It’s finally over. The fall sports season provided many
unforgettable moments, ranging from the look on Aaron Lopez’s
face when he scored the championship-winning goal for the
men’s soccer team to Katie Hnida’s pathetic extra-point
attempt, all in the name of getting a female to play in a football
game.
I’m going to provide a recap of sorts for the fall season.
I call it The Stat Geek’s Fall Sports Awards and Other Random
Thoughts and Stats.
Is this going to be your typical postseason awards column? Of
course not. For every positive award (Best moment, Most Valuable
Player, Most Clutch performance, etc.). I will provide the opposite
(Worst Moment, Least Valuable Player, Biggest Chokers, etc.).
Anything that happened from August to the day before winter
quarter started is fair ground. The sports in season included:
football, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s
volleyball, men’s water polo, and men’s and
women’s cross country.
Other sports that played but weren’t in season included
men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and
women’s golf, men’s volleyball, and swimming
(technically, gymnastics season started during winter break, but
technically, I don’t consider it a real sport).
All of these are fair game.
Without further ado:
Best Lie
Steve Lavin said Nov. 19, after an exhibition loss to EA Sports:
“We have five months to get better.”
Or worse.
Worst Lie
Krystal McFarland, women’s volleyball, tried to tell the
media that her team was given a good draw in the NCAA
tournament.
In the 64-team field, the women’s volleyball team was
ranked No. 21 in the country and they were matched up against No. 9
Long Beach State in the first round. How exactly does that
work?
For them to win the championship, the Bruins would have had to
beat six top-ten teams. Even the worst team in the draw would have
only had to play five. And the Bruins were ranked No. 21.
McFarland quickly rescinded her statement.
Worst Talent Evaluator
Gary Adams, baseball head coach.
Yes, I know, baseball isn’t in season. But at the tryouts
in October, he cut two players before me. How is that possible?
Best Talent Evaluator
Al Scates.
He manages to build a 30-man roster full of hot volleyball
prospects for a sport in which six players start. He’s the
George Steinbrenner of NCAA volleyball ““ without spending a
dime.
Worst Way the NCAA Screwed UCLA
Evan Burns, a highly ranked basketball recruit was set to come
here, when the NCAA ruled that he hadn’t taken a class that
he needed to in high school, and was therefore ineligible.
It turns out Burns did take the class, and his high school made
a clerical error when they delivered the transcript.
Burns wasn’t ruled eligible until he decided to go to San
Diego State. Think that Burns could help UCLA (4-6) now?
Dishonorable mention: the terrible postseason draws for
women’s volleyball and women’s soccer.
Best gift given to UCLA by the NCAA
Men’s soccer received the No. 3 seed despite only being
ranked No. 7 nationally. Never having to go on the road until the
final four may have helped them win the only national title this
year.
LVP
Chris Griffith.
His missing both an extra point and a potential game-winning
field goal prevented the Bruins from beating Oregon and improving
to 5-1.
Dishonorable mentions: Akil Harris, John Sciarra Jr., T.J.
Cummings, and the two players cut before me at baseball
tryouts.
MVP
Aaron Lopez, men’s soccer. He scored three of his four
goals in the postseason, including the championship
game-winner.
Honorable mentions: Lena Nilsson, women’s cross country,
and Ryan Futagaki, men’s soccer.
Biggest choke job
On Oct. 26, the men’s water polo team had a two-goal lead
against Stanford with 2:48 left. They lost 12-10 in overtime.
Honorable mention: football vs. Oregon.
Most clutch performance
Jimmy Frazelle, men’s soccer. He scored the game-winning
goal in three regular season games, including in overtime against
Stanford, in a game that the team considers its biggest regular
season game.
Honorable mention: Nilsson
Worst quote
Tom Fitzgerald, men’s soccer head coach, after a tie to
USF, “Fortunately, we didn’t lose. Unfortunately, we
didn’t win.”
