After the Pac-10 Championship game, every player scaled the
ladder to shear a piece of the net from each basket, even walk-on
player Kelvin Kim. Well, except one.
“I’ll cut down the one in Indiana,” sophomore
Arron Afflalo said.
Well, UCLA’s road to the championship game just became
much more favorable Sunday as UCLA was selected as the No. 2 seed
of the Oakland Regional and will play 15th-seeded Belmont on
Thursday in nearby San Diego.
In essence, after winning the Pac-10 Tournament on Saturday, it
was a better outcome than UCLA could have ever envisioned.
“The fact we are playing in San Diego and Oakland, I think
that’s the best situation … you could ask for,”
Afflalo said.
After receiving the automatic bid by virtue of winning the
Pac-10 Tournament, UCLA has competed in the NCAA Tournament eight
times in the past 10 seasons. This is also UCLA’s highest
seed since the 1997 season when it was also the two-seed and made
it to the Elite Eight.
UCLA was actually the fifth-seed overall and that made a lot of
the players downright giddy, even well after their seeding was
announced. Afflalo couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute couldn’t stop moving his
hands. The congratulations were just being spread around.
“There were just a lot of smiles and noise in the
air,” senior Cedric Bozeman said. “It feels so good,
but people have been calling me left and right but I don’t
even want to pick up the phone yet.”
Before Selection Sunday and even before the Pac-10 Tournament,
Howland was talking about getting the two-seed, which had came as a
surprise to many. Not to Howland, though.
“I think it was well deserved,” Howland said.
“I appreciate it was recognized because our players have
worked very, very hard.
“I think (the Pac-10) gets maligned. So, we’ll see
how it goes. We’ll see. Here we go.”
Howland believes UCLA is playing its best basketball.
The Bruins are currently riding a seven-game win streak in which
they have been defeating their opponents by an average of 18 points
per game. In those seven games, UCLA’s defense has been
nearly impenetrable. No opponent has scored over 60 against
them.
With the success this season, many of the players are looking at
their accomplishments as proof that UCLA is once again one of the
top teams in college basketball.
“We did well earlier and teams that probably watched us on
TV thought we were kind of a joke. Like “˜We’ll see how
good they are. We don’t think they’re that
good,'” senior Ryan Hollins said. “But I think by
what we’ve accomplished thus far we’ve restored pride
back at UCLA.”
But, the last thing the Bruins want to do is have a re-enactment
of last season’s performance in the Big Dance. As the No. 11
seed, UCLA was ousted in the opening round by No. 6 Texas Tech. In
the past 10 years, UCLA has gone home early three times.
Asked what he knows about the Belmont Bruins, a Tennessee team
in the Atlantic Sun Conference, Afflalo flashed a smile.
“Nothing at all. But I know in the next two days
I’ll know a lot about them,” he said.
He’s right. Howland already has two tapes in the archives.
Three more will arrive today.
Howland and his staff have 1,300 films on potential opponents in
the tournament. In terms of practice, Howland says preparation will
be the same as if UCLA were playing any Pac-10 team on a Thursday.
The team will break down play on Belmont a little bit Tuesday,
extensive walk-through and practice geared towards Belmont on
Wednesday, and a game-preparation on Thursday.
The last thing UCLA wants to do is overlook a team. The Bruins
have been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament three times in the
last 10 years in the opening round.
“Anyone can win on a given night and that’s what is
so great about this tournament,” Howland said. “Yes,
I’m sure there’s going to be some upsets, but
we’re going to make sure we’re not one of them.
“I’m sure the guys remember the pain of defeat (in
the first round of last year’s tournament), and they are
definitely motivated to go and win on Thursday.”