It’s that time of the year again. It’s the end of
the school year, when everyone becomes nostalgic over what’s
happened during the year and, for the seniors, to recollect their
time at UCLA. So I figured I may as well write a year-in-review
column for my fourth straight year. And what a year this was in
UCLA sports. Three NCAA Championships. The resurgence of the
men’s basketball team. Football actually competing with USC
in a game for once. All in all, the 2004-2005 athletic year has
been a good and memorable one for UCLA sports. Here are some of the
things I’ll always remember about this year.
A good basketball team ““ finally Like many of you, I
suffered through the two miserable years that were the last of the
Steve Lavin era and the transition year into the Ben Howland era.
Those years made this year all the more fun, even though, by the
standards of elite programs across the country, this season
wasn’t spectacular. This year’s UCLA team only won 18
games ““ barely enough to make the NCAA Tournament, as the
Bruins received the lowest seed for an at-large berth. But for UCLA
fans, that didn’t matter. The Bruins were back in the NCAA
Tournament. They were a part of March Madness. All was right in the
world again. Hopefully, fans will now realize how lucky they are to
have a good team and a proven coach in Howland. It’s not
necessarily an automatic, even at UCLA.
Football: mediocre, yet again A friend asked me recently what
the biggest win of the Karl Dorrell era was. And I had to pause and
think about it for a while. In his two years at UCLA, Dorrell has
done an admirable job of beating the teams he should. But the
Bruins haven’t really beaten anyone better than them. And
that’s mediocrity in a nutshell. Not that I’m
complaining. Dorrell is a young coach, and has only been here two
years. Give him time. And at least the team isn’t bad.
They’re making bowl games (even if the bowl games are
unwatchable). They were even good enough to give USC a close game,
for once.
Is UCLA a water polo school? Both the men’s and
women’s water polo teams won NCAA Championships this year,
and both were fun to watch for different reasons. The men’s
team was filled with interesting characters and played very
exciting games. They were an explosive team, but they didn’t
have many blow-out victories. The Bruins were nearly upset by
Princeton in the NCAA semifinals, but shined the following day to
beat No. 1 Stanford in overtime. Meanwhile, the women’s team
was riveting to watch for a different reason ““ the Bruins
were quite possibly the best collegiate team ever assembled, with a
starting lineup filled with Olympians who won the bronze medal in
Athens and a bench filled with a team that had finished No. 3 in
the nation the year before. UCLA dominated its opponents, winning
by scores that are unfathomable, like their 22-0 win against
Colorado State. Those of you who didn’t catch a water polo
game this year missed out. The curse finally ended For the first
time since 1984, the UCLA men’s tennis team won an NCAA
Championship. It might not sound like a curse, but you have to
consider that Billy Martin’s boys have had five championship
matches end in heartbreak before this year’s comeback
victory. A program that had suffered through so many title defeats
has to suffer no more.
The near misses Three championships might sound like a lot for
one year, but consider that UCLA teams lost in the finals of three
other sports (women’s soccer, men’s volleyball and
softball) and finished second in another (women’s golf), and
it could have been a historic year. Women’s soccer had the
most painful and unjust loss, coming in penalty kicks. The positive
spin is that the Bruins are a young team, and will likely be back
to seek revenge. Men’s volleyball lost a heartbreaker in five
games to Pepperdine after leading two games to one. Unfortunately
for them (unlike women’s soccer and softball), men’s
volleyball was filled with seniors. This may have been their only
shot for the next few years. Softball lost its best-of-three NCAA
Championship Series after winning Game 1 and leading late in both
Game 2 and Game 3 ““ a demoralizing way to lose. But the
Bruins return every starter back next year and will have another
shot. UCLA fans should be more than satisfied with three NCAA
titles in one year. But it’s easy to wonder what could have
been. Given all the high points and could-have-beens, what an
amazing year this was.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.