Tuesday, following practice, the UCLA men’s basketball
team is going to board a bus. The bus will get on the 405 freeway,
heading south, just as it has done for all Bruin road games this
season. But this time it will pass every single exit for LAX and
continue driving, and everyone on the bus will smile. With
Sunday’s announcement of the NCAA Tournament field, the
second-seeded Bruins (27-6) learned they will stay close to home
for the tournament’s first two rounds, playing at Cox Arena
in San Diego. “We’ve been having worse trips throughout
the whole season, flying to Oregon, Seattle,” freshman guard
Darren Collison said. “The plane’s just been a killer.
Now we’ve got a bus ride.” Not only do they have a bus
ride, but they’ll almost certainly have the majority of the
crowd support. Of the eight teams playing in San Diego, UCLA is the
only one from California. “Our fans are so supportive and so
great,” coach Ben Howland said. “Hopefully
they’ll be fighting and clamoring to get every loose ticket
that might be out there for Thursday.” Belmont, the
Bruins’ first-round opponent, must make the cross-country
trip from Nashville, Tenn. Alabama and Marquette, the teams UCLA
could potentially meet in the second round, also have substantial
journeys ahead of them. Marquette is located in Milwaukee, Wisc.
And though it’s certainly a positive that they get to stay
close to home, the Bruins realize that there’s more to NCAA
Tournament than geography. “As long as you go there and you
know what you’re doing, that’s cool,” freshman
guard Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said.
LOOKING AHEAD: From UCLA’s perspective,
storylines abound at the Oakland Regional. Belmont’s mascot
is also the Bruin. Alabama coach Mark Gottfried was an assistant
coach at UCLA from 1987 to 1995. Marquette knocked the Pittsburgh
Panthers out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 in 2003,
Howland’s last season as the Panthers’ coach. And
that’s just in the first two games. UCLA might meet
fifth-seeded Pittsburgh (Howland’s old team) or first-seeded
Memphis (the first team to beat UCLA this season) in the Elite
Eight, should the Bruins advance that far. Howland, for his part,
played down the potential storylines. “Give me a bracket and
we can pretend we’re the two seed in any other region and it
would still have those same kind of qualities for me,” he
said. But that’s Howland. Some of his players were more
forthcoming about the possibilities. “We saw Memphis in our
bracket, and we’re going to look forward to that,”
Collison said. “Memphis is a team that beat us in the NIT,
and revenge is sweeter than anything. “We know that Memphis
is on the other side of the bracket, but right now we’re just
going to worry about the Belmont Bruins.” It’s a mantra
that will be repeated over and over again. Take it one game at a
time, and the rest will take care of itself. “Memphis is a
great team,” senior Ryan Hollins said. “Hopefully we
get that far. Hopefully they get that far. Best of luck to them in
the tournament, but we’ve got to look at Belmont right now
and just focus on them. “One game at a time.”
STUDENT TICKETS: UCLA Student Sports Package
holders can apply for tickets for the first two rounds of the NCAA
tournament today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Central Ticket
Office. Tickets cost $55 for Thursday and $55 for Saturday, and
payment is required when students fill out the application. If
demand exceeds the allotted supply, a number which wasn’t
immediately available, there will be a lottery. Students must bring
their BruinCards to apply.