You would think they’d get their story straight.
You would think they’d talk among themselves, and then
present themselves as a unified front ““ just like a team is
supposed to do.
You would think they’d care more about this game than any
other.
But then again, who are you to think?
Seriously.
As UCLA gets ready to face USC on Saturday at the Sports Arena,
one thing is certain. And that thing, apparently, is that nothing
is certain.
Just look at the quotes. Because that’s what I did. Upon
hearing what was said at Tuesday’s basketball press
conference, it has to make you scratch your head.
Seriously.
Entering Saturday’s game at the worst arena known to
mankind, the Bruins are on a three-game losing streak. Standing on
the cusp of mediocrity, getting ready to plunge into the depths of
wait “˜til next year, UCLA has to win this game. I’ll
just come right out and say it ““ if the Bruins don’t
win this game, they’re in big, big trouble.
“We need to play with a sense of urgency,” freshman
Arron Afflalo said. “I know last year this team got to this
exact same spot, and then struggled from here on out. That’s
not something I plan on repeating. We must play with a sense of
urgency, and we must play hard.”
A fair enough point. After a 5-0 start in the Pac-10 last year,
the Bruins lost 14 of their last 16. If that happens again, I
don’t know what I’m going to do. So from that
perspective, it’s good to hear that Afflalo considers this
game more important than some of the others.
But then comes the contrary opinion. “I don’t think
(there’s a sense of urgency),” Jordan Farmar said.
“We just have to take it as another game and do what we need
to do.”
Say what? So there’s no urgency? It’s just another
game, like Stanford was another game and Cal was another game?
This is not just another game. This is USC, the freaking
football school that has beaten us four straight times in
basketball. We’re supposed to be the basketball school, and
losing to the Trojans in anything just isn’t cool. That
rhymed.
So what does the team think? Do they think what Afflalo said,
that there is a definite sense of urgency? Or is Farmar right, and
this game should be played like any other?
We should probably look to Dijon Thompson, the team’s
senior leader, to provide the answer. It’s just too bad that
his answer only elicits more questions.
“It’s just another game to me,” Thompson
said.
Say what? That’s what Farmar said. And it couldn’t
be more different from what Thompson said last year.
“Coach talked about that we at least have to finish with a
winning record,” said Thompson last season, just days before
he missed a free throw he needed to make and made a free throw he
needed to miss in sealing the Bruins’ fourth consecutive loss
to the Trojans. “I don’t care if we win another game. I
would rather beat “˜SC.”
Well, he didn’t beat “˜SC that time. In fact,
Thompson has only defeated the Trojans once in his three years in
Westwood. And this is just another game?
I think not.
“It’s my last game at USC,” Thompson said.
“And I intend to do well in it.”
I’m glad he has that intention.
I guess I’m just frustrated that there isn’t a
collective front, that every Bruin isn’t coming out to say
that this is the most important game of the season for the
all-too-obvious reasons. Thompson was prepared to say that nothing
mattered more than beating USC last year, yet this year everything
seems to have changed.
So how are we, as inquisitive fans, supposed to resolve this
terrible conundrum?
Perhaps it’s that this team is much better than last year,
and they know it. Last year, a win against the Trojans could have
made the season. This year, a win against the Trojans is just a
step toward the ultimate goal, reaching the NCAA Tournament. So in
that regard, maybe it is just another game.
Maybe Afflalo and Farmar and Thompson are all correct. There is
a sense of urgency in the regard that they need to win this game.
But there isn’t urgency in the regard that there will be more
pressing issues after they win this game. So maybe it is just
another game. Did that make any sense?
I didn’t think so.
My feeling is that UCLA will win this game, simply because UCLA
has to win this game. Yeah, USC is playing some better basketball,
but there’s no way you can convince me that they’re a
better team than the Bruins.
So let’s just hope that the better team wins.
Seriously.
Regan is a basketball columnist for the 2004-2005 season.
E-mail him at dregan@media.ucla.edu.