Believe it: UCLA basketball tied for first in Pac-10
All season long, UCLA men's basketball coach Ben Howland has fended off questions about the Pac-10 tournament, about the conference standings, about the future.
Coach-speak be damned, he has stuck his chest out, his chin up and repeated, time in and time out, that his Bruins were still in this thing.
Reporters scoffed, fans shrugged, even the players at times didn't seem to believe.
Now they do.
With Thursday's 77-73 win over Stanford and losses by Arizona and Cal, UCLA is now tied with four teams for first place in the Pac-10 standings at 6-4.
A late-season push with four road games - at Washington/Washington State and at Arizona/Arizona State - could leave the Bruins in prime position come Pac-10 tournament time.
Who woulda thought?
Well, UCLA, for one, which is not caught by surpised by the recent ascension.
"Not really, because we as a conference have underperformed," junior guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid said. "There's some great players in the Pac-10. You look at Washington's Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter, Landry (Fields) tonight and (Jeremy) Green tonight, we've got great players, a lot of future pros. But as teams, the Pac-10 has underperformed. It really doesn't surprise me. We knew this was how it was going into it. That's what we did, we set our goal as whatever it takes, whatever that record is going to be, to be first, to get good positioning going into the Pac-10 tournament."
While the Bruins are far from perfect and know they are - particularly after a loss at Oregon last Thursday - they are quick to point out that what they are now is not what they were and not even what they will be.
"Our overall record is a lot different from how we're playing right now," said senior guard Michael Roll, who now has as half as many losses this season (11) as in his first four seasons combined (22), including his injury-shortened redshirt season. "Our non-conference schedule was really tough, our team was a lot different than it is now, and we've come together."
Tyler Honeycutt has made the world of difference, as he continues to get healthier and more comfortable after missing the first six games of the season with a stress reaction in his shin. Honeycutt had 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in the Bruins win over Stanford, his best performance this year.
But Honeycutt isn't the only reason for UCLA's upswing.
It took a downswing first.
The players point back to that dreadful 67-46 loss to USC on Jan. 16 as the turning point, the day that they finally said enough.
The Bruins are 4-1 since.
"I can't say that it was any one thing, but us being together, we were so tired of it," Roll said. "We got our tails whooped. We hated that feeling."
Sadly, Turned Overs and dreadful Free Throws will get their tails whooped again...
I was at that 67-46 SC slaughtering of SUCLA at Pauley, along with about 300 other Trojans' faithful, and that was a beat-down that few Westwood Boulevard College fans will son forget if their post-game sullen, depressed expressions were an indicator.
Only 1, maybe 2 or 3 Pac-10 teams will go to the NCAAs this year, and wouldn't it be ironically sweet if ineligible Troy takes down the ol' Brewin' once again, and prevents SUCLA from advancing.
Just like football.
LAWYER JOHN
UCLA owes a debt of gratitude to USC for beating Cal.
would appreciate a post game post. :( i want this place to be my one stop spot for all things ucla sports!
wait what happened to troy? why are they ineligible?
Actually, if they didn't get beat by USC they would be in first.
I find it very entertaining to see frequent posts on our blog by SUCkers like Lawyer Jon. It lets us know who the insecure/resentful ones are. Are you really still that butt-hurt, after all these years, about not getting into UCLA? To spend this much time posting on a rival school's blog can only be motivated by a (easily) bruised ego. That sore spot must really sting when UCLA has any success,huh?
Can USC be in the PAC 10 tourney?
For clarification, that BE REAL post on to the ucla site was from a BE REAL imposter. There is no key symbol next to the imposter's copycat monikor.
I did post that on the SC blog, and the imposter likes to take them and paste them onto the ucla blog
As I have said before, I can be stern with ucla and its bruins on the SC blog, but when I post here I am more tactful and less severe, simply as a courtesy to the bruin faithful.
A courtesy, by the way, that is not reciprocated by the bruins who incessantly post on the SC blog.
LAWYER JOHN (the real one)
Trogans had a good win as well. Next few games should be fun. Have to say that this may be Howland's best year of coaching yet.
