March 11th, 2017

UCLA lost much of the momentum it built the last few weeks with Friday’s 86-75 loss to Arizona in Las Vegas.  The loss eliminated the Bruins from the Pac-12 tournament, and sent Wildcats to the finals of tournament on Saturday against Oregon.

Lauri Markkanen scored 29 points, Allonzo Trier added 20 to lead Arizona.  The Bruins shot just 40% from the field and 16% from 3.

Isaac Hamilton led UCLA with 20 points and TJ Leaf had 15 before fouling out.

The first half was a back and forth game, but the Wildcats had a late burst to take a 41-35 lead.

In the 2nd half, Arizona would extend the lead to 63-48, and had much of the crowd behind them.  The Bruins tried to make several runs, but couldn’t recover.

Lonzo Ball had an off night for the Bruins. He had just 8 points on 2-7 shooting.   He also injured his thumb in the 1st half, which appeared to bother him for the rest of the game.  Ball thought he would be fine though, especially after X-rays were negative.  “Nah, I’ll be all right,” he said.

It was also a tough night for both Steve and Bryce Alford.  Bryce had just 5 points on 2-12 shooting.

As for Steve, Arizona coach Sean Miller got some revenge on him from the last time the two team met.  Miller called an unnecessary timeout with one second left, and the game decided.  Miller was getting back at Alford for doing the same thing to him in Arizona last month.  

“I guess they’re upset I called a timeout at their place,” Alford said, referring to the end of UCLA’s 77-72 victory in Tucson two weeks ago when he wanted to set his defense with the Bruins ahead by five points. “I didn’t mean disrespect at all.”  

Miller felt otherwise.  “When UCLA played us at McKale, I thought they did a great job, they called a timeout with one second left just to make sure they had poise, and I felt like I wanted to make sure our guys had poise at one second left in this game.”

UCLA will find out Sunday what seed and region they end up in for the NCAA tournament next week.  However, their hopes of being a #1 seed in the West Region are gone after the loss.

Bryce Alford was disappointed but remained focused on what’s ahead.  “Our goal all year is to get to Phoenix and to compete for a national title,” he said. “So we’ve got a lot of work left to do and we have some time to figure out what we need to work on from this tournament.

March 9th, 2017

The Bruins came into the Pac-12 tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country, winning 9 straight games.  However, they looked nothing like that team, despite barely getting by the Trojans 76-74 in their quarterfinal matchup.

UCLA shot just 41% from the floor, and lacked the consistent energy on the defensive end that they had shown in the last month.  Isaac Hamilton scored 22 points to lead the way for the Bruins, who stepped up when Lonzo Ball got into foul trouble.

Ball had 12 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds, but TJ Leaf helped do some damage in the paint in his return.  Leaf had 14 points and 5 rebounds.

UCLA will now play Arizona on Friday night in the Pac-12 tournament semifinal.  “We know we’re going to have to be better [Friday] night than we were tonight,” said UCLA Coach Steve Alford.  The Bruins can expect the Wildcats to have quite a few fans in attendance based on Friday’s turnout.

The Trojans only shot 38% from the field, and Chimezie Metu was held to just 8 points, although he did have 14 rebounds.  Bennie Boatwright scored 11 points, but was only 3 for 11 from the field.

“Even in a game where we were a little bit off, you look at the numbers and it was still pretty convincing that way,” Alford said. “It was only a two-point win, but it was tied for 20 seconds and we led the rest, so I’m really proud of our guys. We’ve had very, very few nights where we haven’t shot it well or scored in the 80s-plus and this was one of those nights and yet we find a way to get a win.”

The Bruins tried to pull away with a 12-0 run in the 2nd half, but the Trojans slowly fought back.  They even got within 71-69 with 4:23 left.

In the end, USC had their chances but failed to capitalize.  Boatwright missed a three-pointer that could have tied it with 37 seconds left.  Jordan McLaughlin and Elijah Stewart later missed layups that could have made it a one-point game.

Despite the loss, USC should still be in good shape for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament next week.  “You don’t get 24 wins if you’re not a good team,” USC Coach Andy Enfield said. “And I’m going to remind you, Bennie Boatwright was out 18 games. If we were on the East Coast, that’s all we’d be talking about. But because we’re on the West Coast, no one even mentions that.”

