Last night’s 86-71 win over Washington State cleared up
the notion that UCLA might not really be as bad as the 31-point
thrashing they took at Oregon last week.
But it didn’t clear up much else. The myriad Pac-10
tournament scenarios are still as fuzzy as a television with bad
reception.
The only certainty is that if UCLA beats Washington in its
regular season finale on Saturday, it is in the Pac-10 tournament.
If the Bruins lose, they’re out. The same holds true for the
Huskies.
As for seedings, here is a rundown of the possibilities, sans
the nitty-gritty tiebreaking details:
“¢bull; If UCLA loses to the Huskies, there is no way it can
still make the conference tournament.
“¢bull; If the Bruins win, USC loses to Washington State, and
Oregon State loses at Arizona State, UCLA will be the sixth seed in
the conference tournament.
“¢bull; If UCLA wins, USC wins, and Oregon State loses, these
teams finish in a three-way tie, and UCLA gets the eighth seed by
virtue of a combined 1-3 record against the Trojans and
Beavers.
“¢bull; If UCLA wins, USC loses, and Oregon State pulls off an
upset, then the Bruins end up with the seventh seed.
“¢bull; If UCLA, USC, and Oregon State all win, then UCLA gets
the eighth seed.
Obviously, not being in the eighth seed would certainly help
UCLA’s chances of a miracle Pac-10 tournament run, because
the eighth seed will play national-No. 1 Arizona in the first
round.
The Bruins have already been blown out by Arizona twice this
season by a combined 71 points.
“But if we don’t play better basketball in the
Pac-10 tournament, then it doesn’t matter what seed we
are,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin pointed out.
The Bruins did take a step toward playing decent basketball last
night against the Cougars (7-19, 2-15 Pac-10).
Defensively, they dominated the low post. UCLA outrebounded
Washington State 49-28, and forced the Cougars to attempt 34
three-pointers, which ties the Pauley Pavilion record set by ASU in
1993.
Fortunately for Bruin fans, they only made 12 (28.6
percent).
“We rebounded well, and that was the biggest part of the
game,” said forward T.J. Cummings, who had five points and
eight rebounds. “We are a very scrappy team.”
The offense also looked in a better flow than it had in previous
games. Against Oregon the Bruins only managed 21 first half points,
but last night UCLA had scored 21 before seven minutes had expired
in the game.
The 86 points scored last night was the highest in the past 10
games, and the 50 percent field-goal shooting was the team’s
third highest in the past 10.
Guard Ray Young scored a career-high 30 points, and Jason Kapono
added 22.
“Offensively, we go into a rhythm by shooting 50
percent,” Lavin said. “But the most important thing was
we played better basketball, and a byproduct of that is seeding
yourself for a better run in the conference tournament.”
After the game, the locker room wasn’t full of the normal
elation in response to a rare victory.
Instead, the players were already talking about Saturday’s
do-or-die matchup against Washington.
“It’s all or nothing on Saturday,” forward
Andre Patterson said.
“This (Washington) game is ours. Bring ’em on.
We’re ready,” added Cummings.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
Published reports yesterday said that the UCLA basketball staff
expects to be fired Monday if the team misses the Pac-10
tournament.
If the Bruins qualify, then they expect to be fired a week from
Monday, assuming they don’t win it and make the NCAA
tournament.
When asked about the report, Lavin didn’t directly address
it.
“I’m pretty sure I’m out of the running for
the Pac-10 or National Coach of the Year awards,” Lavin
said.