the lane, dishes down a perfect pass to Love, who head fakes, doesn’t get the look he wants, steps back out, there’s only 4 left to shoot, but he shows great poise by going back inside, getting Jordan Hill in the air, and then going up for the easy two. The effort brings his parents up on their feet, the whole student section, cheering for him. What a workhorse. What a beast, both offensively and defensively. How much could they have turned a team around, Kyle and Kevin, if they’d gone to the same college? Much like what Michael Beasley and Bill Walker is doing for Kansas State? If we meet in the NCAA championship game, Duke vs UCLA – and Kyle plays against Kevin again – that will be a dream matchup come true.
Kevin Love is not the only player who knows how to get to the FT line. Jerryd Bayless, quiet so far, gets his man in the air and just kinda leans into him, firing off an errant shot but being rewarded with his real motive – a foul. Sinks the first, misses the second. 6-12 right now, 14:33 to play.
Nic Wise comes in, and it goes completely haywire. He can’t hang with Collison, Hill is forced to step outside for a long jumper, and suddenly the Bruins are racing the other way again. Hill tries to intercept a pass to Love – but Love, steamed about not getting his mail delivered, goes right after him – and steals it right back! Mbat a Moute scores after the shot clock is run down to 3, and in the blink of an eye, its 6-16, UCLA. Kevin O’Neill (KO), clapping and trying to cheerlead his team on a minute ago, immediately calls for a timeout. They better get Bayless untracked, fast. 13:18.
Jay Bilas is hilarious. Pac-10 is the best league, Pac-10 is the best league – okay, okay, I got it. How about the ACC, with two top-5 teams in Duke and UNC? Can you say that about any other league? Sure, there’s a mess down beneath, but you cannot just say that the rest of the leagues are “pillow-fighting” while the Pac-10 are going bare-knuckles at it. You think Duke – Miami today was a pillow fight, with 54 fouls? You think going on the road to Maryland, we’re checking out our sneakers and their cheerleaders? If you want to talk about pillow fights, talk about the C-USA, where Memphis barely squeaked by UTEP – yeah, check out their RPI! – at home.
The Bruins are playing stifling defense, at times making Arizona look like a JV team. A long pass off a miss is thrown out to Love ahead of the pack – but Arizona grabs it right back – only to get it stolen again by the Bruins! Except Mata-Real can’t hit the easy dunk, is stripped by Wise, and Bayless tries a transition 3 – which bounces off badly. It swings to Shipp, who slows it down to a more moderate pace. Another timeout is needed by AZ. Hmm, is Bayless wearing 2 kinds of shoes? Ah, they’re dual-colored, white on one side and red on the other. Yeah, nothing too exciting to write about here: 6-19.
Jesus. KO is forced to call his 3rd timeout, and maybe he should also call a 4th and 5th and 6th if he had them, cuz otherwise 8-23 will start looking real good later on if he doesn’t. 8:56 left to play, and Arizona can’t seem to get anything going. I have not seen a team struggle so much since Duke put Princeton on the ropes in the first Maui game – and this is actually a quality team!! But when you’ve got a team as dependent on 2 big stars, Budinger and Bayless, as much as Arizona, with nobody to bring off the bench – how can you respond to a defensive monster such as UCLA? Who can basically lock you down and keep throwing fresh bodies on you, even as you struggle through it? Watching these two teams – it’s like a poor guy going up against a rich guy – the prince and the pauper. You’ve just got no chance at all, no resources at your disposal to win. Why I ever thought it might be a great game, I don’t know. This ain’t a great game. Bayless is so frustrated right now that he stuck out his right foot to trip Josh Shipp coming down the mid-court as he got a loose ball. This is a kid averaging 20+ points ever since he got back from his knee injury, and he’s been channeling all his frustrations at having to sit on the bench watching his team lose while he was out onto the hardwood. Now, he can’t even get a decent shot off that’s not contested or a bit forced coming off a screen.
OH, WHAT a pretty move! Just as I’m looking for a Wildcat to do something, anything – Bayless grabs an iffy pass right out of midair, charges into the post, and lays one up off the glass in a hurry. Boy, when he sees daylight, there’s almost nobody faster than him at getting to the rim.
Aaaaaaaaand – that was about the only highlight of the half. UCLA reels off a bunch more points, including another Love-fest in the post, and Josh Shipp left all alone under the basket for what must be the easiest bucket in the world, and its running away from Arizona again, 14-29, 6:30 remaining. I mean, this is Arizona, with 3 NBA prospects playing. They have 3 MickeyDs. This ain’t exactly Arizona State (no offense). But will they be run out of the building like State was, to the tune of 33 points??? We’ll see. As KO calls his fourth timeout.
WooooooooW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jerryd Bayless needs to do that more often!!! Like every time! He’s dribbling, staring Collison down, and once he makes up his mind, he’s gone. He zips right by Collison, leaving him in the dust, the guy doesn’t even try to go with him, no one rotates over, and suddenly Bayless is all alone in the lane with an uncontested, beautiful layup off the glass. 18-34, is there still hope left?
Another great drive by Bayless, but what happens next’s got to dishearten him. Off the make, Love takes the ball out of the hoop, makes a 50-feet chest pass to a running Darren Collison on the dime, who passes the torch on to Shipp, who finishes the play – all in about 3 seconds. Wow, wow, wow. And the crowd LOVES it. They rise for a raucous standing ovation as Collison dribbles down the clock, holding for the final shot. 42-22 at the half.
Man, do I wish I could hear what they’re saying in the Arizona locker room. Remember – this is a rivalry game. It’s a Pac10 league game, an ESPN primetime showdown. It’s not a non-conference game, and its certainly not a non-conference game at Memphis, where the Wildcats were shorthanded with a surprise injury to Bayless just one day before the big game. Even on that day, they were never embarrassed, and lost by a respectable 10 points. But not here. Not like this. This is embarrassing, and I don’t know how much more KO can do, having burned through 4 timeouts already. Maybe he just can’t. Maybe this is the national championship team. Let me tell you, I have not yet seen any team play with the poise and the swagger that the Bruins are displaying right now. This is brutal. Losing Arron Afflalo, in hindsight, is no big deal – gaining Kevin Love is. Maybe this is the freshman that will finally lead UCLA past the dreaded runner-up spot, and into the record books as the national champion.
5 minutes into the second half and nothing’s changed. Arizona is able to get more stuff run, more open looks, but UCLA is answering right back. Love is cleaning up off the glass, grabbing rebounds, and impressing the hell out of Jay Bilas. 30-49. What’s this about KO being more of a defensive coach than Lute Olsen? How come I haven’t seen one crucial stop that really tells me Arizona is in it for real?
Wow. I know I’ve said this 5 times already, but – Wow. This is the difference between Chase Budinger and Kyle Singler. I’m just amazed. Sure, I know he’s a “3” playing the “4”. And Kyle’s a “3” playing the “5” sometimes. But when Kevin Love got Jordan Hill to bite on a head fake and then stormed in for a dunk – I mean, Chase Budinger got out of the way. He said, nope, I’m not rotating over, I’m not laying my body down for that runaway train wreck, I’ll much rather just let him have the 2. I mean, you team is down by 21, Chase. And now 23. It’s a nightmare. And yet, you won’t go out of your comfort zone for a little defense? I know you guys are thin, etc, only playing 6 or 7 guys. But you cannot win ballgames this way. And with 12:56 remaining, Ben Howland’s been kind enough to call 2 timeouts now after great UCLA plays to let Arizona talk it over and decide whether they want to be in the game or not. You have to guard, and you have to do better than let a guy like Kevin Love, who is not exactly Mr. Explosive First Step, get to the rim so unimpededly. Kyle Singler would be looking for ways to get stops, to make plays, and to take away the driving lane by laying his body down for the charge. Chase Budinger has let Russell Westbrook do whatever the hell he wants, and now, here, Kevin Love.
Holy cow, COLLISON! Flipping a behind-the-back dribble, refusing the ball screen, penetrating deep into the lane to dish a point-blank pass to Aboya right under the basket who unfortunately can’t finish – but Love is there to clean it up! Then, with a steal, he just streaks upcourt and lays it in, end to end. The strong, 50 to 70 foot chest passes from Love . . the flying athleticism of Westbrook . . and the speed and vision of Collison. I don’t want to sound like Bilas, but this Arizona team is giving me no choice. Bayless has been the only bright spot for the Wildcats, but he’s only gotten 4 or 5 shots off, tops. 40-64 with 10:45 remaining, and Arizona is not making a comeback. That’s an affirmative. I just got the memo, 30 minutes too late.
Oh no. Mbat a Moute goes down with an injured left ankle. Looks like a sprain. Poor Ben Howland must be fearing the worst, with all the injures his team’s got. I mean, some of them look like they’d just come back from the war, with Collison wrapped on his arm and Mata-Real with thick white wraps left and right. 7:30.
“Chase Budinger just did something that can be interpreted a number of ways.” Oh really? Which are the other ways? In an eerie isolation play, Josh Shipp had stolen the ball, and is streaking up the court with Budinger glued to his hip chasing him, and in a flash of frustration, Budinger just reaches out to shove him, and Shipp, in full speed, tries desperately to get a shot off first before tumbling awkwardly out of bounds. Intentional foul. Oh, no doubt. 2 shots and the ball. C’mon, Chase, what’s gotten into you today? An intentional frustration foul is not going to help your team one bit, and besides, you’re taller than Shipp, you probably could’ve guarded him 1 on 1. 46-72, 6:22 to go.
Well, it’s over. What a terrible game from the Wildcats. UCLA is up 30, and finally shows some mercy by sending in the secondary unit. KO sets out the chairs for one more pep talk that may cut this lead down from an embarrassing 30 to something more swallowable, but still – the damage is done. Whether they ultimately lose by 30 or 13, they know there is a GULF that separates them, from the best in their league. I mean, when Jerryd Bayless got to the FT line like he wanted at around the 4:00 minute mark, and made his first free throw, nobody on his team even cared to give him a slap on the hand for good job done. Nobody. He had to go up to Hill in order to receive one.
I mean, c’mon guys – you’ve got great talent. The final score was 60-82, but should’ve been more like 55-87. It’s not like UCLA has 8 McD AAs. But they work well together as a unit, they communicate on defense, and that’s the difference. And – okay – they can create mismatches. Collison owned Nic Wise. Westbrook beat both Bayless and Budinger on offense. Hill could not contain Love whatsoever. And their coach, KO – has a loooong ways to go before he can teach the kind of defense that Ben Howland has instilled into his team. One thing is for certain: this UCLA team deserves a #1 seed. They responded in tremendous fashion after the USC home loss, and that’s the hallmark of a championship team, to take one loss and extract every kind of motivation from it. Will Arizona do the same?
With 6 weeks left before the start of March Madness, the top 5 teams are pretty much set. UCLA is better this year than they were last year. They are older, tougher, and got a real gem in Kevin Love down low. So is Kansas. So is Memphis, with the addition of freshman stud Derrick Rose. That’s 3 #1 seeds right there. The fourth, is up for grabs. And right now, it’s a titanic fight between Duke and North Carolina. Personally, I do not think UNC is better than they were last year . . but we will see. Whoever wins the ACC – wins the #1 seed – and the surefire path to San Antonio through NC (the state).
Post-game thoughts: After watching this game . . I don’t know, I really felt cheated. I didn’t spend 2+ hours to watch a walkover game for the Bruins. Why couldn’t Arizona at the very least make a run? What, exactly, have they been doing in practice that is making everyone say KO is a defensive coach first? When you fall behind like that . . you gotta have 2 things to go on a run: defense, and furious shooting. By furious shooting I mean grabbing a steal and storming the length of the court, or leaping up – whether you have a hand in your face or not – and firing off that three knowing that it’s going in, or slashing to the basket looking to score even though they foul you in 5 different spots. I didn’t see any of that.
And one more thing: the huddle. Maybe it’s because ESPN didn’t show it, but I didn’t see much of that either. Whenever a Duke player gets whistled for a foul, or draws a foul, they would huddle together and exchange a few words. Whether they’re words of encouragement, or advice, or whatever, you got the feeling that they were in this together – that they believe in collective responsibility, and share every winning basket, every bruising setback, together. Their body language, their hands on each other’s backs, their eyes and focus, are entirely on the team. They had their goal, and they would not be deterred from it. That, is a winning basketball program. Now I’m not saying that Arizona doesn’t have that attitude, just that I didn’t see any of it last night. I didn’t see any fight. Just a bunch of guys, individually, looking frustrated and annoyed. Even after nice baskets and drives, they were frowning.
As the final seconds ticked down, the announcers echoed what Coach K had once so famously said, and what must be swimming through Kevin O’Neill’s thoughts as well: here, is to never forgetting about tonight.
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