I can spell Trogan said:
Can USC be in the PAC 10 tourney?
NOPE, it's considered as Post Season games. PAC 10 Tourney this year will only be 9 teams tournament and it will have a play in game between #8 and #9 seeds.
trueblue,
How do you feel about Bruins that troll on inside USC?
Charlie Bucket post over there on a daily basis and more than any Trojan fan.
spedjones not only trolls over there but poses as a Trojan over here to set people up to take shots at USC.
Then there's the random UCLA trolls like UB, yoda, BruinFaithful, Blue Bruin and silverlake-bruin.
Finally there's guys like cheatthesystem, Lloyd Lake, RodneyGulliory, Malibu Grad Student, Unemployed USC Alumni, cheatforever, sneaky petey, slippery pete, lame kiffin and what's your deal? who actually started accounts with troll screen names.
Thank you Drew Gordon for leaving.
Who gives a f*
How hard can it be to ignore them?
LJ,
I appreciate the courtesy, and apologize for being brash. You can understand how frustrating it can be for someone like me who simply comes on here to get some colorful news media on my team, and have to see that it has been trampled-on with harsh and tasteless comments.
Anon,
I am dissappointed with the behavior of some of my fellow bruins who participate in the type of behavior that I had earlier admonished. I rarely, if ever, go to the trojan site (except on signing day when our fates were equally affected by each others successes and losses), so I am not aware of their exact comments but can only hope that they can be more tasteful in the future if they choose to post on the trojan site.
That being said, I would not disapprove if a trojan would reprimand, as I did earlier, such behavior on their blog.
hey PARALEGAL JOHN, I'll tell you one pac 10 team that definitely won't be going to the big dance. That's right, SUC!
SUC ON!!!
February 14th can't get here soon enough.
These Trogans talking trash on a UCLA BB thread make me laugh. Can't wait for 2/14
Is LAWYER JOHN a Trogan??!!! I always thought he was one of us. Dang! I sure hope we Bruins have a few law graduates that can mix it with the likes of LAWYER JOHN. He is way so cool and brilliant. Actually, I'm SUCking up to him because I need to find a dodgy barrister to get me off a couple of DUI and speeding indiscretions...just like so many of his Trogan clients (Does 'O.J.' ring a bell?) Keep on posting, LJ. You feed the fire in the Bruin belly!!
I seldom respond to the personal criticism I catch over here on the ucla blog because almost all of it is subjective, personal ridicule, and very seldom does it address any of the issue(s) I may have raised (usually social issues, by the way, not much commentary on ucla's sports programs)
But to trueblue, thanks for the balanced comments. And no apology was necessary but I humbly accept yours.
And as for your fellow ucla brethern who write despicable anti-SC comments on the Trojan blog for the sole purpose of trashing Trojans' good feelings, it won't stop. And so, I simply don't read them.
But actually it is a backhanded compliment that bruins worry so much about SC sports affairs because I don't see many Trojans posting over here.
True, I do on occasion post here, but only because I like Jon Gold's style, even if his normal content of ucla sports does not much interest me.
My break is over, have a good weekend fellow Los Angelenos. We are, afterall, all part of the One.
LAWYER JOHN
John esq.
Why do you have to pull the same name-slaughtering routines (SUCLA, Brewin', etc) that your fellow SC fans of lower intellect use? Really, it cheapens the discussion. Of course, the same thing goes for low-class Bruins with the SC name play.
Yes, we got whipped. Yes SC made a fantastic run at the end of last year. But, really the Pac-10 is so uniformly mediocre this year, how do you expect more than one invite to the big dance?
A troll is a troll, whether Bruin or Trogan.
Personally, I am embarrassed by the Charlie Bucket and Yoda posts on Wolf's page.
As such, I have no respect for Lawyer John, a troll.
UCLAArt +1
seems that the SoCal trolls and shills visit the UCLA blog to accomplish little more that disrupt Jon's topic of discussion, for example last night's important win over Stanford and the great play of Honeycutt
BTW, in this writer's opinion the only good SoCal attorney is Rick Neuheisel