March 5th, 2017

UCLA finished up their Pac 12 play on Saturday night with a 77-68 win over Washington State at Pauley Pavilion.  The Bruins sleep walked their way through most of this one but got the job done.

Aaron Holiday led the way for the Bruins with 16 points, and Isaac Hamilton scored 14, as the Bruins made it 9 wins in a row.  UCLA went on a 14-0 run over the final 10 minutes to secure the win.

The Bruins played without Freshman TJ Leaf, who sat out with an injured ankle.   However, they got another solid performance from their other star freshman.  Lonzo Ball scored 12 points to go along with 14 assists.  That broke Gary Payton’s freshman assist record in the Pac 12.

Charles Callison led the Cougars with 25 points.  Josh Hawkinson had 16 to go along with 14 rebounds.  That gave him the school’s all-time rebounding record.

The Cougars were up 47-44, and 51-50  before the Bruins went on their 14-0 run.

It was an emotional night for the Seniors, who were playing their final game at Pauley Pavilion.  Both Coach Steve and his son Bryce Alford were particularly emotional.

The Bruins also honored the 1966-1967 team that went 30-0 at halftime.  Kareem Abdul-Jabaar was in attendance.

UCLA enters the Pac 12 Tournament as the #3 seed.  They’ll play in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Vegas.  There’s a good chance the Bruins will have to go through USC, Oregon, and Arizona to win the conference tournament, but doing so would likely make them a #1 seed in the West for the NCAA tournament.

March 1st, 2017

The Bruins completed a season sweep of Washington on Wednesday night, but it came at cost.  UCLA defeated Washington 98-66, but they lost freshman forward TJ Leaf to an ankle injury.

Leaf played 5 minutes before spraining his left ankle.  However, it was the Bruin backcourt that took care of business in this one.  Bryce Alford led the way with 29 points, and Lonzo Ball scored 19 points, to go along with 7 rebounds and 8 assists.

The Huskies played without guard Markelle Fultz, which didn’t help their cause.  UCLA jumped all over them early, opening up a 21 point lead at halftime, and a 42 point lead in the 2nd half.

Leaf will be wearing a protective boot between now and Saturday’s game against Washington State, and will be seeking treatment in hopes of playing in the regular season finale.

Coach Steve Alford liked his teams effort from start to finish.  “We were engaged right from the beginning,”  Alford said. “Our guys really concentrated well in a lopsided game. We were really good in a lot of areas.”

Noah Dickerson tied his career high with 23 points for the Huskies . They have lost 11 in a row and 13 of 14.

The Bruins were the only team in the Pac 12 to go undefeated in the month of February.  Their 7-0 mark was the first time they had gone undefeated since the 1994-1995 season.  “I really don’t want to add any additional pressure, but that UCLA team could win a national championship,” said Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar.  The former UCLA assistant coach is right.

February 25th, 2017

They went into one of the toughest places to play in the country, and found a way.  The Bruins defeated Arizona on Saturday night 77-72, which was their biggest statement win of the season.

The Wildcats had won 70 of 71 straight home games coming into Saturday’s game, and 21 in a row.  However, the Bruins dominated the offensive boards, and used a big 19-4 run in the 2nd half to take down Arizona.

Thomas Welsh scored 12 of his 14 points in the 2nd half.  He was one of 5 Bruins in double figures.  Bryce Alford had 15, TJ Leaf and Aaron Holiday had 12 each, while Lonzo Ball had 11 points and 8 assists.

UCLA had a rough ending to the 1st half, missing 7 of their last 8 shots, as Arizona went on a 10-1 run in the final two minutes.  The Bruins had been up by as many as 7, but they found themselves trailing 43-39 at halftime.

The Bruins decided to play some defense in the 2nd half, switching to a 3-2 zone, which slowed down the Wildcats.  They also outrebounded Arizona 9-1 on the offensive glass in the half.

UCLA stretched the lead to 11 twice late in the game.   The last at 73-62 on Welsh’s’ inside basket with 4:38 to play before Arizona managed one final charge finishing the game on a 10-4 run.

Arizona cut the lead to 75-72 with 29 seconds left.  Aaron Holiday missed the first of a one-and-one free throw, which gave the Wildcats a chance to tie.  However, Kadeem Allen air-balled a three-pointer in the final seconds.  Allonzo Trier had a career-high 28 points in the losing effort.

