Pac-10 just fine for men’s basketball
The Pac-10 is perfect for UCLA. It’s never too tough but still garners respect. It breaks up nicely into regional road trips. Most importantly, its Thursday-Saturday schedule is exactly what the teams see in the tournament. However, the Pac-10 still has its drawbacks: late game slots, little nonconference interest and a major lack of national attention. The latter are the reasons why every year “national pundits” doubt us, and the former are why every year we end up in the Final Four.
Our recent thumping of Notre Dame, a team that would undoubtedly place second in our own conference, more than proves that we can hang with the big boys. But therein lies the problem ““ Notre Dame is in the Big East and because of that they are just 12-10 and 3-7 in conference. No doubt if UCLA played a stretch of six ranked teams in seven games, we would not be ranked in the top 15 either. In the Big East and ACC, it’s feast or famine. A team can win the conference one year and not make the tournament the next.
The stability of the Pac-10 allows Ben Howland to mature his freshman and tighten his defensive schemes so that by this time of year the Bruins are ready to take on anybody. Can we play in the big conferences? One hundred times yes. But if you ask me, we’re doing just fine as a big fish in a small pond. Three straight Final Fours would seem to agree.
Andrew Dushkes
Second-year, global studies