Best quote
Rusty Williams, football defensive end, “We kind of envy
the kickers. We all play football and bust our asses everyday, but
when you look over there, and they’re just standing around,
you’re like, “˜Oooh motherf…'”
Best team
Men’s soccer. They won a national championship.
Worst team
Men’s cross-country.
They finished eighth at the Pac-10 championships. Out of eight
teams.
Best coach
Ed Kezirian, football interim head coach during the Las Vegas
Bowl. Hey, he has a winning percentage of 1.000, higher than any
other UCLA coach, ever.
Honorable Mention: Tom Fitzgerald. His national championship
during his first season as head coach wasn’t quite as
impressive as a 1.000 winning percentage.
Worst coach
Eric Peterson, head coach of men’s and women’s cross
country. Between both of his teams, he has one runner (Nilsson)
that finished in the top 80 at the NCAAs. One.
Honorable Mention: Bob Toledo. No explanation necessary.
Best game of the year
The men’s soccer championship game was classic, tied until
89th minute.
Worst game
The women’s soccer quarterfinal match against Texas
A&M was the worst soccer game I have ever seen. UCLA outshot
the Aggies 21-0, and still lost in penalty kicks. The Aggies never
had a corner kick or a single legitimate scoring opportunity. And
they still won.
Dishonorable mention: USC 52, UCLA 21 in the 72nd football
rivalry game. And both of these games were on the same day. Nov.
23, 2002 will go down as a dark day in UCLA sports.
Biggest upset
Women’s volleyball over Long Beach State. At that time,
the No. 21 Bruins hadn’t beaten a team ranked higher than
them the whole season, in numerous tries. And they beat No. 9 Long
Beach State, who played Stanford for the NCAA women’s
volleyball championship last year.
Most important meaningless win
Men’s water polo finally beat Stanford, after failing in
five consecutive tries.
Too bad it was only in the consolation game of the MPSF
tournament, a game that didn’t matter for anything but
pride.
Least important
LeBron James High (or St. Vincent-St. Mary) came to Pauley
Pavilion and beat No. 5 Mater Dei in front of a sold-out crowd. Too
bad no one cared about the result, and people only watched to see
LeBron have an off-night.
First coach to be fired other than Steve Lavin
Eric Peterson, cross-country. His teams just aren’t very
good.
Last coach to ever be fired by UCLA
Al Scates. He’s been coaching here since the Kennedy
administration, and has more wins than any other NCAA coach.
Outstanding individual performance
Zach Wells, goalkeeper, men’s soccer. Against Oregon
State, he tied a school record with 11 saves and didn’t allow
a goal despite 25 shots being fired on him. Wells even got an
assist.
Honorable mention: Jason Kapono’s 44-point shootout
against Washington State.
Worst individual performance
Kapono’s performance Wednesday vs. USC.
Athlete you want to have your back at Madison’s
Ricky Manning.
Athlete you least want to have your back at Madison’s
Chris Griffith. He’d kick and miss wide right.
Rookie of the fall
Iris Mora, women’s soccer.
The freshman from Cancun was tied for second on the team in
goals with seven despite missing games to play for the Mexican
National Team.
Honorable Mention: Tyler Ebell, football. He would have won,
except for his performances against Washington State and USC (a
combined 66 yards).
Freshman that should’ve redshirted
Ryan Hollins, men’s basketball. He has 11 points this year
in 10 games. Why waste a year of eligibility when you hardly play
and your team is ranked below Alaska-Fairbanks?
Best flip-flop
Brian Morrison, basketball. He went from North Carolina, to
UCLA, to Washington, and back to UCLA. This diverse educational
experience gave him the wisdom to redshirt this year.
Only team to sweep “˜SC
Women’s soccer beat USC both times they played. Everyone
else (other than men’s soccer who didn’t face them)
lost to them.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
In conclusion, the fall season had plenty of storylines and
interesting events, but Hnida’s missed extra point was my
favorite. Like I said, when you want to break the gender barrier,
make sure you get your extra point over the D-line.
It’s finally over.
You’re sad. You read my entire column. Get a life, or
e-mail me at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu