With Selection Sunday a little more than five weeks away, teams are looking to strengthen their proverbial resumes for the Big Dance in March.
Starting tonight, the Bruins encounter such an opportunity, entering a six-game stretch against top-50 teams in the Pomeroy Ratings: home vs. USC and Notre Dame, at Arizona and Arizona State, and then back home against Washington and Washington State.
That is easily UCLA’s toughest stint of the season and one that will likely define its NCAA Tournament seed.
This week’s foes, USC and Notre Dame, could benefit from defining wins to bolster their own tournament chances ““ they sit squarely on the dreaded bubble.
Notre Dame has dropped five in a row ““ all to ranked teams ““ and is no longer in the projected field of 65 in ESPN.com’s latest bracket projections. Don’t be fooled by its recent struggles though, the Irish have faced seven (!) top-10 teams already this year, losing to five of them.
It is still your typical Notre Dame team: high-scoring, with prolific shooting and a porous defense that seems to rely on a wing and a prayer.
Their leader and National Player of the Year candidate, Luke Harangody, presents a daunting matchup for UCLA. No one has managed to slow down Harangody, not even teams with strong interior defenders. If UCLA can somehow find a way to limit this 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound skilled beast, it will bellow a loud statement that the Bruins’ defense in the paint is no longer a team weakness.
Don’t hold your breath, though; Harangody, who averages more than 25 points and 13 rebounds per game, hasn’t been held below 20 points in a contest since November.
Outside of Harangody, the Bruins should be OK on Saturday if they play as they did last week. The biggest concern is the ungodly 10 a.m. starting time. Not only will the players be emerging from sleep-mode at that hour ““ facing the disruption of their routine ““ but the horde of students in Pauley Pavilion could face their own energy deficit after Friday night frolicking.
Someone bring the Red Bull.
But first there’s tonight, when the army of orcs from USC storm Pauley Pavilion. The Trojans have won five of six since losing to UCLA and look better every week.
USC is physical and athletic, boasts arguably the best defense in the Pac-10 and always plays well in Westwood, winning here a year ago.
In the past few seasons, most of the meetings between these two rivals have been close, grinding affairs: 65-64, 70-65, 63-72 (USC’s only win since 2006), 56-46, 57-54, and 64-60 this year.
If Southern California has its druthers, this will be another low-scoring battle. Trojan coach Tim Floyd likes to implement a variety of zone defenses, so UCLA will have to face that skeleton in its closet ““ can the Bruins continue to attack the USC zones, or will they revert to their old, passive offensive tactics that led to painful dry spells against Washington State and Arizona State?
UCLA is hitting its stride at the perfect time. If the Bruins play with the tenacity and pace they displayed last week, another two wins are well within their grasp. Two wins that could propel them through the following three weeks and into good position in the NCAA Tournament.
If you plan on bringing Red Bull to the game on Saturday or you drive the Red Bull Mini Cooper, contact Taylor at btaylor@media.ucla.edu.