There was that moment Saturday when you really thought it was
going to happen.
The Bruins had just played one of their best halves of the
season, Pauley Pavilion was absolutely rocking, and Salim
Stoudamire was expectedly whining.
Leading by five with just over 17 minutes to play, it
wasn’t out of the question to think that this game was going
to be something special ““ that monumental win that officially
announces the resurgence of UCLA basketball.
Then, just minutes later, Pauley and the Bruins were slapped
across the face with the sobering reality ““ we’re not
there yet.
All it took was a methodical 19-0 run from the Wildcats to put
the game away and remind the young Bruins that the road to the top
of the Pac-10 travels through Tucson. All it took was a couple of
minutes to see that there’s still a great distance to be
traveled, still great improvement that must be made for UCLA to
once again be a great team.
And fortunately, the Bruins seem to realize that.
“If we want to get UCLA back to its rightful spot, which
is up there with the elite programs, some things are going to have
to happen,” Arron Afflalo said.
Listening to Afflalo talk after Saturday’s game,
it’s clear that he’s committed to the process and he
believes in what UCLA coach Ben Howland is doing. He’s also a
realist, and he readily admits the fact that Arizona is currently a
superior program to UCLA.
That’s something we all have to realize, too. No matter
how good it makes us feel to look at the banners hanging from the
rafters, to know that no school will ever approach the history and
tradition of UCLA basketball, we have to be honest with ourselves
about the present.
We’re just not that good yet, a fact made abundantly clear
by the disappointing second half Saturday. The Bruins are too young
and their big men are too inept to truly challenge the top teams in
the country.
Sure, UCLA can be in the game with anyone … if it shoots well.
The frustrating thing that I find when I watch this team comes when
it is not shooting well. Rather than working to create
high-percentage shots, it hoists up ill-advised threes. Rather than
rebounding and stepping up defensively, it becomes more passive and
tentative. If they don’t shoot well, the Bruins can lose to
anyone, and that’s a disconcerting thought.
Good teams find ways to win even when they’re not shooting
well. I’m just not convinced that UCLA has the ability to do
that, yet.
Arizona, meanwhile, is a completely different breed. If the
Wildcats decide to play defense and if Stoudamire, who approaches
former USC standout Desmon Farmer in terms of pure hateability (the
ability to be hated), controls his emotions, they are one of the
best teams in the country.
“You’ve got to give them credit,” Howland
said. “Arizona is a very good team. They’ve got two
outstanding seniors in (Channing) Frye and Stoudamire that are
all-league players. They’re very experienced and a tough,
hard-nosed team.”
Arizona is probably better than UCLA in every single facet of
the game.
That’s a difficult thing to admit, but it must be
acknowledged before something can be done about it.
Losses are valuable learning experiences, and it appears that
Afflalo learned from this one.
“It lets us know how far we need to go,” Afflalo
said. “We’re not far, but we have a lot of things we
need to work on.”
When he said they’re not far, I think he meant that
they’re still pretty far. But that’s only
speculation.
Things are still way, way better than they have been the last
few seasons, but there’s still a long way to go. Watch
Illinois or Wake Forest or North Carolina play ““ right now,
the Bruins don’t belong on the same court as those teams.
The transformation of UCLA basketball is happening, but it
hasn’t happened yet. The freshmen are spectacular. Howland is
a great coach.
Recruiting looks solid for years to come. Let’s not get
ahead of ourselves.
It appeared Saturday that lots of people in Pauley Pavilion
thought it was going to happen. They just want it to happen so
badly.
Then, in a flash, a 19-point flash, it’s gone.
“We’re on an uphill right now,” Afflalo said.
“We’re not going backwards.
It was a tough loss today, but it was a tough loss to a good
team. We can’t feel too bad about it, but personally I just
hate losing.”
Sometimes you lose to better teams, and when that happens, you
have to brush yourself off and learn something.
That’s something the Bruins are doing, and that’s a
victory in itself.
Regan is a basketball columnist. E-mail him at
dregan@media.ucla.edu.