Thursday, March 13, 1997
The NCAA Tournament knows no in-betweens, as UCLA has learned
from experienceBy Melissa Anderson
Daily Bruin Staff
There’s no secret why the NCAA men’s basketball tournament time
is nicknamed "March Madness," especially if you’ve followed the
path of UCLA the past four seasons.
Regardless of regular season records, conference tournament
results or the caliber of your first-round opponent, the Big Dance
is a place where anything can  and usually does Â
happen. No one knows that better than UCLA.
Take 1994 for example. The Bruins, led by then-juniors Ed
O’Bannon and Tyus Edney, finished the regular season at 21-7, tied
for second place in the Pac-10. Although considered a long shot to
reach the Final Four, there was no question UCLA would get past the
first round.
Then, something crazy happened.
The Bruins were sent to Oklahoma City to face Tulsa in the first
round. Tulsa? UCLA players weren’t even sure where Tulsa was much
less what sort of basketball they played. Surely, there would be no
upset here.
The final score? Tulsa 112, UCLA 102.
But believe it or not, there really does seem to be some method
to this Madness.
"I think that’s what’s so great about (the tournament)," said
UCLA point guard Cameron Dollar, who was a freshman on the ’94
squad. "You might be the better team, but if you have a bad day,
someone is going to take advantage of it.
"The tournament really shows who the most consistently strong
team in the country is."
Ups and downs are part of every team’s season, but the key to
succeeding during March Madness is to get over the bumps early.
In its 1995 national title campaign, UCLA almost hit a pothole
(also known as Missouri) in a second-round matchup in Boise,
Idaho.
Unlike the previous year, the Bruins had everything going for
them. A No. 1 seed in the West. A 92-56 romp of Florida
International in the opening round. The leadership of three
NBA-bound seniors.
Still, in 4.8 seconds, they almost saw it all slip away. If not
for a last-ditch effort by Edney, UCLA would have gone home, and
Connecticut or Mississippi State would have been likely candidates
to advance to the Final Four in Seattle.
For those few split seconds, however, luck was on UCLA’s side.
The Bruins found consistency in their next four games, finally
returning home to hang UCLA’s 11th national championship banner in
Pauley Pavilion.
Because it is such madness, the NCAA Tournament is also the most
emotional experience of the season, for players and coaches alike.
Even before the seeds are announced, once a tournament bid is
secured the 30-point victories and 48-point losses are forgotten,
and there is only one thing to concentrate on.
"Wherever we go, we just have to be fired up," UCLA head coach
Steve Lavin said. "We just have to be excited to be playing in the
tournament, excited to be playing basketball in March, excited to
still be playing games."
As exciting as the prospects may be, the disappointment can be
even greater. Last season, UCLA repeated as Pac-10 champion with a
16-2 conference record and was shipped to the Southeast region as
the No. 4 seed. In an act of pure madness by the selection
committee, second-place Arizona remained in the West where it lost
to Kansas, 83-80, in the regional semifinals.
The Bruins, on the other hand, were slated against No. 13 seed
Princeton, a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain. With
the announcement of longtime head coach Pete Carril’s retirement
adding sympathy to Princeton’s cause, the Indianapolis crowd roared
for the underdog. UCLA was virtually chased out the back door in a
43-41 defeat  considered by many as the upset of the year in
college basketball.
Although upsets are a vital ingredient of every tournament, it
is never easy to be on the losing side. After the Princeton game,
freshman Brandon Loyd, who hit two three-pointers down the stretch
to keep the game in reach, was in tears as he headed to the locker
room.
"It was the first time I had made a contribution to the team in
a game that really mattered." Loyd said. "And to lose like that, it
was really hard.
"But you just have to put it behind you and move on."
That is exactly what Lavin hopes his team will do this week, as
they prepare to take on Charleston Southern on Thursday in
Michigan. As the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, there is no question
the Bruins will be favored. But as history has shown, anything can
happen.
So Lavin just wants his team to remember the basics, and to play
their game.
"We’re going to play great. I just don’t want us (to play)
tentative against the zone," Lavin said. "I don’t want it to be
like against Princeton, where we were looking and searching.
"We’re aggressive, we’re having fun and we’re attacking and
playing hard. So even if we do lose somewhere in the first round,
we’re going to go down swinging."
While UCLA has been through the agony and the ecstasy of March
Madness over the last four years, there is one thing no one on the
current Bruin squad has experienced – mediocrity. First-round
losses and national titles are the tournament extremes, and a loss
in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight is something the players don’t quite
know how to react to.
According to Dollar, that’s something they don’t like to think
about. In fact, if the Bruins are able to get past Charleston
Southern, the senior feels UCLA will be a force to be reckoned
with.
"That’s the thing people are saying about this team: ‘You better
get them early or you might not get them at all,’" Dollar said.
Daily Bruin File Photos
While Tyus Edney (r.) led UCLA to the 1995 title, Brandon Loyd
was in tears at tournament’s end the following year.