Claire-ification: UCLA has a long way to go before NCAA Tournament

Back in 2008, the iPhone was just one year old, Twitter was starting to gain momentum in the social networking world and Hulu was invented.

Eight years ago was also the last time Duke men’s basketball fell out of the AP Top 25 rankings. The Blue Devils didn’t crack the top 25 in the 2007-2008 preseason rankings, snapping their streak of 167 consecutive weeks in the rankings. This week marks the first time since then.

UCLA holds the record for longest ranked streak with 221 weeks between 1966 and 1980. And while Duke was having an uncharacteristic off year in 2008, across the country in Westwood, UCLA was killing the game.

The Bruins made the Final Four for the third year in a row that season after entering the NCAA Tournament as the top seed in the West Regional bracket. UCLA lost only four times in 2008 – Texas, USC, Washington and lastly Memphis in the Final Four.

Both UCLA and Duke have come a long way over the past eight years. Much to Bruin fans’ despair, however, the two teams have traveled in opposite directions.

The Blue Devils have made it to the Final Four twice since 2008 – ending up the eventual national champions both times in 2010 and 2015. The Bruins haven’t even made it to the Elite Eight once in the past eight years.

So while Duke is back where it was eight years ago, UCLA is far from it. The Blue Devils, while unranked, are still 15-6 overall and 4-4 midway through a tough Atlantic Coast Conference schedule. The Bruins have yet to crack .500 in Pac-12 play and – despite some nationally televised upsets – lack a fraction of the promise the 2007-2008 Bruins showed. While the Blue Devils will most likely make it to March Madness barring any major disasters, the Bruins are once again on the bubble.

Still, UCLA received a shoutout in ESPN’s write-up about Duke’s historic slip from national prominence Monday. Naturally, of course, it was a reference to the past. In this particular circumstance, a stat from 1980.

Back in 1980, the Walkman came into existence, CDs took the music world by storm and VCRs became the latest must-have.

Well, I don’t own a Walkman anymore, I burned my last CD probably sometime around 2008 and my local RadioShack refused to fix my VCR about five years ago because it was too outdated.

My point? We need to let go of the past and start embracing the present. And the present for UCLA men’s basketball isn’t as pretty as the latest iPhone.

The Bruins are currently 4-5 in the conference with three extremely challenging road games coming down the pike. As we stand just past the midway point of the season, UCLA is an outside pick for the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins haven’t failed to nab an invite to the Big Dance since 2012 and their last losing season was in 2010 – this season threatens to reset both of those figures. The team should recognize the legacy and do whatever they can to make the tournament. If UCLA fails to do so, people will stop bringing up the Bruins whenever college basketball is mentioned.

So basically, don’t worry about Duke. The Blue Devils will be fine. As that team has proven in the recent past, it has the ability to bounce back. As for UCLA? Well if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that the Bruins have trouble rebounding.