The win tightens the Pac 12 race and likely puts Oregon in the driver seat to win the Pac 12 regular season title.   Oregon and Arizona are tied for 1st, but the Ducks own the tie-breaker by virtue of winning their head-to-head matchup with the Wildcats.  Arizona has one game left at Arizona State, while Oregon’s final game is at Oregon State.

As for the Bruins, they are now 1.5 games out of 1st place in the conference, with two games left against the Washington schools.  UCLA is still likely to finish in 3rd place, which sets up a very important Pac 12 Tournament.  The Bruins would potentially face Arizona in the semi-finals and Oregon in the finals.  A #1 seed in the West Region would be on the line for the NCAA Tournament.   It’s a tough road but after Saturday, UCLA gave us reasons to believe they can beat anybody on any floor.

February 23rd, 2017

It was easy to look ahead to the big showdown Saturday at Arizona.  The Arizona State Sun Devils nearly took advantage of that, but UCLA held on to beat ASU 87-75.

TJ Leaf lead the way with 25 points and 8 rebounds in the Bruins sixth straight win.  UCLA also got 17 points from Aaron Holiday, and 15 from Bryce Alford.

The Bruins are known for their up-tempo offense, but on this night it was their size that wore down Arizona State.  They won the rebounding battle 49-30, and outscored ASU 50-22 in the paint.  UCLA also held the Sun Devils to 38% shooting despite the Sun Devils connecting on 14 three-pointers.

Shannon Evans II had a slam dunk that put Arizona State up 50-49 with 15:22 left in the 2nd half.  However, UCLA went on a 14-5 run from there, which was capped by an Aaron Holiday three-pointer.

Holiday had what felt like a dagger with 7:29 left, nailing another three-pointer.  That put UCLA up 74-60, and Arizona State went quietly after that.

Torian Graham led Arizona State with 28 points and Kodi Justice added 19, but it wasn’t enough.  The Bruins kept their win streak alive on a quiet offensive night from Lonzo Ball, who scored just 4 points, but did contribute 5 assists and 11 rebounds.

The Bruins can still finish in 2nd place in the Pac-12, and possibly even improve upon their #5 ranking with a win at Arizona on Saturday.  They’ll need Oregon to lose a game or two as well, but a win against the Wildcats would do wonders for their confidence in their chase for a National Championship.

February 19th, 2017

For the first time in about two years, the Bruins looked like a basketball school against their cross-town rivals. #6 UCLA routed the Trojans 102-70 on Saturday Night at Pauley Pavilion.

The win snapped a four game losing streak against the Trojans on the hardwood, including an 84-76 loss at USC last month. The Bruins improved to 14-1 at home, and are now 5-0 in the month of February.

Bryce Alford led the way for the Bruins with 26 points, including 10 straight in the second half, along with 5 three-pointers. All five starters were in double figures for UCLA, including Lonzo Ball, who had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, as well as TJ Leaf, who scored 19 points to go along with 8 rebounds.   Thomas Welsh contributed a career-high 16 rebounds too.

Not much went right for USC, who was led by Bennie Boatwright’s 20 points and 10 rebounds.   Boatwright, who didn’t play in the first meeting between the Bruins and Trojans, didn’t get much help from his teammates. USC shot only 34% from the field, and got crushed on the boards by a margin of 50-33.

“We beat them the first time by making it tough for them on offense; we challenge shots,” USC Coach Andy Enfield said. “And tonight they did make some tough ones, but our defense was not as exceptional as it was the first time we played them.”

With 8 minutes left in the first half, UCLA went on a 17-3 run. That run was capped by a deep Lonzo Ball three-pointer, which gave the Bruins a 46-34 lead at halftime. That’s the fourth time this season that Ball has hit a deep three-pointer in the final seconds before halftime. The Bruins have won all four of those games.

UCLA appears to be locked into 3^rd place in the Pac 12, but is gaining more momentum heading into March. “Coach always says February sets up March,” said Lonzo Ball. “So that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Everyone will look at the 100 points and believe the Bruins won this game with their #1 ranked offense in the nation. However, it was really the effort on the defensive end, and on the glass that was the biggest difference in UCLA’s win, as well as in the last three weeks. Those are things the Bruins will need to continue if they expect to compete for a National Championship.

February 12th, 2017

Lonzo Ball is now taking over on both ends of the floor.  His evolution continued against Oregon State on Sunday, as UCLA ran away from the Beavers with a 78-60 win.

Ball had 22 points and 9 assists, while TJ Leaf added 13 points in a game that UCLA led by only 5 points at the end of the first half.

The Bruins shot 52% on the way to their fourth straight win, but it wasn’t easy in the early going.  UCLA was trailing 27-24 with three minutes left in the half.  They managed to score the half’s final 8 points, but played with little energy in the game’s first 20 minutes.

UCLA broke the game open in the 2nd half with a 14-3 run, and with 5:37 left they had their biggest lead of the game at 71-48.  The run was sparked by a full court press that the Bruins unveiled for the first time this season.  They held the Beavers to 40% shooting for the game.

Bruins Coach Steve Alford was pleased with the effort, but stressed the importance of keeping it in perspective.  “There’s obviously been a lot of talk about our defense, which after doing this for almost 26 years, it’s almost comical because other teams aren’t critiqued like we are,” he said. “It’s who you are as your identity. Our team is a very efficient offensive team. Yes, we do want to continue to improve defensively, that’s a huge key for us. But we’re not all of a sudden going to start playing a 50-possession game to hold people in the 50s.”

The win gave the Bruins a weekend sweep of the Oregon schools at home.  It was also their first season sweep of OSU since 2012.  The last time the Bruins played the Beavers at Pauley Pavilion, the suffered an 85-82 loss on March 5th, 2016.

UCLA maintained its grip on 3rd place in the Pac 12, and will now get ready for a showdown against USC next week.  The Bruins will try to avenge an 84-76 loss to the Trojans last month.

February 11^th, 2017

Remember when you thought the Bruins were going to be a #1 seed in this year’s tournament? Well the odds of that happening now are about as good as going a whole day without hearing anybody talk about Donald Trump.

For the first time, the NCAA released a midseason preview of what the top four seeds would look like in each region if the tournament started today. The Bruins were the fourth seeded team in the East Region. That region also had Villanova, Louisville, and Kentucky as the top three seeds. Villanova was the #1 overall seed, with Kansas, Baylor, and Gonzaga as the other three #1 seeds.

The real problem for UCLA is Oregon and Arizona, who are likely to finish ahead of them in the Pac 12 standings. Even after defeating Oregon on Thursday night, the Ducks were the #2 seed in the West. Arizona, who was recently defeated by Oregon by 27 points, is a #3 seed in the Midwest.

UCLA is 2 games behind Arizona for 1^st place in the conference, and 1 game behind Oregon.   The Bruins get to play Arizona 1 more time during the regular season, but Arizona and Oregon don’t play again. That means it would take a Hillary Clinton like collapse by The Wildcats and Ducks to be passed in the standings heading into the Pac 12 tournament.

The committee didn’t seem to put much weight into recent wins when they came up with their rankings.   North Carolina was still a #2 seed despite losing to Duke on Thursday. Florida hammered Kentucky a week ago, yet they have the same #3 seed as Kentucky, who also lost at home to the Bruins. It’s also strange that a team like West Virginia, who has 5 losses and 2 against teams rated outside the top 75, has the same #4 seed as UCLA.

The best hope for the Bruins is to get hot in March and win the Pac 12 tournament. That might get them a #2 seed and slightly closer to home in the West Region. The Bruins will try to keep things rolling tomorrow afternoon at home against Oregon State.

December 14th, 2015

I must have missed the big announcement last week.  The announcement that Byron Scott has stepped down as the Laker head coach, and that Kobe Bryant has volunteered to take over those duties.  That really happened right? I mean it sure felt like it last Wednesday in Minnesota when Kobe told Byron that he wanted to sit out the 4th quarter and overtime in order for the Lakers younger players to gain valuable experience in crunch time.  I’ve supported Byron more than most people throughout the season, and his desire to make D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson work for everything.  However, in that situation it was a no brainer to play the kids, and the fact Byron needed Kobe to point it out is about as embarrassing as being a Clippers fan.  In any case, we knew Jordan Clarkson can play, but does anybody still think that D’Angelo Russell or Julius Randle are going to be a bust after the last week? Patience people.  It’s a long climb back to the top but Russell, Clarkson, and Randle just might get the Lakers there.  The Lakers are doing such a great job of tanking right now that they actually afforded themselves the opportunity to win a few games.  That might actually be good for morale.

