Did you see that play where Ryan Hollins dunked on Ike Diogu? I
saw it four times.
How about the one where Hollins swatted Diogu? I saw that one
three times.
Or what about my play of the game, the one where Michael Fey
caught that pass ““ I repeat, caught that pass ““ in
traffic and got fouled? Well, I only saw that one twice. But I
could have seen it 10 times if I had wanted to.
My point, of course, is that TiVo is awesome. And the Bruins are
pretty awesome, too.
With last night’s 86-82 victory over Arizona State,
it’s pretty clear that this UCLA team is composed of a bunch
of winners. Last year, the Bruins lost games they should have won.
They lost almost every close game they played. It was sad.
In one season, things have almost completely turned around. UCLA
doesn’t lose close games anymore. These guys make clutch
shots, they don’t give up, and they make free throws
(18-for-21 last night).
Last night was my first extended experience with the greatness
that is TiVo, and it truly is pretty great. Apparently nobody
really knows what the letters stand for, but they know that the
first and third letters are capitalized, while the other two are
not. With TiVo, fans can replay over and over again a play that
just happened, and then watch what they missed, and then catch up
to the live feed during a commercial.
The only thing it doesn’t do is fast forward to plays that
haven’t happened yet. But I suppose that’s
forgivable.
Anyway, watching Thursday’s game on TiVo was a pretty
wonderful thing.
Things didn’t start out so wonderfully, as UCLA got down
early to start the game, again. But they didn’t wait until
the second half to come back this time. Jordan Farmar was
phenomenal in the first half, as his 16 points before the break
were the main reason the Bruins enjoyed a lead at halftime.
And though there were still some problems with UCLA’s
game, like defense and committing silly fouls, the team won. And
isn’t that what matters?
Now 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10, this team is pretty much
legit. Don’t look for a run deep into the NCAA Tournament,
but look for a trip to the tournament.
It’s funny, I had been planning all week to write this
column about the wake-up call, about how premature it was to start
talking about UCLA’s RPI ranking of 12. I had been hearing
all week about how good this team is, but I didn’t want to
delude myself and set myself up for disappointment. So I deluded
myself into thinking the Bruins would lose this game.
They didn’t lose, of course, and instead of writing about
the wake-up call, I’m writing about freaking TiVo. Not that
there’s anything wrong with that.
Just like there was nothing wrong with watching Farmar sky for
that rebound over Diogu five times, or with watching Dijon Thompson
catch a pass in the lane and throw one down four times.
One of these great plays elicited the following comment from my
buddy Liam: “I love when we do awesome and the other team
does horrible.” And he’s got a great point.
I suppose I’m trying to say that in the grand scheme of
things, this is a huge win. Assuming UCLA loses to Arizona, the
Bruins then have a great chance to sweep the struggling Bay Area
schools at home, and finish the first half of the conference with a
win over lowly USC. (Don’t you just love that inspired hire
of Tim Floyd? They stink.)
That would make UCLA 13-4, 7-2 in the conference. And
that’s a first half I could watch again.
And again.
And again.
Regan is a basketball columnist for the 2004-2005 season.
E-mail him at dregan@media.ucla.edu.