Now that the once-heartless Bruins seem to have found a
pacemaker and now that they’ve managed to flip its switch two
games in a row, everyone ““ from the fans at Pauley Pavilion
to the rest of the Pac-10 ““ has a question to ask of
them.
Will they have enough juice to keep the heart beating for two
more weekends?
The team that everyone’s afraid to death of declaring
deceased rose up and put together a pair of competitive
performances against two solid teams this weekend.
“As I’ve said before, it’s that guarded
optimism I’ve been talking about over the last couple of
weeks,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said.
“It feels a little different this time, because everyone
seems confident in what they can and can’t do,” senior
Ray Young said.
Young’s comments might strike UCLA fans as a tad ironic,
given that the guard ““ so volatile for much of his career –
is suddenly confident doing just about anything. Since Lavin gave
Young his first career start at point guard Thursday against Cal,
he’s provided the Bruins with defensive spark, leadership
and, gasp, even great shooting.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence and
energy,” Lavin said. “He can see the finish line and
he’s playing more on instinct now.”
Though it would be nice to see all of the Bruins’ problems
disappear with a quick-fix move like playing Young at the point,
Lavin knows that even with UCLA playing markedly better ball, it
still might be too late.
“You see the glimpses, the previews, the coming
attractions,” he said. “The future is very bright,
whether it will be in the next three weeks or the next year. That
said, we’re still capable of having poor stretches of
play.”
And for as tired as everyone is of sugar-coating losses, at
least one outside observer was somewhat impressed.
“They can feed off this loss,” said Stanford’s
Josh Childress. “They give us a matchup problem.”
Indeed, the sleeping giant gives much of the conference
headaches ““ whenever it decides to wake up. If the Bruins can
beat Oregon State on the road Thursday and sweep the Washington
schools at home, they might even avoid playing No. 1 Arizona in the
first round of the conference tournament.
It all sounds a little less preposterous after a truly solid
weekend of play.
“Come on, we have to go to the Pac-10 Tournament,”
sophomore Andre Patterson said. “This is UCLA. It would be
like McDonald’s without Happy Meals.”