The Clippers continue to pile up wins against the finest mediocrity the Association has to offer.  They may have won 7 of their last 9 games, but the Clipps haven’t beaten a team over .500 in 19 games.  The more and more I watch this team, the more I think that their window has slammed shut.  We’ve seen four seasons of the Blake Griffin-Chris Paul-Deandre Jordan Clippers, and they haven’t been any better than the best teams in the franchise’s history.  This reality is starting to set in for Doc Rivers, who very quietly is taking calls on Jamal Crawford, Lance Stephenson, and Josh Smith, but not finding much of a trade market for him.  The Paul Pierce acquisition has also been a complete failure, as even he admits that he’s frustrated by the things he can’t do anymore, and is already talking about retirement at years end.  More than anything, nobody knows what the Clippers identity is.  Uptempo? Defensive toughness? The only identity I see is a bunch of front running whiners.

The Warriors probably considered firing Luke Walton after almost losing a game on Friday in Boston.  It took a double overtime game the night before, and the second night of a back-to-back on the last game of a 7 game trip for the Warriors to actually lose a game.  The streak may be over, but don’t be surprised if you see another long one.

On to college hoops where the Bruins suddenly have it together.  A little over a week after taking down #1 Kentucky, the Bruins went on the road and knocked off #20 Gonzaga, and will likely be back in the AP Top 25 this week.  I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but the Bruins are taking on the personality of it’s coach: scrappy play, good shot selection, and limiting turnovers.  For those of you hoping Steve Alford fails miserably so UCLA can get a better coach, you’re not going to like this. I know there’s a lot of you out there, but you’re just going to have to get behind this guy, because the Bruins might just quietly be contenders for the Pac-12 Title.

It’s time for your weekly Dodger offseason update.  Oh wait….there’s nothing to update because Andrew Friedman and his band of nerds haven’t done crap.  Friedman is supposedly a baseball genius, and when you are a GM in LA, you can’t fail….because you have unlimited resource.  Friedman is a genius all right, because he is finding a way to fail harder than a college fraternity boy, despite having unlimited resources.  Friedman also claimed he’s trying to make the team younger.  In order to get younger, Friedman and Farhan Zaidi add 35-year-old Hisashi Iwakuma and 37-year-old Chase Utley.  These two might know baseball, but they sure don’t know math.

As for the Angels, the news is only slightly better.  They are busy adding some minor parts like Yunel Escobar and Craig Gentry.  Yes, I had to Google those guys too to figure out who the hell they were. The Halos have a pretty good team, but the problem is the Rangers and Astros have even better teams that are on the rise.  The Angels should have signed Howie Kendrick yesterday, and they also should be all over Justin Upton.  I realize that Arte Moreno doesn’t want to pay the luxury tax, but the window to win with Mike Trout won’t last forever, especially with Albert Pujols’ 85th Birthday around the corner.  There’s still time to make moves, but the Angels need to be bold if they want to keep up with the rest of the AL West.

The Heisman Trophy ceremony was just irritating to watch.  I’m not sure anybody could snub Christian McCaffrey, who was by far the best player in college football this year.  Alabama fans plan to celebrate Derrick Henry’s Heisman Trophy win by having sex with their cousins.  Then again, everybody has their noses so far up the SEC’s rear end this can’t be a surprise.  Neither was Johnny Manziel’s Heisman ballot, which was 1. Jack Daniels 2. Johnnie Walker and 3. Jim Beam.

Finally, Week 13 of the NFL was in full effect yesterday.  Danny Woodhead and the Chargers were dropping more balls yesterday than puberty in Kansas City.  What happened to the Falcons? Being a fan of them is like having your dad show up to your first birthday party and then never seeing him again. The Broncos should’t even be allowed to watch the playoffs on TV after losing to a Raiders team with -12 yards of offense in a half.  The NFC East Champion should get a spot in the Alamo Bowl.  Will Dez Bryant ever make a play that is ruled a catch in Green Bay? Now the Cincinnati Bengals can now disappoint their fans again in this years playoffs without Andy Dalton.  Johnny Manziel found out that he can’t have whiskey on the sideline…..