Asked about UCLA’s NCAA Tournament hopes after
Sunday’s victory at Notre Dame, Arron Afflalo glanced at UCLA
coach Ben Howland before flashing a sheepish grin. “I have to
wait until after we get to the 18-win mark to talk about
that,” the freshman guard said. But even the tight-lipped
Howland had already acknowledged that the Bruins had taken a giant
step toward earning a tournament berth with their victory over the
Fighting Irish. UCLA (16-9, 9-7 Pac-10) lowered its RPI seven spots
to No. 30 in the nation and inched closer to its 18th win, which
the Bruins believe would be enough to punch their ticket to the
NCAAs. If UCLA wins its final two regular season games at home
against the Oregon schools this week, it will finish 11-7 in the
Pac-10 and no worse than fourth in the conference standings. All
but one of the last 62 Pac-10 teams to finish with 11 conference
wins advanced to the NCAA Tournament. “If we get these two
home games, we should be in pretty good shape,” senior Dijon
Thompson said. The way the Bruins have played recently,
there’s no question they’re aiming for a sweep. UCLA,
which has won three of its last four games, hasn’t lost to a
team below it in the conference standings since falling to
California at home in late January. “We’re playing our
best basketball right now,” Howland said. “That’s
what you want to be doing this time of year in February and
March.”
FREE THROW WOES: Though UCLA missed 9 of 17 second-half free
throw attempts Sunday against Notre Dame, Howland said afterward
that he believed it was an aberration. Thompson, in particular,
struggled from the line, going 5-for-11 including a pair of key
misses after Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey was whistled for a
technical foul midway through the second half. UCLA is shooting
71.4 percent as a team from the free-throw line this season.
DRIBBLERS: UCLA received one vote in this week’s
Associated Press Top 25 poll … Arizona coach Lute Olson is still
tied with John Wooden for all-time wins in the Pac-10 at 304 after
the Wildcats lost to Washington on Saturday.